PSYC1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Classical Conditioning, Complex Differential Form, Habituation
Learning in psychology
Is a kind of behaviour theory
•
Enduring changes in response to a stimulus due to environment, past
experiences etc.
•
Thus, learning theory typically explains changes in an organism's behaviour
•
Simplest form of learning
Stimulus --> response
Habituation - respond LESS strongly to repeated stimuli over time
Found in most basic form of organism (amoeba, sea slug etc.)
§
○
Sensitisation - respond MORE strongly (or similarly) to repeated stimuli
over time
○
•
In human experiment, typically measure physiological responses such as
heart rate, sweat etc.
•
Learning associations between stimuli
Slightly more complex form of behaviour learning
•
Ivan Pavlov
Late 19th century physiologist interested in the properties of saliva and its
role in digestion
•
Animal research - looking at dog's salivation response during digestion
•
Stumbled across a phenomenon he termed 'psychic reflex' - the phenomenon
of an indirect stimulus eliciting the autonomic (involuntary) salivary reflex
rather than a stimulus that operates directly on a stomach (eg. food)
•
Pavlov's experiment:
•
Classical conditioning
A form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral
stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic
response
•
Pavlov observed that the dogs were salivating to neutral stimuli associated
with the act of feeding the dog their food (eg. sounds of his assistant's
footsteps approaching the lab)
•
These observations led him to conduct systematic studies of the association
between food and a stimulus that signals food
•
Classical conditioning: before•
Classical conditioning: during•
Classical conditioning: after•
Classical conditioning: terminology
UCS - stimulus that does instinctually elicit an automatic, reflexive
response from the organism (non-neutral stimulus)
○
UCR - an automatic/instinctual response to a non-neutral stimulus
○
CS - a neutral stimulus that does not elicit any response
○
CR - a response that was previously associated with a non-neutral
stimulus (UCS) that is now elicited by a neutral stimulus (CS)
○
•
Trial - each pairing of the CS and UCS
○
Inter-trial interval (ITI) - time between trials
○
Inter-stimulus interval (ISI) - time between start of CS and start of UCS
○
Forward conditioning - when the CS is presented before the UCS
○
Backward conditioning - when the UCS is presented before the CS
○
Phases of conditioning
Acquisition•
Temporal contiguity
CS before UCS is most effective
§
○
Extinction•
Spontaneous recovery•
Properties of stimulus
Generalisation
When stimuli that are similar (but not identical) to the CS elicits the CR
○
Pavlov found that his dogs demonstrated CR to tones similar to the CS
○
•
Discrimination
Showing a weaker CR to stimuli that differ from the original CS
○
The opposite of stimulus generalisation, occurs when an organism
differentiate stimuli and does not respond to the ones that differ from
CS
○
•
Higher-order conditioning
Developing a CR to a new CS after the new CS has been paired with a
previously learned CS
•
Eg. once the metronome (CS1) has been conditioned, then a second-order
stimulus (eg. a light: CS2) can be paired with the metronome (without the
original stimulus, food)
•
If the pairing is a success, light will elicit salivation response as well, even
though it has never been paired with food
•
Classical conditioning in daily life
Advertising - pairing products with movie stars, sports figures, models etc.
Potential issue with latent inhibition - difficulty in conditioning new
stimulus due to the previously learnt association
○
•
Fetishes may have some basis in classical conditioning•
Disgust reactions may also have foundations in classical conditioning•
Fears and phobias
Potential cause
Eg. little albert experiment
Baby was exposed to different animals, but every time he was
presented with a rat, he was scared by loud banging -
conditioned to have a rat phobia
§
○
•
Treatment
If phobias can be acquired through conditioning, then in theory it can
be extinct as well
○
Gradual exposure
Eg. put little Albert in the room full with children who do not fear
of rats
§
○
Counter-conditioning - pairing the fear stimulus with other pleasant
stimuli
Eg. associate rats with favourite snacks (have a snack everytime a
rat is present)
§
○
•
7B: Classical conditioning
Sunday, 3 June 2018
8:31 pm
Learning in psychology
Is a kind of behaviour theory•
Enduring changes in response to a stimulus due to environment, past
experiences etc.
