Classical Conditioning – Pavlov

Participants: Dogs

He restrained the dog in a harness to avoid extraneous variables. Meat powder was placed directly
on the dog’s tongue or in the bowl.

A tube was surgically attached to the dog’s cheek near one of the salivary glands and a fistula was
made so that the saliva drained straight out into a measuring device.

Procedure

1. Food powder was placed in the mouth of the dog.

2. This food is termed as the 'unconditioned stimulus' (UCS) will naturally elicit salivation
which is termed as the 'unconditioned response' (UCR).

3. During conditioning (acquisition), the food was paired with the sound of a bell (neutral
stimulus). The bell should not elicit any salivation.

4. After several pairing, the bell has now become the 'conditioned stimulus' (CS) which will
elicit salivation, now known as 'conditioned response' (CR).
 Elements of Classical Definition
Conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus A naturally occurring stimulus that elicits an involuntary

(reflex) response

Unconditioned response A biologically determined reflex, triggered by a certain

stimulus independent of any learning.

Neutral stimulus A stimulus that has no effect on the desired response

Conditioned stimulus A stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex

response by being paired with the original unconditioned
stimulus

Conditioned response A learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus

John B. Watson (1920) - Little Albert Experiment
The Little Albert experiment was a controlled experiment
showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans.

Participant: Little Albert, an 11 month-old baby

Procedure

1. Little Albert was shown a few stimuli such as a live animals, cotton, wool and even a
burning newspaper. He did not display signs of distress (baseline data).

2. Subsequently, Little Albert was given a rat to play with.

3. Every time the white rat is present, Watson's assistant would bang a loud noise behind
Albert so that he couldn't see the source of the sound.

Result:

1. After several pairings, Albert now showed fear of the white rat. He would cry and try to run
away every time the rat is present.

2. Later, Albert even generalized this fear to stimuli that resembled the white rat such as a
white fur coat.

Conclusion:

This experiment shows how fear or specifically phobias are learned from our environment. Another
note is that this experiment would be highly unethical today because this may cause permanent
phobias (poor Albert).
Operant Conditioning – Skinner
Throughout his lifetime, Skinner had conducted numerous experiments involving animals. None
were as famous as his pioneer experiment - study conditioning in rats.

Instrument: Skinner Box (this is an experimental apparatus to study animals)

The typical box has:

• number of levers that can be pressed by the animals

• feeding chamber that delivers food or water in response to the lever pressing behaviour
that is being learned

Procedure

In one of Skinner’s experiments on operant conditioning:

1. The rat would explore the environment and stumbled a lever.

2. When the lever was pressed, a food pellet (or a drop of water) was dispensed into the
tray so the rat could eat it.

3. When the rat pressed the lever again, the same thing happened. Soon the rat settled into
a pattern of pressing the lever and receiving food.

In a follow-up experiments

1. Skinner used a light to teach the rats to know when to expect a reinforcer.

2. When the lever was pressed and the light was illuminated, the food appeared in the tray.

3. When the lever was pressed and the light did not illuminate, no food appeared in the
tray.

4. The rats learnt to press the lever several times until the light illuminated, then sought out
their food.
Bandura et al. (1961) - Bobo Doll experiment

Participants: Pre-school children aged between 3 to 6 years old

Material: Bobo-doll

Procedure:
1. Pre-school-aged children who were invited, one at a time, to play in a room filled with toys.
2. The researchers pre-tested the children for how aggressive they were by observing the
children in the nursery to ensure that they have similar aggression level (baseline).
3. The children were exposed to three condition (total = 72 participants)
a. Aggressive model punching bobo doll (12 boys & 12 girls)
b. Non-aggressive model playing quietly and ignoring bobo doll. (12 boys & 12 girls)
c. No model was shown (12 boys & 12 girls) - control group
4. The children were left alone with the toys and the researchers would observe their
behaviours behind a one-way mirror.
Result:
1. Those who observed aggressive models were more aggressive towards the bobo doll than
those who watched the non-aggressive model.
2. Boys were also more likely to imitate the behaviour of same-sex models, however, this was
not the case for girls and same-sex models. (toxic masculinity)

Conclusion
This finding supports Bandura's Social Learning Theory, that is,
children learn social behavior such as aggression through the
process of observation learning - through watching the behavior of
another person.
This study has important implications for the effects of media
violence on children.