8 Key excerpts on "Conditioning"

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  eBook - ePub

  Learning and Memory

  Basic Principles, Processes, and Procedures, Fifth Edition

  • W. Scott Terry(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  classical Conditioning has gone through cycles in its 100-year history. At first eagerly grasped as a tool to study learning, Pavlovian Conditioning was replaced by reward Conditioning with its emphasis on the modification of voluntary behavior. However, research into Pavlovian Conditioning once again became popular. What factors contributed to this renewed dominance of Pavlovian Conditioning? Some researchers view Conditioning from an ecological or evolutionary perspective and consider its role in ensuring survival (Hollis, 1997). The application of Conditioning to areas such as drug tolerance and immune system regulation has connected Conditioning to the field of health psychology. And classical Conditioning offers model systems for neuroscientists to study the biology of learning.

  Possibly foremost among our reasons for studying classical Conditioning is to conduct basic research on associative learning. Associative learning refers to the hypothesized connections that are formed between the internal representations of events, such as stimuli and responses. A simple illustration is word associations, for example, the stimulus word TABLE often evokes CHAIR as a response. But when and how are associations formed? Classical Conditioning is one tool we can use to study the conditions under which associative learning occurs.

  The Definition of Classical Conditioning

  Simply put, classical Conditioning can be defined as the presentation of two (or more) events in an experimentally determined temporal relationship. A change in responding to one of those events is measured as an indication of whether an association has been learned between them. The learning that occurs in classical Conditioning can be described on several levels: behavioral, as the learning of a new response; cognitive, as the acquisition of knowledge about the relationship between stimuli; or neural, as the pattern of synaptic changes that underlie Conditioning.

  Say we are to perform an experiment in which mild but aversive electric shocks are to be presented randomly in time. Because of our ethical discomfort with shocking animals or college students, let us suppose the participants are all faculty in the Economics Department. The shocks, delivered to the participants’ forearm, are unavoidable, but our participants would desperately like to know when each is about to occur. We sound a tone for a few seconds before each shock. What will the participants learn? After several pairings of tone followed by shock, the tone will probably come to elicit a behavioral reaction of hand flexion; physiological reactions such as muscular tensing or bracing; and knowledge of the tone–shock relationship that can be verbalized.

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  eBook - ePub

  AP® Psychology All Access Book + Online + Mobile

  • Nancy Fenton, Jessica Flitter(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Research & Education Association

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 8 Learning

  Psychologists define learning as an enduring or relatively permanent change in an organism caused by experience or influences in the environment. Behaviors that are caused by factors such as fatigue, intoxication, or illness are not considered to be the result of learning because they are not long-lasting or permanent. Changes in an organism due to normal growth, aging or genetics are also not the result of learning because they were not caused by experience or environmental influences. Much of the understanding of how learning works is the result of discoveries made by behaviorists. According to early behaviorists , including John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, psychology should include the investigation of only observable and measurable behaviors. Although the study of learning is typically associated with the perspective of behaviorism, learning is also influenced by biological, cognitive, and social factors. Psychology involves the identification and investigation of a variety of types of learning that include classical Conditioning, operant Conditioning, observational learning, and the impact of cognition and biology on learning.

  STUDY TIP

  Be able to identify the stimulus and response relationship between the environment and an organism involved in learning.

  Any factor in the environment that causes a reaction is known as a stimulus, and any reaction by an organism that is either voluntary or involuntary is called a response.

  Classical Conditioning

  Historically, the psychological study of learning began in Ivan Pavlov’s laboratory in Russia in the late nineteenth century. Pavlov was initially studying what he called the salivation reflex or the involuntary behavior of salivating in response to meat powder placed in the mouths of dogs. While conducting research, a problem occurred, because the dogs began to salivate before the meat powder was placed in their mouth in response to the sight or sound of the experimenter. The dogs were anticipating the arrival of the meat powder. Based on this observation, Pavlov began the investigation of how organisms learn by association. In 1904 Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for his investigation into what is now known as classical Conditioning. Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian Conditioning) is a type of learning that involves pairing a previously neutral stimulus with an unlearned stimulus to generate a learned response. Classical Conditioning is based on involuntary responses that include reflexes. A reflex

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  Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training, Adaptation and Learning

  • Steven R. Lindsay(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  psychic balance: “Reflexes are the elemental units in the mechanism of perpetual equilibration” (1927/1960:8). Classical Conditioning is the most fundamental manner in which the animal learns about the changing stimulus contingencies in the surrounding environment, adjusting to them through the anticipatory action of various preservative and protective mechanisms. Through classical Conditioning, innate reflexes are brought under the predictive control of causally independent (i.e., neutral) stimuli that are related to the unconditioned stimulus-response event by temporal contiguity and spatial orientation. Such learning is normally outside of voluntary control and is largely (but not entirely) independent of response-generated consequences (e.g., rewards and punishment).

