Classical Conditioning
Apply acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination, and biological constraints to classical conditioning.
A lesson of AP Psychology, in Learning, Cognition, Memory, and Language, about 10 minutes.
Learning
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe classical and operant conditioning and their key principles, explain observational learning, and analyze how these learning processes shape behavior.
What Is Learning?
Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior or mental processes due to experience. Excludes temporary changes (fatigue, drugs) and innate changes (maturation).
Three main types:
- Classical conditioning (Pavlov, Watson)
- Operant conditioning (Thorndike, Skinner)
- Observational learning (Bandura)
Classical Conditioning (Respondent Conditioning)
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936): discovered classical conditioning while studying digestion in dogs. Noticed dogs salivated not just to food but to stimuli associated with food.
Key components:
- Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that naturally triggers a response (food)
- Unconditioned Response (UCR): natural, unlearned response to the UCS (salivation)
- Neutral Stimulus (NS): a stimulus that initially does not trigger the response (bell)
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): the formerly neutral stimulus, after repeated pairing with UCS, now triggers the response (bell after conditioning)
- Conditioned Response (CR): learned response to the CS (salivation to the bell)
Acquisition: the process of establishing the CS-CR link; requires repeated CS-UCS pairings; timing matters (CS should precede UCS by a short interval).
Extinction: the CR diminishes and disappears when the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS.
Spontaneous recovery: after extinction, the CR reappears briefly when the CS is presented again after a rest period.
Generalization: the CR occurs in response to stimuli similar to the CS. Pavlov's dog salivated to similar bells.
Discrimination: the organism learns to respond only to the specific CS, not to similar stimuli.
John Watson and "Little Albert" (1920): conditioned fear response in a child using a loud noise + white rat; demonstrated classical conditioning of emotions in humans. Ethically infamous.
Biological preparedness: organisms are "prepared" by evolution to associate certain stimuli — taste aversion is learned in one trial (food + illness) because the association between taste and illness is evolutionarily important.