•
Thus, learning theory typically explains changes in an organism's behaviour•
Simplest form of learning
Stimulus --> response
Habituation - respond LESS strongly to repeated stimuli over time
Found in most basic form of organism (amoeba, sea slug etc.)
§
○
Sensitisation - respond MORE strongly (or similarly) to repeated stimuli
over time
○
•
In human experiment, typically measure physiological responses such as
heart rate, sweat etc.
•
Learning associations between stimuli
Slightly more complex form of behaviour learning•
Ivan Pavlov
Late 19th century physiologist interested in the properties of saliva and its
role in digestion
•
Animal research - looking at dog's salivation response during digestion•
Stumbled across a phenomenon he termed 'psychic reflex' - the phenomenon
of an indirect stimulus eliciting the autonomic (involuntary) salivary reflex
rather than a stimulus that operates directly on a stomach (eg. food)
•
Pavlov's experiment:•
Classical conditioning
A form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral
stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic
response
•
Pavlov observed that the dogs were salivating to neutral stimuli associated
with the act of feeding the dog their food (eg. sounds of his assistant's
footsteps approaching the lab)
•
These observations led him to conduct systematic studies of the association
between food and a stimulus that signals food
•
Classical conditioning: before•
Classical conditioning: during•
Classical conditioning: after•
Classical conditioning: terminology
UCS - stimulus that does instinctually elicit an automatic, reflexive
response from the organism (non-neutral stimulus)
○
UCR - an automatic/instinctual response to a non-neutral stimulus
○
CS - a neutral stimulus that does not elicit any response
○
CR - a response that was previously associated with a non-neutral
stimulus (UCS) that is now elicited by a neutral stimulus (CS)
○
•
Trial - each pairing of the CS and UCS
○
Inter-trial interval (ITI) - time between trials
○
Inter-stimulus interval (ISI) - time between start of CS and start of UCS
○
Forward conditioning - when the CS is presented before the UCS
○
Backward conditioning - when the UCS is presented before the CS
○
Phases of conditioning
Acquisition•
Temporal contiguity
CS before UCS is most effective
§
○
Extinction•
Spontaneous recovery•
Properties of stimulus
Generalisation
When stimuli that are similar (but not identical) to the CS elicits the CR
○
Pavlov found that his dogs demonstrated CR to tones similar to the CS
○
•
Discrimination
Showing a weaker CR to stimuli that differ from the original CS
○
The opposite of stimulus generalisation, occurs when an organism
differentiate stimuli and does not respond to the ones that differ from
CS
○
•
Higher-order conditioning
Developing a CR to a new CS after the new CS has been paired with a
previously learned CS
•
Eg. once the metronome (CS1) has been conditioned, then a second-order
stimulus (eg. a light: CS2) can be paired with the metronome (without the
original stimulus, food)
•
If the pairing is a success, light will elicit salivation response as well, even
though it has never been paired with food
•
Classical conditioning in daily life
Advertising - pairing products with movie stars, sports figures, models etc.
Potential issue with latent inhibition - difficulty in conditioning new
stimulus due to the previously learnt association
○
•
Fetishes may have some basis in classical conditioning•
Disgust reactions may also have foundations in classical conditioning•
Fears and phobias
Potential cause
Eg. little albert experiment
Baby was exposed to different animals, but every time he was
presented with a rat, he was scared by loud banging -
conditioned to have a rat phobia
§
○
•
Treatment
If phobias can be acquired through conditioning, then in theory it can
be extinct as well
○
Gradual exposure
Eg. put little Albert in the room full with children who do not fear
of rats
§
○
Counter-conditioning - pairing the fear stimulus with other pleasant
stimuli
Eg. associate rats with favourite snacks (have a snack everytime a
rat is present)
§
○
•
7B: Classical conditioning
Sunday, 3 June 2018
8:31 pm
Learning in psychology
Is a kind of behaviour theory•
Enduring changes in response to a stimulus due to environment, past
experiences etc.
•
Thus, learning theory typically explains changes in an organism's behaviour•
Simplest form of learning
Stimulus --> response
Habituation - respond LESS strongly to repeated stimuli over time
Found in most basic form of organism (amoeba, sea slug etc.)
§
○
Sensitisation - respond MORE strongly (or similarly) to repeated stimuli
over time
○
•
In human experiment, typically measure physiological responses such as
heart rate, sweat etc.
