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>> chap 15
| Question |
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| >> chap 15: classical conditioning. |
| classical conditioning: learning in which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a reflexive response. |
| Ivan Pavlov. > Many behaviours can be learnt through a very simple learning proces, known as classical conditioning, discovered by Ivan Pavlov in the early twentieth century. |
| > In his work with dogs, Pavlov experimented by associationg various sounds with food and found that after a few trials the dogs could be conditioned to salivate when the sound occurred. |
| > Extinction will occur if the conditioned stimulus (CS) occurs many times without ever again being paired with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). |
| The strength of the response will gradually reduce until there is no conditioned response (CR) when the CS is presented. |
| > Spontaneous recovery is said to have occurred if, after a pause of some time during which the CS is never presented, re-introduction of the CS will again cause a low level of the CR. |
| > After conditioning has occurred, the subject may show the CR on presentation of a stimulus that is similar, but not identical, to the CS. |
| (Pavlov discovered that after a dog had been conditioned to salivate in response to the sound of a bell, it would also salivate when a buzzer was sounded even though the buzzer had never been paired with the UCS). |
| This is a demonstration of stimulus generalisation. |
| > If the stimulus that is similar to the CS is frequently presented but never paired with the UCS, there will soon be no response. If the CS is still occasionally paired with the UCS, the response will occur only with the CS, not with a similar stimulus; |
| stimulus discrimination has now occurred. |
| > Acquisition, maintenance, extinction and spontaneous recovery may be illustrated with a learning curve. |
| Examples of classical conditioning in practice. Classical conditioning is happening all around us, and happening to us, all the time. For example, if you start to feel happy because you are walking down the street where your boyfriend/girlfriend lives, |
| that's because you've been classically conditioned. The following are some common examples: |
| Simple behaviour (conditioned reflexes): > any mother who has breast-fed her baby, when it is approaching feeding time and she hears or sees her baby, the breast-milk will be suddenly 'let down' and start to flow from her. |
| > people who have been 'swooped' by magpies will often develop feelings of anxiety when they see a magpie sitting in a tree and may even experience the anxiety when other birds are seen (stimulus generalisation). |
| If this fear is reinforced by extreme 'swooping' events, it may become strong enough to be a phobia. |
| Complex behaviours (phobias). > Phobias are intense, irrational and persistent fears of specific objects or situations. These are often acquired by classical conditioning. |
| Classical conditioning applied in psychotherapy. |
| Graduated exposure: a form of treatment using gradually increasing levels of fear-provoking stimuli paired with induced relaxation, thereby reducing the incidence and level of phobic reaction to the stimulus. |
| Systematic desensitisation: a process of treating a phobia by introducing stimuli that are more and more fear-provoking while simultaneously invoking relaxation. |
| Flooding: a system of treating phobias in which the patient is exposed to extreme levels of the phobic stimulus and guided in relaxation so that the phobic response is extinguished. |
| Aversion therapy: a form of treatment using classical conditioning to cause an undesired behaviour to create an unwanted response, thereby reducing the incidence of the behaviour. |
| > In humans, many reflex responses can be conditioned to occur as a result of a previousy neutral stimulus. An example is your mouth watering at the sight of a photograph of your favourite meal. |
| > Classical conditioning is applied in behavioural therapies such as dealing with phobias through graduated exposure and systematic desensitisation. |
| This therapy involves a person being taught relaxation techniques such as breathing relaxation or progressive muscle relaxation, followed by the gradual exposure to increasing levels of the feared object or animal over several sessions. |
| > Flooding is another exposure technique based on classical conditioning. It uses actual exposure to the feared stimulus at a greater than usual level. |
| The therapist helps the patient use relaxation techniques in order to calm themselves when exposed to the fear-provoking stimulus. |
| The theory is that the patient comes to associate a relaxation response with the objects that previously caused fear. This is not a commonly used technique and careful control is needed to ensure no ill-effects occur. |
| > Aversion therapy is another application of classical conditioning where a person with an unwanted behaviour (for example, nail biting, alcoholism) learns to associate the unwanted behaviour with an unpleasant event. |
| The repeated association between the unwanted behaviour and the unpleasant outcome stops the unwanted behaviour. |
| > One of the most famous (and infamous) cases in the area of classical conditioning was the research conducted by John B. Watson with 'Little Albert'. |
| When Little Albert was allowed to play with a white rat, he showed no fear; he did show fear, however, when a steel bar was struck with a hammer, making a loud noise just behind his back. |
| When Watson paired the rat with the loud noise, Albert cried and, soon afterwards, when the rat was presented but no noise sounded, Albert cried and tried to crawl away from it. |
| Albert also showed fear when presented with a dog, a rabbit, a fur coat and a Santa Claus mask, showing that stimulus generalisation had occurred. This experiment contravened many ethical principles that are in place today. |
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