Psychology Classical Conditioning Concepts

Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A naturally occurring stimulus triggering an involuntary reflex response, such as food leading to salivation.
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): A stimulus that, through association with the UCS, gains the ability to produce a learned reflex, like a bell resulting in salivation when paired with food.
• Neutral stimulus (NS): A stimulus that initially has no effect on the desired response, exemplified by the bell before it is associated with food.

Responses in Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned response: An involuntary reflex elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation in response to food.
• Conditioned response: A learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus, illustrated by salivation occurring when the bell is heard, associated with food.

Learning Processes

• Acquisition: The process of learning through the repeated pairing of NS and UCS, like consistently pairing the bell with food.
• Extinction: The reduction of a learned response when the UCS is no longer presented, such as salivation decreasing when the bell is rung without food.
• Spontaneous recovery: The reappearance of a previously extinguished learned response after some time has passed.

Stimulus Relation Dynamics

• Stimulus discrimination: The ability to differentiate between similar stimuli, allowing a dog to recognize the difference between a real and fake bell.
• Stimulus generalization: The tendency to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus; a dog might salivate to different types of bells.

Advanced Conditioning Concepts

• Higher order conditioning: Involves pairing a strong conditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus, making the neutral stimulus a second conditioned stimulus—like snapping fingers before ringing the bell to elicit a response.
• Conditioned Emotional Response (CER): Emotional reactions that become conditioned toward specific stimuli, such as fear developed toward dogs or attraction to a certain person.

Additional Conditioning Types

• Vicarious conditioning: Classical conditioning learned by observing others' reactions; for instance, children may cry upon seeing others cry when anticipating a shot.
• Taste aversion: Development of a negative reaction to a specific taste after just one pairing with illness, showcasing a powerful association.
• Biological preparedness: Animals' tendency to form certain associations quickly, such as connecting taste with nausea, which is thought to have survival advantages.
• Stimulus substitution: An early theory by Pavlov suggesting that classical conditioning occurs when the conditioned stimulus becomes a substitute for the unconditioned stimulus due to their close association.