Chapter 8

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Behaviour
• Behaviour can be external, observable actions or internal processes, such as emotions
thoughts and physical responses.

• Behaviours fall into three categories: reflexes, instincts, and learned behaviours.

1. Reflexes:
• Involuntary responses to stimuli, e.g., pulling our bodies away from painful stimuli,
turning our heads in the direction of loud sounds, etc.
• Produce very fast, reliable responses that promote welfare, e.g., quickly withdrawing
your hand from a hot stove

2. Instincts:
• Also referred to as fixed action patterns
• Inborn patterns of behaviour elicited by environmental stimuli
• Many occur in mating and parenting behaviour of species (e.g., puppies licking litter
clean after birth, ducks imprinting, human contagious yawning)
Learning
3. Learning:
• A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or the capacity for behaviour) due to
experience
• Not all changes in behaviour are produced by learning; some can be attributed to
development.
• Brief, unstable changes, such as moods, do not constitute “learning.”
THREE TYPES OF LEARNING
• Learning can be divided into three main types: associative, non associative, and
observational.
• More than one of these types can occur during any given situation.
1. Associative Learning:
• Occurs when we form connections between stimuli and/or behaviours

• Helps us to predict the future based on past experience

• Has survival advantages

Two main types: classical conditioning and operant conditioning

• Classical conditioning:
• We form associations between pairs of stimuli that occur sequentially in time.
• For example, if you are bitten by a dog as a child, you might form a connection between
seeing a dog and the pain of the bite, and may be scared of dogs in the future.
• Operant conditioning:
• We form associations between behaviours and their consequences.
• For example, if you stay out past curfew, you get grounded.
2. Non associative Learning:

Changes in the degree of response to a single stimulus, rather than the formation of a
connection between two stimuli.

• Two main types: habituation and sensitization

• Habituation: Our reactions are reduced to repeat experiences that we have

determined are unchanging and harmless, e.g., getting used to a partner who snores.

• Sensitization: We increase our reactions to a wide range of stimuli following exposure

to one strong stimulus. For example, a soldier who witnessed a bomb explosion may
startle and become hyper-aroused whenever she hears a sudden loud noise.
3. Observational Learning (Social
Learning or Social Modelling):

• Occurs when an organism learns by watching the actions of another

• Through observational learning, information is transmitted intergenerationally within

families and cultures.
WHAT IS CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING?
• The Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

• originally studied digestion in dogs, but changed his focus to the study of learning
when he noticed the dogs salivated in anticipation of the arrival of food—they had
learned to associate certain stimuli with the food

• Conditioned

• Unconditioned

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

• Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

• Conditioned Response (CR)

• • Unconditioned Response (UR)

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
PHENOMENA
1. Acquisition: the development of a conditioned response
• Pavlov stated that acquisition requires contiguity (close proximity in time) between the introduction
of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned (US) in order for the organism to see them as
related.

2. Extinction: when the association between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned
stimulus (US) is broken and the conditioned response (CR) disappears
• Example: If Pavlov continued to expose dogs to the metronome ticking, but didn’t follow it with
food, dogs would stop salivating in response to the sound.
• Pavlov argued that this is not “forgetting,” but new learning that overrides the old learning

3. Spontaneous Recovery: the sudden reappearance of conditioned responses (CR) following periods
of rest between sessions of extinction and training
• Pavlov observed that it takes several sessions for new learning to take place (i.e., there is no
association between the ticking and the food), and until this is learned, salivating may
spontaneously occur at the beginning of the next training session.
4. Inhibition: a conditioned stimulus (CS) predicts the nonoccurrence
of an unconditioned stimulus
(US)
• Example: if a rat is presented with a light signal paired with shock,
the rat will learn to fear the light, but if a novel, inhibitory CS (e.g., a
sound) is paired with the light CS (excitatory), but no shock follows,
the rat learns that it won’t be shocked when the sound is present and
displays no fear when the sound is paired with the light.

5. Generalization: once a CR is acquired, the tendency for organisms

to respond to stimuli similar to the CR in a similar fashion
• Example: If a person is bitten by a German Sheppard, and develops
a fear of dogs, she may generalize this fear to all dogs.
continued
6. Discrimination: the ability to make fine distinctions between the implications of
related stimuli

• Example: In the lab, if a dog is presented a low tone, followed by food, it will learn to
salivate when it hears the tone. Initially, the dog will generalize salivation to a high
tone, even if food is not presented following the high tone. After repeated
presentations, however, the dog will learn to discriminate between the low tone and
the high tone and only salivate in response to the one that predicts food.

7. Higher Order Conditioning: a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a CR when

it is paired with a CS that already produces the CR

• Example: A person who was stung by a bee and, as a result, fears bees, will
demonstrate a fear response when he/she hears buzzing—a sound that signals the
presence of a bee.
continued
8. Latent Inhibition: the idea that it takes more time to learn something new about
familiar conditioned stimulus (CS) than about an unfamiliar conditioned stimulus (CS)

• Example: If you’ve eaten a lot of ice cream and get sick after eating ice cream one
night, you are not likely to associate eating ice cream with getting sick. But if you’ve
never had sushi and you get sick after eating it once, it is likely you will associate
getting sick with eating sushi very quickly.

• Taste Aversion

• Taste aversion occurs when the sight, smell, or flavour of the food (conditioned
stimulus -CS) is paired with illness (unconditioned stimulus - US).
APPLYING CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• Watson and Raynor created a fear reaction in little Albert by hitting a steel bar with a
hammer while Albert played with a white rat.

• UCS: loud noise; UCR: fear; NS: rat; CS: rat; CR: fear; fear generalized to other white
furry objects, e.g. rabbit, dog, fur coat.

• Aversion therapy: used to replace inappropriate positive reactions to a stimulus with

negative reactions (e.g., using a compound to make cigarettes taste bad)

• Systematic desensitization: Associations between a phobic stimulus and fear are

replaced by associations between the phobic stimulus and relaxation. The client is
taught progressive muscle relaxation and the fear stimulus is gradually introduced
while the client practices the relaxation techniques.
continued
2. Addiction:

• Stimuli associated with drug use often become conditioned stimuli for the effects of the
drug, e.g., coffee drinkers report feeling more awake as soon as they sip their coffee, even
though there hasn’t been enough time for the caffeine to take effect.

• Attitudes: Advertisers use classical conditioning to influence consumer attitudes about

products by forming associations between products and other stimuli we value (e.g.,
celebrities, sex, etc.).

• Prejudice: Latent inhibition can contribute to the development of negative attitudes.

• Creativity and Schizophrenia

Due to latent inhibition, most people form associations faster with unfamiliar stimuli rather
than familiar stimuli.
The End

• Next week

• OPERANT CONDITIONING

• COGNITIVE, BIOLOGICAL, AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON OPERANT CONDITIONING