Name____________________________________ Per _________ Program ____ date _____
Introduction
What is learning?
Unlike animals who are born with a basic instinctual, genetic blueprint for life, much of
what humans do is learned from experience. Of all creatures we are the most capable of
changing through learning which is why we are the most flexible and adaptable
Learning = a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience.
Learning is essentially a matter of association, i.e., mentally linking two events that occur close
together; Conditioning = the process of learning associations. Learning does not include
maturational, genetically programmed responses. Learning allows us to predict future events
from past experiences.
The four basic types of learning/conditioning are:
o Classical conditioning
o Operant conditioning
o Observational learning
o Language
Behaviorism = is the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies
behavior without reference to mental processes. It was the dominant viewpoint in psychology
for much of the 19th century. Behaviorism believed that by understanding principles of learning
(classical & operant conditioning in particular) & controlling environmental stimuli, you could
effectively control the individual. John Watson, its founder, boasted (page 234): Give me a
dozen healthy infants . . . and my own specialized world to bring them up in . . .
Below you will find several guided reading questions. Please use these
questions and answers to help you study for the up-coming test (Tuesday,
November 13, 2012). These and subsequent notes will be kept by the student
and submitted at the start of the test for credit.
Group Challenges:
1) What is the definition of learning?
a) Come up with an original
example
2) What is behaviorism?
a) Who founded it?
b) What is cognition?
c) Does behaviorism concern
itself with cognition?
d) These days how important
do we think cognition is for
understanding learning?
3) What is classical conditioning?
a) What are the 5 components
for classical conditioning?
b) What is the difference
between a stimulus and a
response?
c) What is the difference
between an unconditioned
stimulus-response & a
conditioned stimulusresponse?
d) What does a neutral
stimulus become during
classical conditioning?
e) How? What is the neutral
stimulus paired with to
become a conditioned
stimulus?
f) Write down the definitions
for each of the 5
components of classical
conditioning. Use the
college dormitory “flushshower” story to write an
example of each one
4) Stages of classical conditioning
a) What is acquisition? How
does it occur?
b) What is extinction? How
does it occur?
Answers and page # support
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
c) What is spontaneous
recovery?
d) Use the flush-shower story
to write and example for
each
Who discovered classical
conditioning?
a) Use Pavlov’s drooling dog
experiment to give another
example of each of the 5
components of classical
conditioning
b) Use Pavlov’s drooling dog
experiment to explain the
processes of acquisition,
extinction & spontaneous
recovery
What is generalization and
discrimination?
a) Use Pavlov’s drooling dog
experiment to give an
example of each
What did John Watson & Rosalie
Rayner try to prove?
a) Use Watson & Rayner’s
Little Albert experiment to
give another example of
each of the 5 components
of classical conditioning
b) Did Little Albert’s fear of
the white rat generalize?
Give an example?
c) Would Watson & Rayner’s
experiment be considered
ethical by today’s
standards?
Advertising
a) Identify the 5 components
of any commercial to show
the process of classical
conditioning in advertising
How did John Garcia & Robert
Koelling demonstrated classical
conditioning for food aversions
10) Rescorla and Wagner showed that
predictability was a key element
to classical conditioning. This
showed the importance of what
element of learning that
behaviorists ignore?
11) Give an example of how
biological predisposition
influences classical conditioning