Learning
and Classical
Conditioning
Agenda
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1. Bell Ringer: Quick Questions (5)
2. Classical Conditioning and Pavlov (20)
3. Jim and Dwight… (5)
4. Little Albert Video… Ethical? (10)
5. Squirt Experiment and Analysis (15), chart
activity
6. Taste Aversion Survey (5)
Bellringer

How would you teach a dog not to jump on
guests as they walk in the door?
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Why does Mr. Throckmorton’s dog Shiner lay
down in the kitchen every day around 6:00?

How would you teach a five year old to put their
toys away?
Learning
A relatively
permanent change in
an organism’s behavior
due to experience or
practice

How do we learn?
We learn by association. Our
minds naturally connect events
that occur in sequence.
 Aristotle- 2000 years ago, he
suggested the law of association
 John Locke & David Hume- 200
yrs ago, they reiterated this law

Associative Learning
 Learning that certain
events occur together
The events can be two
stimuli or a response
and its consequences
Associative Learning:
Stimulus-Stimulus Learning
Associative Learning:
Response-Consequence Learning
Associative Learning:
Response-Consequence Learning
Conditioning
The process of learning
associations.
Classical – 2 stimuli and
anticipate events
Operant – response and
consequence (good/bad)

Classical Conditioning
The behavioral technique
of pairing a naturally
occurring stimulus with a
different stimulus in order to
produce a response which
is not naturally occurring.

Ivan Pavlov 1849-1936
father of classical conditioning
1904 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Pattern for classical
conditioning
Stimulus
–
ReinforcementResponse
Classical Conditioning
Terms
UCS – Unconditioned
stimulus – stimulus that
naturally or
automatically triggers a
response

Classical Conditioning
Terms
– Unconditioned
response – unlearned
naturally occurring response
to UCS
 UCR
Classical Conditioning Terms
– elicits no
response
CS – Conditioned stimulus
– irrelevant stimulus that
after association with
UCS, comes to trigger a
conditioned response
Neutral
Classical Conditioning
Terms
– Conditioned response
– learned response to a
previously neutral CS
 CR
Remember…
Conditioned
=
learned
Unconditioned =
unlearned
Jim trains Dwight on The Office
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What was the UCS? ________________________
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What was the UCR? ________________________
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What was the NS? ________________________
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What was the CS? ________________________
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What was the CR? ________________________
Acquisition
The process of learning a
conditioned response by
introducing a neutral stimulus
before the UCS
 Conditioning is faster w/less
time between CS and UCS
due to repeated pairings; best
time is about half a second
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Acquisition
23
Extinction
The process of unlearning or
removing a conditioned
association.
 Break link between CS and
UCS
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Spontaneous Recovery
 The reappearance, after a
rest period, of an extinguished
conditioned response.
Generalization
The tendency, once a
response has been
conditioned, for stimuli
similar to the CS to elicit
similar responses.

Discrimination
 The learned ability
to distinguish
between a CS and
other stimuli that do
not signal a UCS
Example
A
person is sitting in a chair. Ring
a bell and then have the chair fall
partially backwards causing the
person to most likely grab the
sides of the chair. Repeat a few
times and then just ring the bell so
the person will tense up and grab
the sides of the chair.
Identify the following in the sample
 1. unconditioned stimulus
 2. unconditioned response
 3. conditioned stimulus
 4. conditioned response
 5. generalization
 6. discrimination
 7. spontaneous recovery
 8. extinction
 1.UCS–
chair falling
backwards
 2.UCR– tensing up and
grabbing sides of chair
 3.CS– ringing bell
 4.CR– tensing up and
grabbing sides of chair at
ringing
5.
generalization –hearing
the school bell ring elicits a
similar response
6. discrimination –hearing a
cell phone ring and no
response occurs
 7.
spontaneous recovery –
waiting a day and ring a bell,
response happens again
 8.
extinction –wait a week,
ring a bell and no response
Your Assignment
Create
two different
scenarios like my
example. Identify the
eight terms for each
scenario.
Pavlov’s Legacy
 Pavlov’s
greatest contribution
to psychology is isolating
elementary behaviors from
more complex ones through
objective scientific procedures.
Importance of Pavlov’s work
 Classical
conditioning is one
way that organism’s learn to
adapt to their environment.
 Proved that the process of
learning can be studied
objectively.
Apply Pavlov’s Principles to Human
Health and Well Being
 Advice
former addicts to steer
clear of settings associated with
addiction.
 Counselors provide alcoholics
with experiences that may
reverse their positive
associations with alcohol.
Classical
conditioning
may explain some
emotional disorders like
phobias.
John B. Watson and
Little Albert
Baby Albert Video
Watch and see how baby
Albert is conditioned.
Little Albert
Rat – Neutral stimulus = no response
 Loud noise (UCS) = crying and attempt to
crawl away (UCR)
During conditioning:
 Rat – loud noise = crying and crawling away
(NS)
(UCS)
(UCR)
After Conditioning:
 Rat (CS) = Crying and crawling away (CR)
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John B. Watson
 Watson
later used classical
conditioning procedures to
develop advertising
campaigns for a number of
organizations, including
Maxwell House, making the
“coffee break” an American
custom.
Cognitive Processes
Early behaviorists believed that learned
behaviors of various animals could be
reduced to mindless mechanisms.
However, later behaviorists suggested
that animals learn the predictability of a
stimulus, meaning they learn expectancy
or awareness of a stimulus (Rescorla,
1988).
Biological
Predispositions
Pavlov and Watson believed that laws of
learning were similar for all animals.
Therefore, a pigeon and a person do not
differ in their learning.
However, behaviorists later suggested
that learning is constrained by an
animal’s biology.
Biological Predispositions
John Garcia showed that the
duration between the CS and
the US may be long (hours), but
yet result in conditioning. A
biologically adaptive CS (taste)
led to conditioning and not to
others (light or sound).
John Garcia
Biological
Predispositions
Even humans be classically
conditioned to develop nausea.