Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

1. Define Learning

   • Behavioural changes caused by both formal learning situations and life experiences.
     • Various forms of learning which differ in 2 NB respects: the amount of comprehension displayed by the learner; and the level of awareness at which learning occurs.

2. ...is learning which requires little comprehension and which occurs at a low level of awareness

   • Association
     • Aristotle - one idea leads to another. He described the association between the connection or association between ideas.
       • 3 laws of learning association: their position in space & time, their similarities and contrasts, their frequency

3. Stimulus & Response

   • Pavlov's study on conditioned reflex. Entails forming an association between two stimuli in such a way that once a new stimulus-response relationship has been established, this relationship is the result of the learnt association between two stimuli. The learnt association between the sound of a bell and food establishes a new S-R relationship between the sound of the bell (S) and salivation (R)

4. Integral Aspect of Conditioning

   • Reinforcement
     • in order for a required response to be repeated, the association must be reinforced.
   • Time Relationships
     • 4 possibilities: simultaneous conditioning, delayed conditioning, trace conditioning, backward conditioning
   • Extinction & spontaneous recovery
     • When the stimulus not longer leads to the required response - called extinction. the reaction could be spontaneously be recovered after extinction.
   • Generalisations & discriminations
     • an organisation can learn to respond to similar stimuli even if the original stimuli is absent (generalisation)
       • An organism can also learn to respond differently to similar stimuli (discrimination). The latter normally done through a particular training process.

5. Emotions

   • studying classical conditions as a method of learning, has a great value in coping with fear, anxiety, and anger,
     • develops positive and negative attitudes