Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss classical conditioning. Much of the material has been covered in class discussion questions based on classical conditioning, allowing for a greater insight from the group of students providing the research of what classical conditioning is. Classical conditioning is defined as, “A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response.” (dictionary.com).
Now we can see what others on the team had to say about classical conditioning.
Introduction
Classical conditioning was first studied by the Russian physiologist known as Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was a noble prize winner in 1904 for his work studying digestive processes. His research and theories are still referenced in textbooks and psychology classes around the world today. Pavlov’s research included dogs that would start to salivate when their trainer entered the room. Pavlov suggested that salivation was a learned response. The dogs would respond to the personnel in white lab coats that they associated with the presentation of food. Pavlov focused on investigating how conditioned responses are learned and/or acquired. The study of classical conditioning provides us as humans an insight into how the human mind is able to translate information and experiences and build upon them. Concept of Classical Conditioning
The Essay on Classical Conditioning Pavlov Response Food
... Operant and Classical Conditioning, by Stacy Breslau explained the process of the experiment. Pavlov presented dogs with food, and measured their salivary response (how ... his drooling dogs, he became a Nobel Laureate for his research in a different field (Fredholm, 1999). In 1904, he received ...
There are many concepts to classical conditioning. The first is unconditioned stimuli (US) this is how stimulus elicits and innate response. An example of this would be eating a type of food. Another concept would be unconditioned response (UR) this would be a reflexive response to the US. If we go off our first example this would be your mouth getting some salvation building up for the food. The third concept would be conditioned stimulus (CS) this would be a neutral stimulus which does not elicit the UR which will be paired with the US during the study or experiment. We could go back to the bell example for this one. The final concept is called conditioned response (CR) this is when there is a response to the US and CS.
There also may be some difference in some ways to the UR. Some of the factors that influence classical are as follows. One is the time delay between CS and US. There is better data collected if the delay is between 250 to 700 milliseconds. Also how the information is laid out for the subjects can influence the study. If the information is not easy to understand this could mess with the data. The subjects will have to be screened to make sure the correct people are there for the experiment. The time arrangements of the CS and Us are real important. One would be CS comes first, and while this is happening the US occurs. Another one is the CS comes first, and after this stops the US occurs. A final factor is the CS occurs after the US has already started. Basic Phenomena of Classical Conditioning
There are four basic phenomena of conditioning. They are acquisition, extinction, generalization, and discrimination. Acquisition “refers to the development of a conditioned response as a result of CS-US trials” (Terry; 2009).
There are some procedures that may have several pairings to have a conditioned response (CR) and then there are others that have a fast CR developed. Controlled procedures are used to help determine that a behavioral change was due to conditioning and not something else from the procedure. In unpaired control procedures, “both the CS and the US are presented during the experimental sessions, but the two stimuli explicitly occur separately from one another” (Terry; 2009).
During an experiment session when a CS and the US are each separately programmed to occur randomly this is referred to as the truly random control procedure.
The Essay on Pavlovian Conditioning Fear Stimulus Response
Phobias: Irrational Fear Fear of heights, fear of the number "13," fear of spiders, fear of small spaces. All of these fears are considered phobias. While there are many causes of phobias, one theory uses the notion of preparedness in Pavlovian conditioning. This is a way in which people learn to react to certain stimuli. Scientist and a behaviorist, Pavlov, first discovered this conditioning ...
Extinction is “the presentation of an already conditioned CS alone, but without the US” (Terry; 2009).
Extinction basically means a decrease in the CR. Extinction does not remove the CS but only buries the response. Spontaneous recovery can happen when the CS is presented to the individual and the CR reappears. Generalization is the “conditioning to a trained CS generalizes to similar stimuli” (Terry; 2009).
Generalization can occur with anything: sound, shape, color, tone, or size. Generalization just means that an individual associates similar things to the CS. According to Terry (2009) a crocodile got used to eating marshmallows from the residents in a golf course community so the crocodile associated golf balls with marshmallows and started eating those. Discrimination needs to take place. An individual needs to be able to discriminate between different stimuli because not all stimuli are paired with unconditioned stimuli. “Discrimination opposes the tendency to generalize and is a procedure that can be used to explicitly differentiate among CSs” (Terry; 2009).
The Role of Awareness in Classical Conditioning
There are several types of awareness which may or may not play a role in classical conditioning. The different types of awareness can be distinguished. These include self-awareness, external awareness, contingency awareness and demand awareness. External awareness is related to, yet very distinct from self-awareness. Self-awareness is the knowledge of how one’s behavior is influenced by the environment (Terry, 2009).
According to the Pavlovian conditioning this is when the individual is aware they have acquired and are performing a conditional response. This is the product of an acknowledged relationship between a conditional and unconditional stimulus. External awareness, as mentioned is related to self-awareness in that it is the awareness of the relationship between the conditional and unconditional stimuli, two elements in the same environment. When the casual between the conditional and unconditional stimulus are known this is referred to as contingency awareness.
