Warm Up
 Set
up new table of contents/title
page - page 1
 Page 2- Warm Up
 Think
of 3 things you have learned to
hate and write down why you hate
it/them. What stimuli has to be present
for you to hate it/them and what is your
response to that stimuli
Chapter 8 pt. 1: Learning and
Classical Conditioning

How Do We Learn?
 Learning
is defined as a relatively
permanent change in an organism’s
behavior due to experience (nurture).
 Most learning is associative learning:
learning that certain events occur
together.
 There are 3 main types of Learning:
 1. Classical Conditioning
 2. Operant Conditioning
 3. Observational Learning
All Living Animals Learn Through
Association
Behaviorism focuses on Learning


John Watson is generally considered the
father of behaviorism.
Behaviorism focused on:
Making psychology an objective
science
2. Studying behavior without
reference to mental processes
(early behaviorists like Watson will
ignore cognition but most recognize
its importance today.)
1.
John Watson: the Father of
Behaviorism
Focused
on
external
behavior
 Believed
Nurture
was more
important
than
nature.

Give me a dozen
healthy infants, wellformed, and my own
specified world to
bring them up in
and I'll guarantee to
take any one at
random and train
him to become any
type of specialist I
might select – doctor,
lawyer, artist,
merchant-chief and,
yes, even beggarman and thief….
Type of Learning 1: Classical Conditioning
(Pavlovian Conditioning)
 Terms you must understand:
1. Unconditioned means it is unlearned and
comes naturally. Ex: salivating when
presented with food.
2. Conditioned means it is learned and the
response does not come naturally. Ex:
getting up when school bell rings.
3. Response: is a behavior done in
response to the stimulus, like salivating.
4. Stimulus: external thing that may cause
a behavior like a bell or food.
Father of Classical Conditioning
is Ivan Pavlov
Russian physician/
neurophysiologist
 Was studying digestive
enzymes in dogs when
he accidentally realized
the importance of
associative learning
which would consume
his research for rest of
his life.

Classical Conditioning
(Pavlovian Conditioning)
 Classical
Conditioning is a type of
learning in which an organism comes
to associate stimuli. Ex: tone and
food.
 Begins with a reflex which is
unconditioned (unlearned)
 A Neutral Stimulus is paired with a
stimulus that evokes the reflex.
 Eventually the neutral stimulus alone
will come to evoke the reflex.
Pavlov’s Classic Experiment
Dog in Pavlov’s Apparatus

 Pavlov
took an untrained dog in a
harness. Pavlov sounded a tone at
certain intervals and every time the
tone sounded he gave the dog food.
The dog salivated when given the
food. After several intervals, Pavlov
would sound the tone and the dog
would salivate even before the food
was given to him.
BEFORE CONDITIONING
During Conditioning
After Conditioning
The process leading up to this is known as acquisition
Components of Classical
Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
 effective stimulus that unconditionallyautomatically and naturally- triggers a
response
 Food in mouth
 Unconditioned Response (UCR)
 unlearned, naturally occurring
automatic response to the
unconditioned stimulus
salivation when food is in the mouth

Components of Classical
Conditioning

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
 previously
neutral stimulus that, after
association with an unconditioned
stimulus, comes to trigger a
conditioned response
 Tone

