Psych: Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

Basic form of learning in which a stimulus that produces an innate reflex becomes associated with a previously neutral stimulus, which then acquires the power to elicit essentially the same response

Unconditioned response (UR)

Response that does not have to be learned (reflex)

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Stimulus that elicits a response (reflex) without any prior learning

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place

Conditioned response (CR)

Response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned

Conditioned Food Aversions

Application of Classical Conditioning. Biological tendency in which an organism learns to avoid food with a certain sight, smell, or taste after a single experience, if eating it is followed by illness

Extinction

Weakening of a conditioned association in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus or reinforcer

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a time delay

Higher-Order Conditioning

Three or more stimuli. Example: Thud – pffst – soda

Phobia

Acquired fear out of proportion to the real threat of an object or of a situation

Fear conditioning

Process of classically conditioning animals to fear neutral objects

“Little Albert” Research Method

Little Albert (11 months old) was presented with neutral objects (a white rat, rabbit, dog, and costume masks) that provoked a neutral response. During conditioning trials, when Albert reached for the white rat (CS), a loud clanging sound (US) scared him (UR). Eventually, the pairing of the rat (CS) and the clanging sound (US) led to the rat’s producing fear (CR) on its own. The fear response generalized to other stimuli presented with the rat initially, such as the costume masks.