Acquisition: process of developing and strengthening a conditioned response through repeated pairings of neutral stimulus with unconditioned stimulus

• more intense US produces stronger / more rapid conditioning (than less intense US)

• more intense NS produces stronger / more rapid conditioning (than less intense NS)

Extinction: when conditioned response is weakened/eliminated by repeatedly presenting CS alone

• ex: anielle was really scared of cats, so more exposure to declan w no problems helped extinguish that fear

Spontaneous recovery

• extinguished response can be reacquired rapidly when the CS or NS is once again paired with US

• when paired again, it will take fewer trials to achieve a strong level of conditioning

Stimulus generalization: tendency for CR to occur in presence of stimulus similar to CS

• ex: Albert or whatever and the bunny ➝ all white things

• meaning of the word is more important than the sound of the word

• like sensitization, but sensitization happens without a conditioning process

Stimulus discrimination: tendency for a response to be caused more by one stimulus than another

Higher-Order Conditioning

• basic conditioning: basic reaction to an event, such as a dog salivating at sight of food

• higher-order conditioning: transfer of conditioning to another stimulus through association

• several steps between something occurring and the reaction

sensory preconditioning: when one stimulus is conditioned as a CS, another previously paired stimulus can also become a CS

• stimulus came first

• ex: toolshed has wasps. i got stung by a wasp and now i’m afraid of wasps, so i’m afraid of the toolshed