Domain 3: Module 16 PPT

Thinking About Psychology:

The Science of Mind and Behavior 4e

Charles T. Blair-Broeker & Randal M. Ernst

Lecture Slides

by Kent Korek - Germantown High School

BFW Publishers, © 2019

• Explore different

periods of
development, and
gain insight into how
we grow up.

• Discover how we

learn and how
language develops.

Major Concepts

• Learning
• Classical conditioning

• Stimulus/response relationship

Learning is the process of gaining, through experience, relatively permanent information and behaviors

Learning

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus gains the power to cause a response

• The stimulus predicts another stimulus that already produces that response

• Form of learning by association

Classical

Conditioning

Stimulus is anything in the environment that one can respond to

Response is any
behavior or action

Stimulus-Response

Stimulus-Response
Relationship

Stimulus-Response
Relationship

Major Concepts

• Unconditioned

stimulus (US)

• Unconditioned

response (UR)

• Conditioned stimulus

(CS)

• Conditioned response

(CR)

An unconditioned stimulus (US) is a stimulus that triggers a response reflexively and automatically
• Classical conditioning cannot happen without an unconditioned
stimulus
• Unconditioned stimuli are all around us. Think about:

The smell of a favorite food, which immediately makes you feel hungry

○

A feather tickling your nose, which causes you to sneeze

An onion's smell as you cut it, which makes your eyes water

○

Pollen from grass and flowers, which causes you to sneeze

○

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

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An unconditioned response (UR) is an automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus

•The relationship between the US and UR must be reflexive and automatic, not learned

•Some more examples of unconditioned responses include:
○Gasping in pain after being stung by a bee

○Jerking your hand back after touching a hot plate on the oven

○Jumping at the sound of a loud noise

○Twitching your leg in response to a doctor tapping on your knee

○Salivating in response to a sour taste

○Jumping back from a growling dog

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral
stimulus that, through learning, gains the power to cause a response

•The CS must be a neutral stimulus before conditioning occurs

○Bad burrito: You eat a burrito for lunch but become ill shortly after. While the food you ate was previously a neutral stimulus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus through its association with the unconditioned stimulus (illness). As a result, you may develop a taste aversion in which just the idea of eating that same food again causes you to feel ill.

○Dog attack: You are out riding your bike one day and are attacked by a dog. Now, the place where you were attacked has become a conditioned stimulus and you experience fear every time you pass that spot.

○Lunch bell: Students hear the sound of a bell right before they are released for lunch. Eventually, just the sound of the bell alone causes the students to become hungry.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A conditioned responses (CR) is the response to the conditioned stimulus

●Usually the same behavior as the UR

○If you witness a terrible car accident, you might develop a fear of driving. Many
phobias begin after a person has had a negative experience with the fear object.

○If your pet is accustomed to being fed after hearing the sound of a can or bag being opened, they might become very excited when hearing that sound.

○If your child receives regular immunizations and cries as a result of these
injections, they may come to associate a healthcare provider's white jacket with this painful experience. Eventually, the child might begin to cry whenever they see anyone wearing a white coat.

○If you are bitten by a barking dog, you may experience feelings of fear and anxiety whenever you hear barking.

Conditioned Response (CR)

Multiple Choice

An example of an unconditioned stimulus is

• the sound of a bell
• the smell of food
• the feeling of rain
• the sight of a dog

Multiple Choice

An example of a neutral stimulus turned conditioned stimulus is....

• a light that is paired with a shock in Pavlov's experiment
• a bell that is paired with food in Pavlov's experiment
• a sound that is paired with a treat in Pavlov's experiment
• a touch that is paired with a punishment in Pavlov's experiment

Major Concepts

• Acquisition

• Extinction

Acquisition is the process of developing a learned response

• The subject learns a new response (CR) to a previously neutral stimulus (CS)

Acquisition

Acquisition

Extinction, in classical conditioning, is the
diminishing of a learned response after repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone

• In classical conditioning, the continual
presentation of the CS without the US

Extinction

Extinction

Major Concepts

• Ivan Pavlov

• Pavlov’s Experiment

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist and learning theorist famous for the discovery of classical conditioning, in which learning occurs
through association

Ivan Pavlov

Pavlov’s Method of Collecting Saliva

Pavlov’s Research Apparatus

​https://youtu.be/D91H_sbC9zE?si=_pKUHgNtXFqkaBoH

Pavlov’s Experiment

Pavlov’s Experiment

Pavlov’s Experiment

Major Concepts

• Generalization

• Discrimination

Generalization is producing the same response to two similar stimuli

• The more similar the substitute stimulus is to the original used in
conditioning, the stronger the generalized response

Generalization

Discrimination is the ability to distinguish between
two signals or stimuli and produce different responses

• The subject learns that one stimuli predicts the US and the other does not

Discrimination

Major Concepts

• Behaviorism
• John Watson

• Little Albert
• Classical conditioning applications

Behaviorism is the theory that psychology should only study observable behaviors, not mental processes

• Founded by John Watson

Behaviorism

John Watson, the founder of behaviorism, the theory that psychology should restrict its efforts
to studying observable behaviors, not mental processes

John Watson

• 11-month old infant

• Watson and Rosalie Rayner, conditioned Albert to be frightened of white rats

• Led to questions about experimental ethics

Little Albert

Little Albert – Before Conditioning

Little Albert – During Conditioning

Little Albert – After Conditioning

Little Albert - Generalization

• Using conditioned emotional states in advertising
• Conditioned emotional states in social relationships
• Conditioned negative emotions

Classical Conditioning Applications

Major Concepts

• Cognition
• Robert Rescorla

• Taste aversion

Cognition is all mental processes associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering

• What effect does cognition have on learning?

Cognition

Robert Rescorla developed, along
with colleague Allan Wagner, a
theory that emphasized the
importance of cognitive processes in classical conditioning

• Pointed out that subjects had to determine (think) whether the CS was a reliable predictor of the US

Robert Rescorla

• Subjects become classically conditioned to avoid specific tastes, because the tastes are associated with nausea

Taste Aversion

• Biologically predisposed

to conditioning