Learning Chapter 6 Case Study The Little Albert

Learning Chapter 6

Case Study: The Little Albert Experiment The Little Albert experiment showed that emotional reactions such as fear can be taught through classical conditioning. The Experiment The Results • Eleven-month-old Albert was conditioned to fear a white rather than be amused by it. • Psychologists achieved this by pairing the rat with something that Albert would find instinctively frightening. • After they paired the rat with loud noises, Albert showed a fear of the rat even when there was no noise. • Albert’s fear spread to similar objects. • By today’s standards, the experiment was unethical.

What is Classical Conditioning? Classical Conditioning: a form of learning that involves the use of a stimulus to generate a specific response. • Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov pioneered research into a form of learning known as classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, one stimulus causes a response that is usually caused by another stimulus. • Classical conditioning can help people adapt to the environment and can help eliminate troubling fears or other behaviors.

Principles of Classical Conditioning • Conditioning is a type of learning that involves stimulus-response connections. • Classical conditioning is a simple form of learning in which one stimulus calls forth the response that is usually called forth by another stimulus. Pavlov’s Dogs • Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used dogs in his studies of classical conditioning. • He trained the dogs to associate the sound of a bell with food. • They learned that the sound of the bell meant food was coming.

Principles of Classical Conditioning, cont’d Stimulus and Response • Unconditioned stimulus: a stimulus that causes a response that is automatic, not learned • Unconditioned response: caused by an unconditioned stimulus • Conditioned response: a learned response to a neutral stimulus • Conditioned stimulus: a previously neutral stimulus that causes a conditioned response

Pavlov’s Experiment

Key Concepts of Classical Conditioning

Adapting to the Environment Taste Aversions • Taste aversion: learned response to a particular food • One-trial learning https: //youtu. be/Q 8 skzjsa. Jc 8 Spontaneous Recovery • Spontaneous recovery: Reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after some time has passed https: //youtu. be/COMa. G 7 p. Obg. E https: //youtu. be/d. Qw 4 w 9 Wg. Xc. Q Extinction • Extinction: Disappearance of conditioned response when unconditioned stimulus no longer follows conditioned stimulus Generalization and Discrimination • Generalization: The tendency to respond in the same way to stimuli that have similar characteristics • EX. Scared of a big dog that growled, so a child generalizes all dogs are scary and avoids them • Discrimination: The act of responding differently to stimuli that are not similar to each other • EX. Fear of snakes but will visit reptile houses at the zoo; fear of heights but will jump out of an airplane

Applications of Classical Conditioning Flooding and Systematic Desensitization • In flooding, a person is exposed to the harmless stimulus until fear responses to that stimulus are extinguished. https: //youtu. be/O 346 Rqdj 2 Uk • With systematic desensitization, people learn relaxation techniques and then, while they are relaxed, they are gradually exposed to the stimulus they fear. https: //youtu. be/Npy. BTB 2 aq 9 s Counterconditioning • In counterconditioning, a pleasant stimulus is paired repeatedly with a fearful one, counteracting the fear. https: //youtu. be/Ihc. Qj_QAQig Conditioning in a Nutshell https: //youtu. be/qa. OC_3 KA 3 P 8