Classical

Conditioni
ng
Group 3

Arsolacia, Joy
Cabaneros, Jessele
Quinto, Chrisma
Tobias, Mavyl
Velena, Rona
AB PSYCHOLOGY IVA

Classical Conditioning

Basic and powerful form of learning in which neutral stimuli cause a response through
their association with stimuli that naturally elicit a response.
Also called Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

Born in Russia
Known for his experiments in classical conditioning
Used experimental psychology and psychopathology in animals with emphasis on
conditioned reflex
He wrote the book entitled "Conditioned Reflexes and Psychiatry"

Development of a Conditioned Reflex

Ingredients to bring about classical conditioning

1. Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - elicit automatic response from the organism

2. Unconditioned Response (UR) - natural response elicited by US
3. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - neutral stimulus, it does not elicit a natural and automatic
response from organism
4. Conditioned Response (CR) - when US,UR and CS are mixed in certain way

Training procedure:
CS-> US-> UR

Demonstration of Conditioning:
CS-> CR

General Principle of Classical Conditioning

Experimental Extinction

When the CS is presented to the organism and is not followed by reinforcement (US)

When CS no longer elicits a CR

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappears even without relearning

If the conditioned stimulus is presented, the learning reoccur

Higher-order Conditioning
Example:
CS(blinking light)- US(food)- CR(salivation)
Now that the blinking light elicits salivation, it can be paired with a SECOND CS, say, a
BUZZER.
SECONDARY CONDITIONING
2ndCS (buzzer) - 1stCS (blinking light)
THE FOOD IS NO LONGER INVOLVED
After a number of such pairing, the buzzer, when presented alone, causes the animal to
salivate. The first CS was used much like a US.
THIRD-ORDER CONDITIONING
3rdCS(2,000-cps tone) - 2ndCS (buzzer)
When tone presented alone will cause the animal to salivate.
As one goes from first-to third-order conditioning the magnitude of the conditioned
response becomes smaller, and the CR lasts for only a few trials.

Generalization
Reaction to the same stimuli
Example:
Basic conditioning procedure
1st experiment
CS(2,000-cps tone) - US (meat powder) - CR (salivation)
2nd experiment
CS(frequency higher than 2,000-cps tone) - US (meat powder) - CR (salivation)
3rd experiment
CS(frequency lower than 2,000-cps tone) - US (meat powder) - CR (salivation)

Using the number of drops of saliva as our measure of the magnitude of the CR, we Find
that the magnitude of the CR depends on the similarity of A given tone to the original
tone.
In this case the greater the similarity to the 2,000 cps tone, the greater the magnitude of
the CR.

Discrimination

The opposite of generalization

Giving a learned response only to a single specific object
Process wherein the subject learns to response to only one stimulus and inhibits the
response to all other stimuli.
Two Ways of Discrimination

1. Prolonged Training
- There is a reduced tendency to respond to stimuli related to the CS during extinction.
Thus, it is possible to control generalization by controlling training level: the greater the
amount of training, the less generalization.
2. Differential Reinforcement
This procedure involves, in our example, presenting the 2000-cps tone along with a
number of other tones that will occur during extinction. Only the 2000-cps tone is followed
by reinforcement. After such training, when the animal is presented with tones other than
2,000 cps tone during extinction, it tends not to respond to them.
Relationship between the CS and the US
Two general considerations about classical conditioning:
1. There appears to be an optimal interval of presentation between the CS and US for
conditioning to take place most rapidly.
Conditioned stimulus must be strong and clear enough to be perceived easily by the
subject.
In the presentation of conditioned stimulus before the US must not to be too long or too
short. If the time between these two events is greater or less than 0.5 seconds, conditioning is
relatively more difficult to establish.
2. If the CS comes on after the US is presented, conditioning is extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to establish. This is referred to a backward conditioning.