Conditioned Response (CR)
 learned
response to a previously
neutral conditioned stimulus
 Salivating to the tone
 An
experimenter sounds a tone
just before delivering an air puff
to your eye. After several
repetitions, you blink to the tone
alone.
 UCS
 UCR
 CS
 CR
Other Terms Pavlov Used To
Describe Process of Conditioning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Generalization
Discrimination
Acquisition and Extinction
Acquisition: the initial stage of
learning, during which a response
is established and gradually
strengthened.
 When a neutral stimulus causes a
conditioned response.
 Tone = Salivation
Extinction: the diminishing of a
conditioned response. When bell no
longer makes dog salivate.
Spontaneous Recovery
 Spontaneous
Recovery refers to
the reappearance, after a rest
period, of an extinguished
conditioned response.
Generalization vs.
Discrimination
 Generalization:
tendency for a
stimuli similar to CS to evoke similar
responses. Ex: doesn’t have to be
same tone to make dog’s salivate…they
generalize.
 Discrimination: the ability to
distinguish between a CS and other
stimuli that do not signal an UCS.
 Ex: dogs wouldn’t salivate to a whistle
since it was too different from the tone.
Effectiveness of Proper
Conditioning
 Conditioning
works best when a
Conditioned Stimulus is presented
before a Unconditioned Stimulus which
is called forward conditioning
 Why
do you think backwards
conditioning (when Unconditioned
stimulus is presented before
conditioned stimulus) is usually
ineffective?
Other Examples of Classical
Conditioning
John Watson conducted the
Little Albert study in 1920 in
which he attempted to modify
the behavior of a 9 month old
infant. Started with white
rat which infant originally
did not fear.
 After experiment, Little Albert
feared white rats, rabbits,
Santa Claus, cotton wool,
etc.

Other Examples of Classical
Conditioning
UCS
(passionate
kiss)
CS
(onion
breath)
CS
(onion
breath)
UCR
(sexual
arousal)
UCS
(passionate
Kiss)
CR
(sexual
arousal)
UCR
(sexual
arousal)
Other Examples of Classical
Conditioning: Nausea in Cancer
Patients
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
CR
(nausea)
Criticism of Old School Behaviorists:
They Ignore Cognition

Studies proved that subjects attitudes did
matter when attempting to create
conditioned responses in them.
 Ex:
½ told that being conditioned was
wise, sensible, and intelligent while other
half was told the reverse….positive
instructions assisted conditioning
while negative instructions
undermined the process
 Drugs
Criticism of Old School Behaviorists: They
Ignore Biological Predispositions
 Watson
and Pavlov believed any animal
(including humans) could be conditioned
where ANY neutral stimulus paired with a
unconditioned stimulus could easily produce
a conditioned response.
 Proved wrong by taste aversion studies
 Biology influences learning
 Conditioning occurs easier with some
stimuli than others
 The
response does not have to follow the stimu
immediately
 The
biological predispositions of each
species dispose it to learn the
particular associations that
enhance its survival
Garcia’s Taste Aversion Studies
 Set
up experiment with rats. Exposed
them to sights, sounds, and tastes (CS)
and later also gave them radiation or
drugs that led to nausea and
vomiting (UCR).
 Even if sickened hours later, rats avoided
the particular flavor of water but did NOT
develop aversions to the sights or sounds.
 Taste Aversion became known as the
“Garcia Effect.”
Importance of Taste Aversion
Studies
1.) Violated behaviorists principle that
any stimulus could serve as a CS.
Flowers
2.) Shows that nature prepares the
members of each species to learn those
things crucial to their survival.
3.) Are exceptions to classical conditioning
rules: UCS does not always have to
follow CS immediately.
Some Real World Applications of
Classical Conditioning

1. Crack cocaine users feel craving
when they encounter cues associated
with highs (people, places, etc). So drug
and rehab counselors advise them to steer
clear of these places and people…make new
friends, move.

2. Alcohol with drug that induces
vomiting cut down drinking.
 Classical
conditioning is especially
useful for understanding which one of
the following examples of learning?
1. A
dog that has learned to “sit” for a
food reward
2. A psych student who is learning how
memory works
3. A child who, after a painful dental visit,
has developed a fear of the dentist
4. An executive who is afraid that she will
lose her job
The
responses in classical
conditioning were originally
1.Innate
reflexes
2.New behaviors
3.Premeditated behaviors
4.Random acts
–
If you learned to fear electrical
outlets after getting a painful shock,
what would be the CS?
1. The
electrical outlet
2. The painful shock
3. The fear
4. The time period between seeing the
outlet and getting the shock
 Which
of the following would be
most likely to be an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
involved in classical
conditioning?
1.Food
2.A
flashing light
3.Music
4.Money