Extending Classical
Conditioning
RG 6b
Modified PowerPoint from: Aneeq Ahmad -- Henderson State
University. Worth Publishers © 2007
J.B. Watson’s Psychological Bio
● In 1908, at age 30, Watson was named chair of
psychology dept. at John’s Hopkins University,
making $3500 a year
● In 1913, he ushered in the era of behaviorism in
psychology by writing in 3 sentences what became
known as “the behaviorist manifesto”…
1.Psychology’s content should be behavior
2.It’s method should be objective rather than
introspective
3.It’s goal should be the “prediction and control of
behavior” rather than understanding mental events
● Showing behaviorism’s popularity, Watson
was elected APA President in 1915
Little Albert Experiment
● Watson and Rayner (his assistant) conditioned fear in
11-month-old Little Albert
UCS
UCR
Little Albert Experiment
NS
UCS
CS
UCR
CR
●only took 7 trials for Little Albert to respond to the rat
●Watson and Rayner would strengthen the response every 5 or so days
by re-introducing UCS
Little Albert
● So what happened to Little Albert???
o Albert did generalize his fear of the white rat to
other furry/fuzzy items like Santa’s beard and a fur
coat
o Albert (and his family) moved away before Watson
could “uncondition” the fear…but most
psychologists agree that more than likely Little
Albert did not remain afraid of furry things
 WHY????
 EXTINCTION…if Watson did not continue to
“strengthen” the response (CR) by presenting
the UCS, it would more than likely go away in
time
The Fall and Rise of J.B.Watson
● Shortly after his experiment with Little Albert,
Watson became romantically involved with
one of his research assistant's - Rosalie
Rayner. At the time such behavior was not
tolerated (b/c he was married)
o Watson was forced to retire from research and
psychology in 1930
● He was employed with the J. Walter Thompson
advertising agency where he used techniques from
his behavioral psych background to sell products.
o Watson showed that people's preferences between rival
products were not based on their sensory qualities but on
their associations.
The Fall and Rise of J.B.Watson
● He went on to develop some of J. Walter Thompson’s
most successful campaigns
o Maxwell House Coffee – utilizing and popularizing the
idea of a “coffee break”
o Pond's Cold Cream – using testimonials from the
Queens of Romania and Spain
o Johnson's Baby Powder – convincing mothers to use
the powder after every diaper change
● In 1958, the APA awarded Watson with its gold medal
for his contributions to psychology
What has Watson’s research
taught us?
● Counseling Techniques…
o Counterconditioning for phobias and other anxiety
disorders
 Teaches patients to respond in a relaxed
manner to the CS…until eventually the CR is
extinct
● Taste-Aversions…
o Avoid a particular food because of an
unpleasant experience with that food
 Can occur after a significant delay,
unlike most cases of classical conditioning
Extending Pavlov’s Understanding
Pavlov and Watson considered consciousness
or the mind not fit for scientific study of
psychology. However, they underestimated the
importance cognitive processes and biological
constraints upon learning.
Cognitive Influences
Early behaviorists believed that behaviors of various
animals could be reduced to mindless mechanisms.
Robert Rescorla believed this was basically correct, but the
idea was too limited…
Contingency Model of CC
● A is contingent upon B -- A depends upon B and
vise versa…in other words, the presence of the CS (NS)
must predict the presence of the UCS or else there won’t
be a response
● learning occurs in situations where the relationship
between the CS and UCS is clear and predictable – it is
expected
Contingency Model Example
● For 3 days straight, whenever the phone rings
in AP Psych it is for you and you are called to
Mr. Brandt’s office
o The next day when the phone rings in AP
Psych, you…
 Get out of your seat and begin to head
out the door because you assume the
phone call is for you to go to Mr. Bosco’s
office
 WHY????
 Because A (phone ringing) is contingent upon B (you being
called to the office) because whenever A (phone rings), B
(you being called to the office) occurs
Contingency Model Example
Let’s change the situation slightly…
● For those same 3 days, whenever the phone rings
in AP Psych, a different student is called to the
counselor’s office, the attendance office or Mr.
Brandt’s office…that last call was for you to go to Mr.
Brandt’s office
o What would you assume when the phone rings
on the 4th day in AP Psychology???
 NOTHING…
 WHY????
 There isn’t a strong connection between the phone ringing
and you being called to the office…one event isn’t going to
predict the other
 Our reactions are not just “knee-jerk” reactions…but based on
our expectations of what will happen
Cognitive Influences
Not necessarily CC…shows the idea that learning is not
just a mindless function but includes cognitive functions.
INSIGHT LEARNING
● Form of cognitive learning in which problem solving
occurs by means of sudden reorganization of
perceptions
o Wolfgang Kohler – found chimps could solve complex
problems by combining simpler behaviors they had
previously learned separately
 One chimp, Sultan, learned to pile boxes
or use a stick to get to dangling bananas
 When Kohler hung the bananas higher,
Insight Learning -- Kohler
Here are some photos of Kohler’s chimps…
Biological Influences
Animals and humans are biologically prepared
to make certain connections more easily than
others…these connections help keep us alive!
Associating strange tastes with feelings of
sickness or avoiding a food after it has made us
ill have helped us survive as a species…so
taste aversions seem to be biologically
programmed in to humans and (some) animals.
Question
1. The predictability rather than the frequency of CS-US
associations appears to be crucial for classical
conditioning. This highlights the importance of _________ in
conditioning.
A. shaping
B. discrimination
C. generalization
D. cognitive processes
Question
2. A person adhering to the cognitive perspective would be
likely to emphasize that classical conditioning depends on
A. an organism's active behavioral responses to
environmental stimulation.
B. the amount of time between the presentation of the CS
and the US.
C. how frequently an organism is exposed to an association
of a CS and a US.
D. an organism's expectation that a US will follow a CS.
Question
3. Children learn to fear spiders more easily than they learn to
fear flowers. This best illustrates the impact of _______ on
learning.
A. spontaneous recovery
B. conditioned stimulus
C. cognitive processes
D. biological predispositions