Basic Learning Concepts and Classical Conditioning
What have been some applications of Pavlov's work to human health and well-being?
(1) Drug cravings. Former drug users often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context—with people or in places they associate with previous highs. Thus, drug counselors advise their clients to steer clear of people and settings that may trigger these cravings (2) Food cravings. Classical conditioning makes dieting difficult. We readily associate sugary substances with an enjoyable sweet sensation. Researchers have conditioned healthy volunteers to experience cravings after only one instance of eating a sweet food. Eating one cookie can create hunger for another. People who struggle with their weight often have eaten unhealthy foods thousands of times, leaving them with strongly conditioned responses to eat the very foods that will keep them in poor health. (3) Immune responses. Classical conditioning even works on the body's disease-fighting immune system. When a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences immune responses, the taste by itself may come to produce an immune response.
five major conditioning processes:
1. Acquisition 2. Extinction 3. Spontaneous Recovery 4. Generalization 5. Discrimination
How did Watson apply Pavlov's principles to learned fears?
1.) that human emotions and behaviors, though biologically influenced, are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses 2.) applied classical conditioning principles in his studies of "Little Albert" to demonstrate how specific fears might be conditioned.
"Sex sells!" is a common saying in advertising. Using classical conditioning terms, explain how sexual images in advertisements can condition your response to a product
A sexual image is a US that triggers a UR of interest or arousal. Before the advertisement pairs a product with a sexual image, the product is an NS. Over time the product can become a CS that triggers the CR of interest or arousal
Distinguishing these two kinds of stimuli and responses is easy:
Conditioned = learned; unconditioned = unlearned.
extinction
Extinction is the diminished response that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an impending US (food)..
acquisition
In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. initial learning, of the stimulus-response relationship
Ivan Pavlov (classical conditioning)
Ivan Pavlov was one of the first behaviorists. *Classical conditioning* focuses on learning of *involuntary* emotional or physiological responses, such as fear, increased muscle tension, salivation, or sweating. it refers association of *automatic response with new stimuli*. In classical conditioning, you can program one stimulus to take over for another. *Unconditioned stimulus*: The teacher blows a whistle in the classroom *Unconditioned response*: The students cover their ears and subsequently stop talking Couple the teacher's raised hand (a conditioned stimulus) with using the whistle for a period of time and eventually the students will cover their ears and stop talking (*conditioned response*) with only the teacher's raised hand. Pavlov's research contributed several terms to the world of education. Three major concepts and examples are listed: • Stimulus generalization: Because children feel secure when they see a police officer's uniform, they generalize that all uniforms should make them feel safe • Discrimination: The children realize that not all uniformed people are like police officers • Extinction: The raised hand of the teacher no longer quiets the children
learned associations
Learned associations often operate subtly. Give people a red pen (associated with error marking) rather than a black pen and, when correcting essays, they will spot more errors that result in lower grades. When voting people are more likely to support taxes to aid education if their assigned voting place is in a school. If it is in a church in the conservative south america, they are more supportive of a same-sex marriage ban.
What is learning, and what are some basic forms of learning?
Learning is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors. (1) associative learning, we learn that certain events (2) classical conditioning, we learn to associate two or more stimuli (a stimulus is any event or situation that evokes a response). (3) operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response and its consequences. (4) cognitive learning, we acquire mental information that guides our behavior. (5) observational learning, we learn new behaviors by observing events and watching others.
an experimenter sounds a tone just before delivering an air puff to your blinking eye. After several repetitions, you blink to the tone alone. What is the NS? the US? the UR? the CS? the CR?
NS (neutral stimulus) = tone before procedure US (Unconditioned stimulus) = air puff UR (Unconditioned Response) = blink to air puff CS (Conditioned Stimulus) = tone after procedure CR (Conditioned Response) = blink to tone
Why does Pavlov's work remain so important?
Pavlov taught us that significant psychological phenomena can be studied objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species. classical conditioning techniques are used to improve human health and well being in many areas, including behavioral therapy for some types of psychological disorders. The body's immune system may also respond to classical conditioning.
if the aroma of cake baking sets your mouth to watering, what is the US? the CS? the CR?
US = the cake and its taste CS = the associated aroma CR = salivation to the aroma is the CR
In Watson and Rayner's experiments, "Little Albert" learned to fear a white rat after repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented. In these experiments, what was the US? The UR? The NS? The CS? The CR?
US = the loud noise. UR = the fear response to the noise. NS = the rat before it was paired with the noise. CS = the rat after paring. The CR was fear of the rat.
operant conditioning
We learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results
Higher Order Conditioning or (second-order conditioning)
a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (Also called second-order conditioning.) (light → tone → food)
classical conditioning
a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events is biologically adaptive because it helps humans and other animals prepare for good or bad events. is one way that virtually all organisms learn to adapt to their environment.
the first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, is called __________. When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes weakened, this is _________.
acquisition; extinction
respondent behavior
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus
operant behaviors
behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
continual feelings of worry, anxiety, physical tension, and irritability across many areas of life functioning
why are habits, such as having something sweet with that cup of coffee, so hard to break?
habits form when we repeat behaviors in a given context and as a result learn associations often without our awareness. For example, we may have eaten a sweet pastry with a cup of coffee often enough to associate the flavor of coffee with the treat, so that the cup of coffee alone just doesn't seem right anymore
Conditioning
helps an animal survive and reproduce—by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring
in slasher movies sexually arousing images of women are sometimes paired with violence against women. Based on classical conditioning principles what might be an effect of this pairing?
if viewing an attractive nude or semi nude woman (a US) elicits sexual arousal (a UR), the pairing the US with a new stimulus (violence) could turn the violence into a conditioned stimulus (CS) that also becomes sexually arousing, a conditioned response (CR).
neutral stimulus (NS)
in classical conditioning a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning (the tone, the light, the touch)
unconditional response (UR)
in classical conditioning an unlearned naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US)(such as food in the mouth)
conditioned response (CR)
in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)
unconditioned stimulus (US)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response (the food)
discrimination
in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
conditioned stimulus (CS)
in classical conitioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).
observational learning
learning by observing others; also called social learning
associative learning
learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).
cognitive learning
the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events by watching others or through language
spontaneous recovery
the reappearance of a (weakened) CR after a pause
generalization
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus (CS) to elicit similar responses Can be adaptive
