LearningCurve 7a: What Is Learning and Classical Conditioning?

Which statement about John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner's Little Albert study is FALSE?

The methods of Watson and Rayner are in compliance with today's ethical standards for the treatment of human participants.

Learning typically involves:

a long-lasting change in the state of the learner.

Jennifer's cat loves treats. All Jennifer has to do is shake the treat bag and her cat comes running. Her cat will not come running, however, when Jennifer just calls for her. So Jennifer decides to teach her cat to associate the sound of the treat bag with being called so that she will come when she is called. Jennifer has been calling her cat and shaking the treat bag every day for a week, but her cat still will not come when just being called. Jennifer probably should not give up her training plan because her cat is still in the _____ phase of learning.

acquisition

The amount that Ivan Pavlov's dogs salivated gradually increased over several trials of pairing the tone with the food. This is because Ivan Pavlov's dogs went through the _____ phase of learning.

acquisition

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner demonstrated that _____ caused the fear responses in Little Albert.

classical conditioning

Ever since she foolishly drank too much tequila at a rock concert and vomited all over her best friend, Erin becomes nauseous at the smell or taste of tequila. In the terminology of classical conditioning, the smell of tequila is now a(n) _____ stimulus.

conditioned

Jonas, a veteran of the war in Iraq, suffers from PTSD. Now, back home in a quiet California neighborhood, he jumps when he hears a firecracker or a car backfire. In Pavlov's terms, these sounds are BEST thought of as _____ stimuli.

conditioned

Ariel ordered pizza from a national pizza chain and became very ill immediately after eating it. Years later, Ariel still feels queasy when she sees an advertisement for the pizza chain or drives by one of its establishments. In this example, the pizza establishment is the:

conditioned stimulus.

When a _____ is presented without the unconditioned stimulus, _____ will gradually occur.

conditioned stimulus; extinction

Without _____, there would be no learning.

experience

Baxter, a 6-year-old, was recently bitten by his grandmother's bulldog. Baxter sees a different kind of small dog in the park a week later and begins to cry, but he does not cry when he sees a large dog. Baxter's behavior in response to the small dog indicates that he is showing _____, and his behavior in response to the large dog indicates that he is showing _____.

generalization; discrimination

In _____, repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding.

habituation

In classical conditioning, acquisition refers to the:

initial pairing of a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus.

Newton ordered pizza from a national pizza chain and became very ill immediately after eating the pizza. Years later, Newton still feels queasy when he sees an advertisement for the pizza chain or drives by one of its establishments. Newton has developed a(n):

learned food aversion.

Maceo hated having his diaper changed but he loved cake. So, Maceo's father decided to use classical conditioning to make diaper changes less miserable. Every time he changed Maceo's diaper, he would play the same song and give Maceo a small bite of cake. Now, as soon as Maceo hears the song, he is happy to have the diaper changed. The conditioned stimulus is the:

song.

By repeatedly presenting the rat without the loud noise, one could use extinction to eliminate Little Albert's fear of a rat. However, a day later, Albert might show fear of the rat again because of _____.

spontaneous recovery

Fabian ordered chicken from a national chicken chain restaurant and became very ill immediately after eating it. Years later, Fabian still feels queasy when he sees an advertisement for the chicken chain or drives by one of its establishments. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus is the:

the bacteria that caused the illness.

After being around roses at her grandmother's funeral, Laura feels sad when she is given a bouquet of roses for Valentine's Day. In this example, the conditioned stimulus is:

the bouquet.

Neta is training her dog, Panda, to bark when there is a knock on the door. She already knows that squeaking a mouse toy will make Panda bark. So, she decides to squeak the mouse and knock on the door at the same time to condition Panda to bark. What is the conditioned stimulus in this case?

the knock on the door

Ever since she foolishly drank too much tequila at a rock concert and vomited all over her best friend, Erin becomes nauseous at the smell or taste of tequila. In this example, the conditioned stimulus is _____ and the conditioned response is _____.

the smell or taste of tequila; nausea