AP Psychology: Names____________________________________________________________________
Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning Experiment
(Unit 5 Project)
Directions:
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You are required to either videotape and/or photograph the demonstrations in action.
Conduct an experiment for each of the types of conditioning mentioned above.
Your demonstrations must prove your mastery of the content.
You will have a typed report that provides a summary of your experiments
o Labeling the appropriate components of the types of learning
o Making these components relevant to your experiment
You are to use learning principles on yourself, a pet, or a willing participant.
Every aspect of this project must comply with the APA ethical guidelines. Failure to do so will result in
no credit.
How you will be graded:
Your project should include a ‘lab report’ with all of the following, :
____ What is learning?
____ What is Operant Conditioning?
____ What is Classical Conditioning?
____ Summary of your conditioning project
____ You are to keep a log of your attempts at conditioning your subject.
• Operant Conditioning: include answers to the following:
____ What was the baseline behavior?
____ What was the target behavior? (be very specific)
____ What types of Reinforcers were used and why?
____ What type of reinforcement schedule did you use and why?
____ How did you shape through successive approximations?
____ How did you prevent against response generalization?
• Classical Conditioning: include answers to the following
____ What were the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR?
____ How did contingency play into the conditioning of your subject?
____ Why was time important in pairing the UCS with the CS?
____ How did extinction, stimulus generalization, and spontaneous recovery play a role in your conditioning?
• Video or Photographic Evidence: You will videotape your experiment in action and submit it as part of
your project. If they do not agree to being videotaped, find another subject. You must edit labels into your
video that shows where the following occur:
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The Unconditioned Stimulus
The Unconditioned Response
The Conditioned Stimulus
The Conditioned Response
The Neutral Stimulus
Explain Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
You will be graded using the following score guide
______Lab Report (Summary of Experiments)
/15
______ Components of Operant Conditioning
/15
______ Components of Classical Conditioning
/15
______ Video and Photographic Evidence
/15
______ Total
/60