copyright © 2005 pearson education canada inc. learning chapter 5

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

LearningChapter 5


Learning

• Learning is a relatively permanent change in an organism.

• Learning occurs as a result of experiences in the environment

• Psychologists study the results of learning by examining overt behaviour or by measuring physiological changes


Classical Conditioning

• Conditioning refers to a systematic procedure through which associations and responses to specific stimuli are learned

• A stimulus is an event that has an impact on an organism

• A response is a reaction of an organism


Classical Conditioning

• Classical conditioning was first described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist

• In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus, through repeated pairings with a stimulus that invokes a reflexive response, produces a similar or identical response


UCS= Unconditioned StimulusUCR= Unconditioned Response CS= Conditioned StimulusCR= Conditioned Response

Ivan Pavlov’s Original Observations


Terms and Procedures

• Pavlov called a stimulus that elicits a response without conditioning an unconditioned stimulus

• The unconditioned stimulus naturally produces a reflex

• An unconditioned response is a response to an unconditioned stimulus



• A conditioned stimulus is a neutral stimulus, that through repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, is capable of invoking a response

• The conditioned response is a response to a conditioned stimulus



• The key characteristic of such conditioning is the use of an originally neutral stimulus (e.g. a bell) to elicit a response (e.g. salivation)

• Psychologists refer to this process as acquisition process


Figure 5.2 The Three Stages of Classical Conditioning


Human Conditioning

• Marquis showed classical conditioning in infants

• When a nipple touches the baby’s lips, it reflexively begins to suck upon it

• If presentation of a nipple is repeatedly paired with a light or noise, the baby can be conditioned to suck to that light or noise


Human Conditioning

• Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an 11-month-old infant named Albert


Higher-Order Conditioning

• Higher-order conditioning is the process by which a neutral stimulus takes on conditioned properties through pairing with a another conditioned stimulus


Key Variables in Classical Conditioning

• The strength of the unconditioned stimulus

• The timing of the unconditioned stimulus


Key Variables in Classical Conditioning

• The frequency of the pairings of the neutral and the unconditioned stimulus is also important

• If the unconditioned stimulus can be readily predicted by the conditioned stimulus, the conditioning can be achieved rapidly


Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

• When the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response, it is referred to as extinction

• Spontaneous recovery occurs when the conditioned response reappears after some passage of time


Stimulus Generalization and Stimulus Discrimination

• Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response becomes associated with a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus

• In stimulus discrimination, an organism learns to respond only to a specific stimulus


Classical Conditioning in Daily Life

• Garcia found that a conditioned taste aversion could occur if nausea was induced several hours after food or drink was consumed

• Conditioned taste aversions (the Garcia effect) can have practical implications


Classical Conditioning in Daily Life

• The immune system may be subject to classical conditioning

• Researchers paired a sweet solution with a drug that produced illness and suppressed immune system activity

• Animals quickly developed an aversion to the liquid

copyright © 2005 pearson education canada inc. learning chapter 5

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