  Classical Conditioning appears to have been discovered by chance. Pavlov, a physiologist, was occupied with an investigation of the dog’s salivary response when he noticed that the more experienced dogs that he had been testing began to salivate before the samples of food were presented to them. This anticipation seriously confounded his physiological measurements of salivary flow in the presence of food but led him to make a much more important psychological discovery. He concluded that the alterations in salivary flow that he observed in his dogs were mediated by higher cortical mechanisms. Further, he hypothesized that the dog’s salivary response could be used as an objective measure with which to investigate these higher nervous functions systematically “without any need to resort to fantastic speculations as to the existence of any possible subjective state in the animal which may be conjectured on analogy with ourselves” (1927/1960:16). By varying the stimulus event along several dimensions (e.g., intensity, duration, frequency, and contiguity) and carefully measuring and recording the amount of the dog’s salivation, he believed that solid inferences could be drawn about associated brain activity and hypotheses tested with regard to the causal mechanisms at work.

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  The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology

  • Amy E. Wenzel(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Ivan P. Pavlov was a physiologist interested in involuntary reflexes. In his famous research on the digestive systems of dogs, Pavlov examined the salivation reflex in response to the presentation of food. He discovered that when unrelated auditory, visual, or physical stimuli were consistently paired with the presentation of food, the stimulus developed an association with food and would elicit the salivation response independent of the presentation of food.

  Edward L. Thorndike

  Psychologist Edward L. Thorndike was interested in the manner and capacity of learning by animals. His most famous work explored the manner by which cats learned how to escape a box (Thorndike puzzle box) by performing certain actions. His observation, which states that responses that result in a positive state of affairs are likely to be repeated, whereas responses that result in a negative state of affairs are unlikely to be repeated, is termed the law of effect; this preceded Skinner’s work on the impact of reinforcement and punishment.

  Fundamental Principles Relevant for Clinical Psychology

  The foundation of behaviorism is that all behavior is learned and can be reduced to stimulus-response associations. The primary types of learning that result in behavior are classical Conditioning and operant Conditioning.

  Classical Conditioning

  Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning is applicable to the learning of behavior that functions like a reflex. Classical Conditioning was exhibited in Pavlov’s dogs in the following manner. A conditioned stimulus (e.g., a buzzer sound) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food). Through repeated pairings of the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, the conditioned response (salivating, which appears in the same way as the unconditioned response) occurs even when only the conditioned stimulus is presented (salivating in response to the buzzer).

  The famous Little Albert experiment by Watson on the development of phobia is a classic example of classical Conditioning. Albert, a healthy 9-month-old child, initially exhibited no fear response in the presence of a white laboratory rat. In the study, the presence of the rat (conditioned stimulus) was repeatedly paired with a loud, startling noise (unconditioned stimulus) that elicited a fear response (unconditioned response) in Albert (e.g., crying). Eventually, Albert started showing distress and fear responses (conditioned response) in the presence of the white rat, absent any startling noise. This experiment would not be ethically acceptable today.

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  Cognitive Foundations of Clinical Psychology (Psychology Revivals)

  • Chris R. Brewin(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  3 Cognition and Conditioning

  DOI: 10.4324/9781315857015-3

  Any discussion of psychological theorizing in clinical practice must consider the role of learning theory, and particularly the phenomenon of Conditioning, which over the years have provided an enormously productive way of thinking about the genesis of fears and phobias. Indeed, at times learning theory seems to have been thought the only broad-ranging psychological theory capable of explaining the nature of such problems and their treatment. Rather unfortunately, the phenomenon of Conditioning has also become inextricably linked in people’s minds with behaviourism, a set of loosely related ideas and precepts about the purpose and scope of psychological enquiry, and with behaviour therapy, a set of procedures for eliminating or reducing symptoms and unwanted behaviours. Contrary to popular belief, Conditioning effects provide neither unequivocal evidence for a behaviourist view of learning nor an adequate account of successful behaviour therapy, although they are interesting and important in their own right.

  In this chapter I discuss the relation between cognition and Conditioning theories of neurosis, and in so doing I shall examine traditional Conditioning theories from three perspectives. The first concerns the nature of the mechanisms underlying Conditioning, and I shall review some recent experiments that demonstrate the involvement of cognitions in human and animal Conditioning. The second perspective concerns the ability of Conditioning theory to explain the clinical presentation of those disorders (anxiety, phobias, and the like) that are its main focus. Both of these topics have been quite widely discussed and consideration of them has led both to a more sophisticated understanding of Conditioning phenomena and to revisions in the Conditioning account of neurosis. Finally I shall put forward a critique of this account that emphasizes the role of conscious cognitive processes and the self-regulation of behaviour. This will also give me an opportunity to outline the case for the broader theoretical perspective adopted in this book, and to explain why Conditioning theories, however sophisticated, will only ever be of limited use to practitioners.

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  eBook - ePub

  Theories of Development

  Concepts and Applications

  • William Crain(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  At the same time, we need to note that the model has certain limitations. For one thing, researchers have found it much more difficult to condition infants’ responses than Watson implied. This seems particularly true during the first month of life (Lamb & Campos, 1982; Sameroff & Cavanaugh, 1979). Perhaps classical Conditioning becomes easier once infants have developed what Piaget calls primary circular reactions. Once they can coordinate sensorimotor actions (e.g., look at what they hear), they might more readily learn to make various associations.

