Psychology Themes and variations by Weiten (6th Canadian Edition)

Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response (CR) after a period without exposure to the conditioned stimulus (CS).
- Observed by Pavlov in his experiments with dogs.
- Conducted a study where a dog’s CR (salivation) to a tone was extinguished, then showed recovery when the tone was presented again after a rest interval.
- The recovered response was weaker than the original CR.
Renewal Effect: The phenomenon where a conditioned response returns when the organism is back in the environment where the original conditioning occurred, after being extinguished in a different context.
- This suggests extinction suppresses the CR rather than erasing it, indicating that the association remains.
- Real-world implications: Unwanted conditioned responses can resurface unexpectedly after behavior therapy.

Stimulus Generalization: The tendency of organisms to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus.
- Example: A dog salivating not just to a specific tone but also to other similar tones.
- Adaptive function: Helps organisms adapt to environments where they may not encounter the exact same stimuli repeatedly.
- The amount of generalization depends on the similarity to the original CS.
- Generalization gradients can map responses to different stimuli, with stronger responses to stimuli that closely resemble the original CS.

Little Albert Experiment: Conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner to demonstrate stimulus generalization in conditioning.
- Albert was initially unafraid of a white rat, which was paired with a loud noise until he developed a fear of the rat (CS).
- This fear generalized to other white, furry objects (rabbits, dogs, fur coats, etc.).
Follow-Up on Albert's Fate: Debate existed about Little Albert's identity and the long-term effects of the experiment. Recent investigations suggest he lived a short life with health issues but the implications of the study sparked ongoing discussions about ethics in research.

Stimulus Discrimination: The ability of an organism to differentiate between the original CS and other similar stimuli, leading to a specific response only to the original CS.
- Essential for survival: Animals must distinguish between harmful and safe stimuli (e.g., poisonous vs. edible food).
- Involves a gradual learning process where the organism learns to respond favorably to the CS while ignoring closely related stimuli.
- Discrimination gradients narrow as the organism learns to differentiate responses correctly.

Higher-Order Conditioning: A process where a conditioned stimulus (CS) can become associated with another stimulus (new CS) without being directly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
- Example: After conditioning a dog to salivate to a tone, pairing the tone with a red light can make the light elicit salivation.

Role of Cognition in Conditioning: Modern theories, such as those proposed by Robert Rescorla, highlight the importance of expectations in classical conditioning.
- Stimuli serve as signals that predict outcomes, influencing the strength of CRs based on their reliability.
- Research involved varying CS-UCS pairing rates, demonstrating how predictive value affects learning.
- Organisms learn based on probabilities between responses and their outcomes.

Conditioned Taste Aversion: Demonstrated that certain associations (taste-nausea) are easier to condition than others due to biological predispositions (Garcia Effect).
- Seligman’s "sauce béarnaise syndrome" illustrates taste aversion occurring after a long delay between the CS (sauce) and UCS (flu).
- Natural selection might favor organisms that quickly learn to avoid harmful substances.
Preparedness: Concept suggesting that certain fears (snakes, heights) are more easily conditioned due to evolutionary history, while fears associated with modern dangers (hammers) are less prone to conditioning.