Prepared by:
Joy Arsolacia

Major Theoretical Concepts

Excitation and Inhibition
Excitation- a distinct positive response, such a salivation
Inhibition- A protective mechanism. When the conditioned stimuli became too strong that the
result produced would exceed the capacity of the given nervous system... excitation became
replaced by inhibition, thus protecting the weak cortical cells from excessive excitation (Gantt,
14)

Excitation and inhibition are only sides of one and the same process, they always exist
simultaneously, but their proportion varies in each moment at times the one prevailing at
times the other.
Functionally the cerebral cortex is, according to Pavlov, a mosaic, consisting of
continuously changing points of excitation and inhibition.
Thus, the cortex is constantly being excited or inhibited, depending on what the organism
is experiencing
Pattern of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the brain at any given moment is
called Cortical Mosaic. It also determines how an organism will respond to its
environment.
Cortical mosaic can become a relatively stable configuration. According to Pavlov, brain
centers that are repeatedly active together from temporary connections, and the arousal of
one will cause the arousal of others.
If a tone is consistently presented to a dog just before it is fed, the area of the brain
aroused by the tone will form a temporary connection with the area of the brain that
responds to food.
When this connection is formed the presentation of the tone will cause the animal to act
as if food were present.

Dynamic Stereotype

Events consistently occur in the environment, they come to have neurological

representation and responses to them become more probable and more efficient. Thus,
responses to a familiar environment become rapid and automatic.
Dynamic stereotype is a cortical mosaic that has been stable.
However the environment is radically changed, the organism may find it difficult to
change a dynamic stereotype.

Irradiation and Concentration

Analyser- a path from a sense receptor to a certain area of the brain. It consist of sense
receptors, the sensory pathways from the receptors to the brain. Sensory information
projected onto some area of the brain cause excitation is in that area.
Irradiation of excitation- this excitation spills over into neighboring brain area. A
process that Pavlov used to explain generalization.

For example, if the dog is trained to salivate at the tone of 1000 cycles per second, he will
salivate if the similar tone is presented from near or farther (above or below). In summary, CR
will occur for the related tones. Closer the CS to the original tone, CR will be elicited. Farther
the CS from the original tone, CR will fade.
In addition to his hypothesis that excitation irradiates, or spreads, to neighboring regions of the
cortex. Pavlov demonstrated, via generalization, that inhibition also irradiates.
Pavlov also found that concentration a process opposite to irradiation, governs both excitation
and inhibition. He asserted that under certain circumstances both excitation and inhibition are
concentrated at specific areas of the brain.
For example, if a signal is fooled by a reinforcement, there is a learned tendency to respond to
that and related signals. Likewise, if a signal is presented and is not followed by a reinforcer,
there is a learned tendency not to respond to that and related signals.
Discrimination- ability to respond differentially to related stimuli, can be brought about by
prolonged training or differential reinforcement. If a large number of pairing are made between
the CS and the US, the excitation begins to concentrate.
Excitatory and Inhibition Conditioning

Excitatory conditioning- observed when a CS-US pairing excites or produces a response.

Conditioned Inhibition- observed when training produces a CS that inhibits or suppresses
a response.
External Inhibition- is the term that Pavlov used to describe the disruptive effect that
occurs when a novel stimulus is presented along with an already established CS.
Disinhibition- which is the disruption of inhibition.

First Relation
From the law of contiguity, it occurs that both US and CS should occur simultaneously
exact simultaneous presentation. It that happens, there is a certain time lack before CS begins,
which makes our conditioning weak (weak conditioning.)
Second Relation
If the CS begins slightly before the US, it thus support the law of contiguity. This means,
CS should precede the US. And for CS to become effective, it should act as a signal to the
organism.
Prepared by:
Jessele Cabaneros

COMPARISON BETWEEN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND INSTRUMENTAL

CONDITIONING

Classical Conditioning

Extinction habits are learned, they can be unlearned or replaced by more

positive behavior.
Stimulus substitute learning sometimes referred in classical
conditioning
because Pavlov believe that the CS comes to
substitute for the US.
Bouton-suggests that during extinction, presentation of the CS
without US
results in new learning.

