Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

First, let's review . . .​

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is the best example of learning?

• A dog salivates when food is placed in its mouth.

• A honeybee stings when its hive is threatened.

• A child cries when his brother hits him.

• A child feels sick after drinking sour milk.

• A child flinches when he sees lightning because he is afraid of thunder.

Learning =

acquiring behavior through experience​

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT an example of associative learning?

• A child flinches when he sees lightning because he is afraid of thunder.

• An infant sticks out her tongue to imitate her dad when she sees him stick out his tongue.

• A man's heart races each time he walks down the block where he was once assaulted.

• A student starts participating in class because her teacher has started giving candy prizes.

Associative learning =

learning certain events occur together​

​We can learn to associate:

• ​two stimuli

  • ​e.g. a trauma and a location

• ​OR a behavior and its consequences

  • ​e.g. participating in class and getting candy

What's going on

in the following video?​

​9) classical conditioning

• ​= learning to associate two stimuli

  • ​What are the two stimuli Dwight learned to associate with one another?

The experiments of Ivan Pavlov

illustrate classical conditioning

The components of

classical conditioning:​

​10) neutral stimulus

​produces no response

(before learning)

​11) unconditioned stimulus (US)

naturally and automatically triggers a certain response

​12) unconditioned response (UR)

unlearned, naturally occurring response to a certain stimulus

​13) conditioned stimulus (CS)

(originally the neutral stimulus); comes to trigger a new response after being associated with an unconditioned stimulus

​14) conditioned response (CR)

new (learned) response to a previously neutral

(but now conditioned) stimulus

UNconditioned = UNlearned (natural)

​

​

conditioned response

is the same as or similar to

unconditioned response

​

​

UNconditioned stimulus

naturally produces

UNconditioned response

​

conditioned stimulus

is a LEARNED trigger

for the conditioned response

​

​

Multiple Choice

In the Dwight/Jim example, what is the neutral stimulus?

• Jim offering a mint

• the computer sound

• Dwight reaching out his hand

Multiple Choice

In the Dwight/Jim example, what is the unconditioned stimulus?

• Jim offering a mint

• the computer sound

• Dwight reaching out his hand

Multiple Choice

In the Dwight/Jim example, Dwight reaching out his hand is

• the conditioned response

• the unconditioned response

• both the conditioned and unconditioned response