Chapter 4

Classical Conditioning Applications

Emotional Conditioning

• Wide range of emotional responses

• Emotions universal

• Positive and negative

• Emotional response to stimulus reflexive

• Conditioned Emotional Responses (CERs)

John Broadus Watson

• Hard-line Behaviorism

• British Empiricism (nurture over nature)

• Early work with rats

• Shifted to infant research

Conditioning of Fear

• Watson & Raynor (1920)

• Albert B.– Mother a wet nurse at Harriet Lane Home

(attached to Johns Hopkins University)– Albert first assessed at about 8 months– Emotionally stable, healthy

Method• Present white rat

– No fear

• Present white rat and bang metal bar– Produces CER of fear, avoidance, withdrawl

• US = noise, UR = startle • CS = rat CR = fear• CER generalizes to other furry objects• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhy

GozLyE

• Study went for several months

• Intended to reverse CER conditioning, but Albert B’s mother ended her job at hospital

• Mary Cover-Jones; counter-conditioning with Peter

What Happened to Albert

• Beck, Levinson & Irons (2009)

• Historical detective work

• Albert B.’s mother probably Arvilla Irons Merritte– Douglas Merritte, born 9 March 1919

• Arvilla Merritte left Johns Hopkins

• Worked as assistant for ill wife of farmer

• Douglas Merritte died 10 May 1925, probably from meningitis

Name

• Why Albert B.?– Ethical concerns with confidentiality not firmly

established– Watson may have played “name games”– His sons William and James– His name from John Albert Broadus, Baptist

minister… Albert B.

What Happened to Watson• Affair with Rosalie Raynor, his grad student• Divorce, fired, resigned as president of APA• Worked for J. Walter Thompson advertising agency; vice-

president within two years• Ponds Cold Cream, Maxwell House coffee• Published books and articles on childcare

– Psychological care of infant and child (1928)– Criticized by many modern child experts/advocates, but no more

extreme than other childcare texts of the time– Strongly advocated against spanking and corporal punishment

Nonhuman Studies of Fear

• Usually shock as US• Rats freeze• Train operant response; train CS+ for aversive US,

test suppression of operant response in presence and absence of CS

• Suppression video

Suppression Ratio

• 0 if behaviour entirely suppressed

• 0.5 if no suppression

Suppression Ratio = CS Responding

CS Responding + pre-CS Responding

Pre-CS CS Calculation S.R.

25 25 25/(25+25)=25/50 0.5

25 0 0/(0+25)=0/25 0

25 15 15/(15+25)=15/40 0.375

Prejudice

• Prejudice related to hate

• Hate conditionable

• Staats & Staats (1958)

• Subjects rate nationalities

• Paired positive, negative, neutral words with nationalities

Association

• Political speeches

• Media coverage

• Negative images, words, impressions paired with identifiable group

Counter Conditioning

• Mary Cover Jones (1924)

• Eliminate phobia via classical conditioning

• Peter feared rabbits

• Peter eats snack (US) … present rabbit (CS)

• Associate positive US with CS

Systematic Desensitization

• Relaxation techniques

• Gradual introduction of phobic stimulus

• Imagination up to real situation

Flooding

• “Flood” patient with exposure to fear-inducing stimulus

Advertising

First-Order C.C. in Ads

• Product (initially neutral --> CS)

• Pair with stimulus that elicits positive emotion (US)

• Consumer sees product, has positive CR

Example

• Postbank

• US = funny situation

• UR = happiness

• CS = brand

• CR = happiness, amusement, positive emotion

Second-Order C.C.

• Use previously conditioned celebrity, situation, etc.

• CS1 & US

• Now, pair brand (CS2) with CS1

Example

• Chanel No. 5

• Nicole Kiddman = CS1

• Positive feeling = CR• Attractive, successful, lifestyle = US• Positive feeling = UR• Chanel No. 5 = CS2

• Assumption: buy perfume, be rich, popular, get the cute guy, romance

Example

• Japander.com

• Brad Pitt and 503 Jeans– Pitt (CS1), leading man, celebrity, rich, pretty =

desirable (US), 503s (CS2)

• Pierce Brosnan and VISA– Bond persona (CS1), excitement, adventure,

sophistication = desirable (US), VISA (CS2)

Paraphilia

Paraphilia

• “Incorrect love”

• Fetishism, masochism, pedophilia, rape, etc.

• More common in males

• Freud: unconscious forces

• Classical conditioning: association formed

Example: Masochism

• Generally, CS is previously neutral

• But, a US, by pairing with another strong US, can become a CS

• Pavlov: shock (CS) for food (US)

• Masochism: painful stimulus (CS) for stimulus eliciting sexual pleasure (US)

Counter Conditioning

• Pair undesired CS with strongly aversive US (resulting in, e.g., nausea)

• Aversion therapy

• Treatment difficult with some forms of paraphilia (e.g., pedophilia)

Taste Aversion

Typically

• Long-delay or trace conditioning

• US is food poisoning, illness, etc.

• UR is nausea induced pain

• CS is novel food/flavour

• CR is avoidance, nausea

• Violation of contiguity?

Explanations?

• Sensitization

• Aftertaste

• Biological preparedness– Taste aversion a special case

Biological Preparedness in Taste-Aversion

• Garcia & Koelling (1966)

Wat

er in

take

Pre-cond. Post-cond.

Wat

er in

take

Pre-cond. Post-cond.

“Bright-noisy” waterFlavoured water

X-ray Foot shock

Explanation

• Biological predispositions

• Must know about CS-US relationship before predicting nature of CR

• Certain stimuli more easily associated than others

Immune Function

Allergic Reaction

• Release of histamines

• Body’s immune response to allergens

• Not all allergic responses biological

• Can be learned

Examples

• Pollen and artificial flowers

• My allergy to cats

Russell et al. (1984)

• Expose guinea pigs to BSA

• Becomes allergen (US for histamine release)

• Pair BSA with odour of fish or sulphur (CSs)

• Expose guinea pigs to odours and get increased histamines (CR) in bloodstream

• Preparatory value of classical conditioning

Schaller et al. (2010)

• Subjects see photo sets of guns (G) or people with infectious diseases (ID)

• Stress test given : G more stressful than ID• Blood drawn, incubated with bacteria• ID subjects’ white blood cells produced 24%

increase in cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) over baseline

• G subjects only show 7% increase in IL-6 over baseline

• Photos = CS, IL-6 production = CR