Classical Conditioning

• The behaviourist approach assumes that everyone is born as a blank slate (Watson 1930) and that all behaviours are learnt through your environment.
• Behaviour can be understood through a stimulus- response approach (CC) or reward mechanism (OC). Imitation of behaviours can be measured but memory cannot be measured as cannot be observed.
• Characteristics of classical conditioning:

  It is learning via association- not active thought

  Extinction occurs if paring between US and NS ceases

  Spontaneous recorder can occur from a later US-CS pairing
• The unconditioned stimulus (US) produces an unconditioned reactions (UR). The US is paired at the same time with a neutral stimulus (NS) repeatedly/ intensively. This forms an association between the stimulus as the NS begins to gains some characteristics of the US. Now the two have been associated, when the US is removed and the NS is present alone it illicits a conditioned reaction (CR)