•
Learning associations between stimuli
Slightly more complex form of behaviour learning•
Ivan Pavlov
Late 19th century physiologist interested in the properties of saliva and its
role in digestion
•
Animal research - looking at dog's salivation response during digestion•
Stumbled across a phenomenon he termed 'psychic reflex' - the phenomenon
of an indirect stimulus eliciting the autonomic (involuntary) salivary reflex
rather than a stimulus that operates directly on a stomach (eg. food)
•
Pavlov's experiment:•
Classical conditioning
A form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral
stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic
response
•
Pavlov observed that the dogs were salivating to neutral stimuli associated
with the act of feeding the dog their food (eg. sounds of his assistant's
footsteps approaching the lab)
•
These observations led him to conduct systematic studies of the association
between food and a stimulus that signals food
•
Classical conditioning: before
•
Classical conditioning: during
•
Classical conditioning: after
•
Classical conditioning: terminology
UCS - stimulus that does instinctually elicit an automatic, reflexive
response from the organism (non-neutral stimulus)
○
UCR - an automatic/instinctual response to a non-neutral stimulus
○
CS - a neutral stimulus that does not elicit any response
○
CR - a response that was previously associated with a non-neutral
stimulus (UCS) that is now elicited by a neutral stimulus (CS)
○
•
Trial - each pairing of the CS and UCS
○
Inter-trial interval (ITI) - time between trials
○
Inter-stimulus interval (ISI) - time between start of CS and start of UCS
○
Forward conditioning - when the CS is presented before the UCS
○
Backward conditioning - when the UCS is presented before the CS
○
Phases of conditioning
Acquisition•
Temporal contiguity
CS before UCS is most effective
§
○
Extinction•
Spontaneous recovery•
Properties of stimulus
Generalisation
When stimuli that are similar (but not identical) to the CS elicits the CR
○
Pavlov found that his dogs demonstrated CR to tones similar to the CS
○
•
Discrimination
Showing a weaker CR to stimuli that differ from the original CS
○
The opposite of stimulus generalisation, occurs when an organism
differentiate stimuli and does not respond to the ones that differ from
CS
○
•
Higher-order conditioning
Developing a CR to a new CS after the new CS has been paired with a
previously learned CS
•
Eg. once the metronome (CS1) has been conditioned, then a second-order
stimulus (eg. a light: CS2) can be paired with the metronome (without the
original stimulus, food)
•
If the pairing is a success, light will elicit salivation response as well, even
though it has never been paired with food
•
Classical conditioning in daily life
Advertising - pairing products with movie stars, sports figures, models etc.
Potential issue with latent inhibition - difficulty in conditioning new
stimulus due to the previously learnt association
○
•
Fetishes may have some basis in classical conditioning•
Disgust reactions may also have foundations in classical conditioning•
Fears and phobias
Potential cause
Eg. little albert experiment
Baby was exposed to different animals, but every time he was
presented with a rat, he was scared by loud banging -
conditioned to have a rat phobia
§
○
•
Treatment
If phobias can be acquired through conditioning, then in theory it can
be extinct as well
○
Gradual exposure
Eg. put little Albert in the room full with children who do not fear
of rats
§
○
Counter-conditioning - pairing the fear stimulus with other pleasant
stimuli
Eg. associate rats with favourite snacks (have a snack everytime a
rat is present)
§
○
•
7B: Classical conditioning
Sunday, 3 June 2018 8:31 pm
Document Summary
Enduring changes in response to a stimulus due to environment, past experiences etc. Thus, learning theory typically explains changes in an organism"s behaviour. Habituation - respond less strongly to repeated stimuli over time. Found in most basic form of organism (amoeba, sea slug etc. ) Sensitisation - respond more strongly (or similarly) to repeated stimuli over time. In human experiment, typically measure physiological responses such as heart rate, sweat etc. Late 19th century physiologist interested in the properties of saliva and its role in digestion. Animal research - looking at dog"s salivation response during digestion. Stumbled across a phenomenon he termed "psychic reflex" - the phenomenon of an indirect stimulus eliciting the autonomic (involuntary) salivary reflex rather than a stimulus that operates directly on a stomach (eg. food) A form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response.