Overshadowing and Blocking

Overshadowing- if he use a compound stimulus as a CS and one component of the

stimulus was more salient than the other, only the more salient is conditioned.
Blocking- exemplifies a situation in which stimuli are paired in with classical
conditioning principle and yet no conditioning occurs.
Leon Kamin proponent of blocking effect.

Before discussing Kamins work we need to discussed the CER (Conditioned

Emotional Response)

Conditioned Emotional Response

Conditioned Emotional Response-method of measuring the CS US association.

Kamins Procedure of CER to demonstrate blocking
The rats are trained to press the lever for food reinforcement
The rats are exposed to sixteen trials in which a tone is followed by an electric shock.
Suppression result of the training when the tone is presented
Pairing the tone from the previous phase with the light, thus creating a compound
stimulus.
Final phase involves presenting only the light to the rat to see if it produces response
suppression.
A control group indicates that if both the light and the tone are paired with shock
independently, both produce response suppression.

The Rescoria- Wagner Theory of Classical Conditioning

Provides an account of general classical conditioning phenomena.

Uses relatively simple mathematical and symbolic logic to summarize the dynamics of
learning.
Includes two components that refer to the conditionability of the particular US and CS
pair.
Two Components
Coefficient a(alpha) refers to the potential associative strength of a given
CS.
Coefficient B(beta)- designates the potential strength of a specific US.
Three Observations on Pavlovian Theory

Pavlovian Conditioning: Its Not What You Think influential article written by Rescorla
1. It is essential that there be a correlation b/w US and CS that is more than mere
contiguity.
2. Common claim that a CR is a miniature or abbreviated UR is is either an
oversimplification or entirely incorrect
3. Pavlovian conditioning is more than mere reflex learning and it has a vital place in
contemporary psychology.

Rescorla's study

Group 1- forward conditioning (positive contingency)

Group 2- backward conditioning (negative contingency)
Group 3- randomized conditioning (no contingency)

Learned Helplessness

Belief that one can do nothing to terminate or avoid an aversive situation generalizes to
other situations.
Martin Seligman points out that in a classical conditioning experiment, the organism is
helpless and it learns that it is helpless.
Reversing the experimental procedures has a profound effect on animals behavior.

Symptoms of Learned Helplessness

Reluctance to initiate any action to attain reinforcement or to escape punishment

General passivity
Withdrawal
Fearfulness
Depression
General willingness to accept whatever happens.
Prepared by:
Rona Velena

Watsons Little Albert experiment

American psychologist John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner first
used CC to elicit an emotional response.
Aim to test the notion that fears can be acquired through CC.
The research participant was Albert B. (Little Albert), the 11 moth old son of a woman
who worked at the same clinic as Watson.

How was Little Albert conditioned to hate the rat?

They placed him on a mattress in a room where a white lab rat (CS) was within reaching
distance.
Albert showed no initial fear of it and played with it.
They then struck a hammer on a steel bar behind Albert (loud noise, UCS) and Albert
began to cry.
For the next 17 days Watson and Rayner began a series of fear-conditioning experiments.
They also conducted tests to find out if Alberts fear response could be generalised.
Albert also seemed to fear a white rabbit, a dog and a seal skin coat.

Ethical considerations?

Alberts mother left her job and Watson and Rayner reported that they were denied the
opportunity to remove the conditioned emotional responses.
This has been disputed, as it is believed they were aware of Alberts departure a month in
advance.

Some believe Alberts mother may not have been fully aware of the experimental
condition and effect on her son.
Informed consent is not mentioned in Watson original article, so a judgement cannot be
made about this ethical issue.
Also possible that Albert was vulnerable to psychological harm as a result of the
experiments.
Yet Albert was subjected to severe anxiety and distress & the experimenters made no
attempt to end the experiment and attend to his distress in an appropriate way.

