Classical conditioning

Supporting evidence

AO1

An (UCS) unconditioned stimulus is something that naturally triggers a response without prior learning or conditioning.

AO3

Supporting evidence comes from the studies of Pavlov’s dogs and Little Albert.
Little Albert was successfully conditioned into having a fear response (CR) to a white mouse. This mouse was previously a neutral stimulus, however when paired with the UCS of banging a metal bar behind his head, Albert began to associate the UCR of fear with the white mouse. Proved it is possible to create a new CS and CR

Conflicting evidence

AO1

An (UCR) unconditioned response is an automatic reflex triggered by an unconditioned stimulus (basic biological instinct).

AO3

Conflicting evidence is the fact that novel behaviours and complex behaviours are not explained. Very good for simple associations, but can’t help us understand things we have never experiences, or much more complex responses.
The ‘fear response’ that Watson and Rayner identified in Little Albert was vague, leaving their results open to interpretation and subjectivity. Reduces repeatability and reliability of their results. Case study was only on one boy, this is not generalisable to the wider population

Opposing theories

AO1
A (NS) neutral stimulus is a stimulus that initially does not elicit any learned response.

AO3
Opposing theories includes Operant conditioning (which is not learning by association, but learning by reward/consequences) and Social learning theory (which is learning through observation). Mere existence of such strong alternatives undermines the validity of this model

Usefulness

AO1

A (CS) conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that was previously neutral.

AO3
Usefulness to society is that it can provide treatments (aversion therapy/exposure therapy) for people with phobias or addiction.

Testability

AO1

(CR) Conditioned response is a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

AO3

This theory is testable, which is seen through the studies that have been done