classical conditioning

• classical conditioning 


  a process of behaviour modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a stimulus that is repeatedly presented with an unconditioned stimulus
• classical conditioning is learning by association
• unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is a stimulus that can already elicit a response
• unconditioned response (UR) is a behaviour that is already elicited by a stimulus
• neutral stimulus (NS) is a stimulus that is not associated with the unconditioned relationship
• conditioned stimulus (CS) is a new stimulus we deliver at the same time we give the old stimulus
• conditioned response (CR) behaviour elicited by the conditioned stimulus
• conditioned relationship (CR) the new stimulus-response relationship we created by associating the new stimulus with the old one
• Pavlov (1927) did an experiment where he used a bell to condition dogs to salivate when they heard it
• Pavlov's aim was to see if the presentation of a precise stimuli would evoke a response in conditions that ensured no direct contact between the dogs and the experimenter.
• Pavlov knew food would lead to salivation (UCS). he then used a metronome (NS). He presented the metronome sound before presenting the food. this was done several times.
• Pavlov found that after a while just the sound of the metronome ticking caused salivation
• Pavlov concluded that environmental stimuli that had no previous relation to a reflex action could, through repeated pairings, trigger the salivation reflex (or other) through the process of association learning
• The conditioned stimulus leads to the a conditioned response - this is called classical conditioning
• a weakness of Pavlov's study is that it was conducted in an artificial environment giving it low ecological validity
• a weakness of Pavlov's study is that he cut holes in the dogs cheeks - this is not very ethical
• A strength of pavlov's research is that his findings have been replicated many times by different researchers
• A limitation of pavlov's research is that he only studied one type of animal so we cannot generalise his results to humans
• A strength of pavlov's research is that he used objective measures such as measuring the amount of saliva produced which makes it reliable
• A strength of pavlows research is that he controlled all the independent variables meaning that any changes in behaviour can be attributed to the IV
• Pavlov found that when a neutral stimulus (food) was paired with an unconditioned stimulus (meat powder), the neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus (bell)
• Pavlov also found that if the bell was presented alone without meat powder, the dog would still produce saliva because they had learned to associate the sound of the bell with food.
• Classical conditioning occurs when a previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus that naturally elicits a response.
• reductionism - classical conditioning reduces all behaviour to leaning through association, ignoring the complexity of behaviour
• stimulus generalisation - the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to produce the same behaviour to a stimulus that is similar
• stimulus discrimination - over a period of the learning only occurs in response to a specific stimulus
• extinction - removal of behaviour ( the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimuli )
• spontaneous recovery - if the stimuli are paired again association will be quickly be relearned