Classical conditioning

• Behaviourism- 


  Also known as Black box psychology as they only measure behaviour that can be observed.

  They do not measure thoughts or feelings; these cannot be seen. Most of the research was conducted in labs on animals
• Hard determinism - 


  Ignores the role of free will and would propose that we have no conscious control
• Environmental determinism- 


  The belief that behaviour is caused by features of our environment that we can not control
• Basic assumptions of behaviourist approach -


  1)Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learned

  2)Only study behaviour that is observable and measurable

  3)Most of research is conducted in controlled scientific lab studies

  4)Research conducted on animals is valid as they share same principles of learning

  5)We are born blank slates, there is no genetic influence on behaviour
• Classical conditioning- 


  Learning happens by association is made between a previously neutral stimuli and a reflex response
• Pavlov's research (AO1)- 


  He conducted an experiment on dogs. At first when he rang a bell, the dogs made no response (bell is neutral stimulus). He would give the dog food after he rang the bell (food was unconditioned stimulus). Eventually the dog would salivate on hearing the bell (bell become conditioned stimulus)
• Stimulus generalisation- 


  When a response that has been previously trained to be elicited by one stimulus can be elicited by a different, but physically similar stimulus
• Stimulus discrimination- 


  Involves the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli
• Spontaneous recovery-


  Refers to the return of a conditioned response (in a weaker form) after a period of time following extinction
• Strength- development of therapies: 


  The development of therapies to reduce anxiety associated with phobias. Systematic desensitisation is based upon replacing one conditional response (anxiety) with another (relaxation) in response to a phobia. This approach had been found to be 75% effective for a range of phobias. Therefore, Pavlov has contributed to our understanding of human behaviour
• Weakness- Different species 


  Different species have different capabilities to learn through classical conditioning. Seligman proposed concept of biological preparedness to explain this. Animals are prepared to learn associations that are significant to them in terms of survival needs. Therefore one could argue that Pavlov has taught us little about human behaviour as humans are biologically and cognitively different to dogs
• Little Albert Study Method-

  -Little Albert (11 months) was bought to lab with Watson & Rayner

  -He would happily play with white rate

  -They decided to see if they could make him afraid of it by banging a large iron bar behind him

  -This was done several times whilst he played with rat
• Little Albert Study Results-

  -Researcher then stopped banging the metal bar and put rat back near Albert

  -He became frightened just from the seeing the rat
• Little Albert Study Conclusions -

  -Albert learned to associate rate with a fear response

  -Through classical conditioning he had learned to show a fear response towards an object that he hasn't previously feared

  -Although he was conditioned to fear only rats, this fear generalised to white rabbit and other white object
• Strength of classical conditioning- (Little Albert)

  -Watson & Rayner conditioned Little Albert to be afraid of rats, this demonstrates that the principles of classical conditioning apply to humans and not just dogs

  -Therefore, Pavlov's research has informed us about human behaviour
• Weakness of classical conditioning - Basic assumptions

  -Behaviourist approach doesn't take biology into account

  -Dopamine is associated with our attention and motivation

  -An excess of D2 dopamine receptors is linked to development of schizophrenia

  -Suggests that behaviourism alone can not adequately explain all human behaviours