Lastly in the list of different types of awareness is demand awareness. Of the various types of awareness demand awareness is the most relevant to Pavlovian theory of classical conditioning. To perform a proper analysis of the effects of awareness on conditioning we must look at conditioning without awareness. “There is clear evidence that Pavlovian conditioning can affect the behavior of adult humans without their awareness of the relationship between the conditional and unconditional stimuli, and without their cooperation” (Terry, 2009 pg 1248).
The Essay on Classical learning vs Operant Learning
There are many different fields of study in psychology. One field of study is the cognitive process of learning. Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior potential) resulting from experience (Baron G-7). The learning process helps us, all organisms, adapt to changing conditions in our environment and the world around us. Although the effects of learning are very ...
In a study conducted on cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy to kill cancer cells this theory is proven. There are two very unfortunate side effects of these types of treatment; first, the treatments make the patients ill and second they gradually make the patient anorexic.
The patient develops a food aversion slowly over the course of the therapy. Doctors have yet to understand why this happens when often the aversion is developed towards foods that are long time favorites of the patients. This is referred to as conditioned taste aversion (Garcia and Koeling, 1966).
The taste and the illness do not have to be closely paired in time. Conditioned taste aversions can be acquired regardless of time intervals between the food and treatment. Once the patients develop an aversion to a particular food, they will try to eat other foods but gradually also develop an aversion to these foods as well. The end result compounds into very little food consumption at all. Conditioning research has been useful in explaining and in providing techniques to modify human behavior and regardless of one’s opinion of awareness the idea should not be discarded. Classical Conditioning Applied to the Learning Process
Classical conditioning is seen in real life situations helps the learning process and is seen as associative learning. Associative leaning presents the four elements in Pavlovian trials and uses theory to determine what is associated with what? These four elements consist of CS, US, UR, and CR. Classical conditioning theories take the form of the stimulus response theory, stimulus – stimulus theory, and “the contrast between the S–R and S–S approaches is illustrated by the question of whether two CSs can become associated in the absence of a US”(Terry, 2009, p. 70).
The Review on Conditioning and Learning
“Learning, acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, and people continue to learn throughout their lives. ” (Gregory, 1961) Conditioning is the term used to designate the types of human behavioral learning. Since the 1920s, ...
For example, take the model of Hebbian Learning. Hebbian learning is the concept based on, “synaptic change dependent on concurrent pre-postsynaptic and postsynaptic activity based on a generic approach that led to various formulations of learning rules” (Malaka, 1999, p.6).
Another type of learning is the concept of Rescorla and Wagner.
According to research Rescorla and Wagner, framed a model which includes an additional control tool and help with learning. There are many types of models that evaluate the process of learning associated with classical conditioning. Researcher’s state, “contemporary approaches suggest that a conditioning procedure can produce multiple forms of learning” (Terry, 2009, 72).
When we consider learning in the brain according to information provided by Kandel work. Consider the work of Eric Kandel working with the sea slug and habituation as well as the changes that occur during classical conditioning of siphon withdrawal in the sea slug (Terry, 2009).
In classical conditioning researchers state that, “even learning as simple as classical conditioning is represented in multiple areas of the brain” (Terry, 2009, p.73).
Classical conditioning is one of the processes of learning in most of every type of organism found in the animal kingdom. Conclusion
Classical conditioning is prevalent to humanity in general because classical conditioning theories set the tone of foundational work in psychology. Understanding the connectional relationships the concepts of classical conditioning has within the evolution of a person’s growth from infancy to adulthood helps theorist, psychologist, and students formulate new observable roles of awareness for the future. From the works of Pavlov to the works of Hebbian and others classical conditioning theorist seeking answers of how classical conditioning is applied to learning. Considered operant or instrumental respondent conditioning behavioral theories, response to drug conditioning, conditioned hunger, and conditioned emotions are studied to ensure the best possible therapies for humanity struggling with barriers. Optimality classical conditioning provides information to know more about humanity.
The Essay on Prior Learning Work Experience
Prior Learning Work Experience Human Services is really one of those fields where you do need to have a lot of knowledge about various aspects of our societys life. And I have certainly learned a lot working at Tompkins Community Action as a Central Intake Associate, which was a position that I was very proud of, since I got it with my own efforts and kept doing good job for two and a half years. ...
References
Garcia. J.F. and R. Koelling (1966), “Relation of Cue to Consequence in Avoidance Learning “Psychonomic Science” 4, 123-124 Kentribdge B (2002) Basic concepts in classical Conditioning, Comparative Psychology, Retrieved from http://www.dur.ac.uk/robert.kentridge/comp3.html Terry, W. S. (2009).
Learning and memory: Basic principles, processes, and procedures (4th ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn Bacon. Malaka, R. (1999).
Models of classical conditioning. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 61(1), 33-83. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/bulm.1998.9998