Albert after the experiments?

Some psychologists have suggested that Alberts conditioned fears might have
disappeared over time, however it is reasonable to assume that Albert was not only
emotionally traumatised by the experimental procedures to which he was subjected, but
was also likely to have suffered some kind of lasting psychological harm.
Experiments using any human participant in this way would be considered unethical
today and would not be permitted.

Aversion Therapy

When people develop behaviours that are habitual and harmful to themselves or to others,
such as substance dependence, it is difficult to help them permanently stop the unwanted
behaviour.
Aversion therapy is a form of behaviour therapy that applies CC principles to inhibit or
discourage undesirable behaviour by associating it with an aversive stimulus.
The aim of aversion therapy is to suppress or weaken undesirable behaviour.
E.g. to stop unwanted behaviour such as nail biting, we might paint our nails with a foultasting substance.
The association between nail biting and the unpleasant taste is learned quickly.

When was aversion therapy first used?

1930s to treat alcoholism.

Alcoholics were administered painful electric shocks whenever the could smell, see or
taste alcohol.
Today, nausea-inducing drugs are paired with alcohol consumption to make the alcoholic
feel ill.

Limitations of aversion therapy

The learned aversion often fails to generalise.

This may be due to conditioning being dependent on cues that indicate the aversive
stimulus will follow.
People may experience the aversion only when they know that the UCS is going to
coincide with alcohol consumption.

Garcia Effect

John Garcia demonstrated that taste aversion is different from standard CC.
Garcia and Koelling (1966) accidentally discovered the occurrence of a taste aversion
when investigating the effects of radiation on rats.
Their findings suggest that animals tend to associate aversive stimuli in certain ways that
foster their survival, but do not associate aversive stimuli if these do not threaten their
survival.
Learned taste aversion based on just one exposure can be very adaptive (i.e. their chance
of survival is high).

Garcias 1st Experiment

Thirst rats were allocated to 1 of 2 experimental groups.
Both groups offered saccharine-flavoured water to drink from a tube.
Whenever rats in either group licked the tube, a bright light was flashed and a clicking
noise sounded.
Later, rats in one group received a painful shock to their feet, while those in the other
group received a dose of illness-inducing X-rays.
Subsequently, when rats were offered saccharine flavoured water, they refused it.
It seemed the rats had been classically conditioned to acquire a taste aversion to
saccharine flavoured water.
But had the rats learned to avoid all parts of the CS, or just some of them? (CS combo
of saccharine flavoured water, bright light and clicking noise).
Garcias 2nd Experiment
Tested same rats under a different condition.
The rats were given either saccharine-flavoured water that was not paired with either
light or noise, OR unflavoured water that was paired with the same light and noise that
had been present during the previous condition.
Result: rats that had become ill because of the effects of the X-rays avoided the
saccharine flavour, but were quite content to drink water accompanied by the same light
and noise.
In general, results indicate the UCS influenced what the rats had learned.
Prepared by:
Chrisma Quinto

Applications of Classical Conditioning to Clinical Psychology

1. Extinction
Behavior disorders or bad habits are learned and they can be unlearned or can be
replaced by more positive behaviors

Refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the

behavior decreasing or disappearing
This happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with
an unconditioned stimulus.