  There also seem to be limitations to the kinds of conditioned stimuli humans will learn. When, for example, researchers attempted to classically condition infants to fear objects such as curtains and wooden blocks instead of rats, they had great difficulty. Perhaps humans are innately disposed to fear certain stimuli. There may be biological constraints on the kinds of stimuli we will associate with different responses (Harris & Liebert, 1984, pp. 108–109; Seligman, 1972).

  From a learning theory perspective, finally, classical Conditioning seems limited to certain kinds of responses. It seems to apply best to the Conditioning of reflexes and innate responses (which may include many emotional reactions). It is questionable whether this kind of Conditioning can also explain how we learn such active and complex skills as talking, using tools, dancing, or playing chess. When we master such skills, we are not limited to inborn reactions to stimuli, but we engage in a great deal of free, trial-and-error behavior, finding out what works best. Accordingly, learning theorists have developed other models of Conditioning, the most influential of which is that of B. F. Skinner.

  SKINNER AND OPERANT Conditioning

  Biographical Introduction

  B. F. Skinner (1905–1990) grew up in the small town of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As a boy, he liked school and enjoyed building things such as sleds, rafts, and wagons. He also wrote stories and poetry. After graduating from high school, he went to Hamilton College in New York. There, he felt somewhat out of place, but he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a major in English literature.

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  Learning & Behavior

  Eighth Edition

  • James E. Mazur(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In everyday life, classical Conditioning is important in at least two ways. First, it gives us a way of understanding “involuntary” behaviors, those that are automatically elicited by certain stimuli whether we want them to occur or not. As discussed in the next section, many emotional reactions seem to fall into this category. Second, research on classical Conditioning has led to several major treatment procedures for behavior disorders. These procedures can be used to strengthen desired “involuntary” responses or to weaken undesired responses. The remainder of this chapter examines the role of classical Conditioning in these nonlabora-tory settings.

  Classical Conditioning and Emotional Responses

  Everyday emotional responses such as feelings of pleasure, happiness, anxiety, or excitement are frequently triggered by specific stimuli. In many cases, the response-eliciting properties of a stimulus are not inborn but acquired through experience. Suppose you open your mailbox and find a card with the return address of a close friend. This stimulus may immediately evoke a pleasant and complex emotional reaction that you might loosely call affection, warmth, or fondness. Whatever you call the emotional reaction, there is no doubt that this particular stimulus—a person’s handwritten address on an envelope—would not elicit the response from you shortly after your birth, nor would it elicit the response now if you did not know the person who sent you the letter. The envelope is a CS that elicits a pleasant emotional response only because the address has been associated with your friend. Other stimuli can elicit less pleasant emotional reactions. For many college students, examination periods can be a time of high anxiety. This anxiety can be conditioned to stimuli associated with the examination process—the textbooks on one’s desk, a calendar with the date of the exam circled, or the sight of the building where the exam will be held.

  Classical Conditioning can also affect our emotional reactions to other people. In one study using evaluative Conditioning, participants were asked to look at photographs of people’s faces, and each photograph was paired with either a pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant odor. When they later had to evaluate their preferences for the people in the photographs (with no odors present), they gave the highest ratings to faces previously paired with pleasant odors and the lowest ratings to those paired with unpleasant odors (Todrank, Byrnes, Wrzesniewski, & Rozin, 1995). This research surely encourages companies that sell mouthwash, deodorant, and perfume.

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  Learning

  Principles and Applications

  • Stephen B. Klein(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 6 .

  We began our discussion of Pavlovian Conditioning in Chapter 1 . In this chapter, we discuss in greater detail the process by which environmental conditions become able to elicit emotional responses as well as how those associations can be eliminated if they are harmful.

  Principles of Pavlovian Conditioning

  3.1 Explain how hunger and fear can be conditioned.

  Pavlovian Conditioning is the process through which emotions are learned. Some emotions are negative, such as Juliette’s fear of darkness. Other examples of negative emotional reactions developed through Pavlovian Conditioning include the emotion of anger toward a past romantic partner upon learning that person cheated on you or the emotion of frustration when thinking about a statistics problem that you have been unable to solve. Positive emotions also can be learned through Pavlovian Conditioning and include the emotion of happiness elicited by a friend’s impending visit or the emotion of joy when recalling your first kiss. Let’s begin by reviewing the basic components of Pavlovian Conditioning followed by a detailed description of Conditioning of hunger and fear.

  The Conditioning Process

  Basic Components

  As you learned in Chapter 1 , there are four basic components of Pavlovian Conditioning: (1) the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), (2) the unconditioned response (UCR), (3) the conditioned stimulus (CS), and (4) the conditioned response (CR). Prior to Conditioning, the biologically significant event, or UCS, elicits the UCR, but the neutral environmental stimulus or CS cannot elicit the CR. During Conditioning, the CS is experienced with the UCS. Following Conditioning, the CS is able to elicit the CR, and the strength of the CR increases steadily during acquisition until a maximum or asymptotic level is reached (see Figure 3.1

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