Classical Conditioning - Elements of Conditioning

Types of Learning:

·      Conditioning: Focuses on the relationship between stimuli and responses.

Two main types: classical and operant conditioning

·      Observational Learning

·      Learning Set

Answer the following questions (pg 435 – 437)

1.     What was Ivan Pavlov trying to investigate with dogs in 1899?

2.     When did the flow of saliva occur naturally?

3.     How did he measure how much saliva was secreted?

4.     What did the experimenters start to observe about the dogs salivating habits?

5.     What is a stimulus and a response? What were these in Pavlov’s experiment?

6.     What did the sight or sound of the technician become in the experiment?

Classical Conditioning (Respondent Learning): Form of learning that occurs through the repeated association of two or more different stimuli.

When a particular stimulus CONSISTENTLY produces a response that it did not used to produce, learning has occurred.

Elements of Classical Conditioning:

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): any stimulus which consistently produces a particular, NATURALLY occurring, automatic response.

UCS: Food (is the stimulus which caused the natural occurring response of salivation)

Unconditioned Response (UCR): the response which occurs automatically when the UCS is present.

UCR: Salivation

·      Salivation is an automatic response which is controlled by the Autonomic Nervous System.

SO – the UCS (food) is the stimulus which produces the UCR (salivation)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS): is the stimulus that is NEUTRAL at the start of the conditioning process and does not normally produce the unconditioned response. It becomes a conditioned stimulus when it is repeatedly associated with the UCS (the food) and then is able to produce the UCR without the use of the UCS (food).

SO – a neutral stimulus (such as a bell) would be rung everytime the UCS (food) is presented to the dog which would cause the UCR (saliva). This is the process by which a neutral stimulus (the bell) becomes a conditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR): is the LEARNED response which is produced by the CS.

The conditioned response is a response which is similar to that of the unconditioned response (salivation).

SO – when the CS (bell) would be rung WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF FOOD and the dog would salivate, the salivation that occurs is then known as the conditioned response.