Example:
A dog was conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. When the bell was presented
repeatedly without the presentation of food, the salivation response eventually became extinct.
2. Counterconditioning
More powerful than simple extinction
The conditioning of an unwanted behavior or response to a stimulus into a wanted
behavior or response by the association of positive actions with the stimulus
The use of counter conditioning is widely used for treatment in humans as well as
animals. The most common goal is to decrease or increase the want or desire to
the stimulus.
Mary Cover Jones - proponent
Example:
She was able to eliminate the fear of rabbits from a young boy. The rabbit was first kept
away from the boy and then moved closer and closer, while the boy was able to eat his favorite
foods. The boy was allowed to touch the rabbit and then was able to eat his food to reduce the
nervousness touching the rabbit induced. Eventually the boy was able to pet the rabbit without
any sign of fear because of the unpleasant and feared stimulus of the rabbit was now replaced by
the pleasant stimulus of the food.
3. Flooding
Involves eliminating conditioned fear by exposing an individual to fear including
objects or events
Thomas Stampfl in 1967
This is a faster (yet less efficient and more traumatic) method of ridding fears
when compared with systematic desensitization.
Under controlled conditions and using psychologically-proven relaxation
techniques, the subject attempts to replace their fear with relaxation. The
experience can often be traumatic for a person, but may be necessary if the phobia
is causing them significant life disturbances. The advantage to flooding is that it is
quick and usually effective. There is, however, a possibility that a fear may
spontaneously recur. This can be made less likely with systematic desensitization,
another form of a classical condition procedure for the elimination of phobias
Example:
Psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe (1970 ) carried out an experiment which demonstrated flooding.
He took a girl who was scared of cars, and drove her around for hours. Initially the girl was

hysterical but she eventually calmed down when she realized that her situation was safe. From
then on she associated a sense of ease with cars
4. Systematic Desensitization
Joseph Wolpe (1958)
Primarily used for treating phobias
Also known as graduated exposure therapy is a type of behavior therapy used in
the field of psychology to help effectively overcome phobias and other anxiety
disorders
First: Developing an anxiety hierarchy done by taking a sequence of related anxiety
provoking events and ordering them from those that produce the greatest amount of
anxiety to those that produce the least
Second: Teaches his clients to relax reduce muscle tension and in general how it feels
when one is not experiencing anxiety
Third: Client first experiences deep relaxation and then asked to imagine the weakest
item on the anxiety hierarchy. While experiencing this, the client is again asked to induce
relaxation
Example:
A client may approach a therapist due to their great phobia of snakes. This is how the
therapist would help the client using the three steps of systematic sensitization:

1. Establish anxiety stimulus hierarchy. A therapist may begin by asking the patient to
identify a fear hierarchy. This fear hierarchy would list the relative unpleasantness of
various levels of exposure to a snake. For example, seeing a picture of a snake might
elicit a low fear rating, compared to live snakes crawling on the individualthe latter
scenario becoming highest on the fear hierarchy.
2. Learn coping mechanisms or incompatible responses. The therapist would work with the
client to learn appropriate coping and relaxation techniques such as meditation and deep
muscle relaxation responses.
3. Connect the stimulus to the incompatible response or coping method. The client would be
presented with increasingly unpleasant levels of the feared stimuli, from lowest to highest
while utilizing the deep relaxation techniques (i.e. progressive muscle relaxation)
previously learned. The imagined stimuli to help with a phobia of snakes may include: a
picture of a snake; a small snake in a nearby room; a snake in full view; touching of the
snake, etc. At each step in the imagined progression, the patient is desensitized to the
phobia through exposure to the stimulus while in a state of relaxation. As the fear
hierarchy is unlearned, anxiety gradually becomes extinguished.
Applications of Classical Conditioning to Medicine

Metalnikov

Guinea pigs as a subject

CS heat or tactile
US injections of foreign proteins

Robert Ader

1970s renewed interest in the topic

Demonstrated clearly that the immune system could be conditioned
Psychoneuroimmunology an area concerned with interactions among
psychological factors (learning, perception, emotion), the nervous system and the
immune system
CS saccharin drinking solution
US injection of drugs
High number of death in rats
In the near future, psychoneuroimmunologists hope to detail the ways n which
conditioning can assist patients with autoimmune disorders such as lupus or
certain types of arthritis, to help prevent tissue rejections in patients who have
undergone transplant surgeries or perhaps to rally the immune system in cancer
patients with HIV or AIDS.
Prepared by:
Mavyl Tobias