LEARNING

Principles of Classical Conditioning

Acquisition (refers to the initial stage of learning something)

Stimulus Contiguity:
 Stimuli are contiguous if they occur together
in time and space.
 To have effective classical conditioning, the
UCS and the CS have to happen closely in time.
 During conditioning, the CS begins just before
the UCS and stops at the same time as the UCS.
This should be no more than 0.5 seconds.
 Principles of Classical Conditioning
Contingency
For Pavlov, the key variable in associative learning was
the number of times the CS was paired with the UCS.
As the number of pairings increased, the strength of the
association between CS and UCS increased.

This was because the CS became a more reliable

signal that the UCS was going to occur.
In classical conditioning, if the CS is paired with the
UCS, then the UCS is contingent (conditional) on the
CS.
You can predict from .
Contingency Theory of Classical Conditioning

Contingency in classical conditioning means the

predictability of the occurrence of one stimulus
from the presence of another.
For example.....
A flash of lightning is usually followed by the
sound of thunder. Thus, if you see lightning, you
might put your hands over your ears or lean
away in anticipation of the thunder.

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Principles of Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Generalisation

Stimulus Discrimination

Extinction

Spontaneous Recovery
Principles of Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Generalisation
We frequently generalise stimuli in our everyday life.
Example: stereotyping involves generalising an attitude
towards a particular
• group such as a race (e.g. Aborigines)
• ethnicity (e.g. Vietnamese)
• religion (e.g. Muslim)
• profession (e.g. police)
• sport (e.g. boxing)
• animal (e.g. pit-bull terrier).
 Stimulus Generalisation

Have you ever felt afraid

when driving a car, and in
your rear mirror you
notice a white Falcon or
Commodore following
you, with a rack of
spotlights on its roof?

If so, your fear of police cars (which typically have spotlights

on their roofs) has generalised to all cars with spotlights.
Stimulus Generalisation: ‘Little Albert’

UR
loud noise fear
US CR

Stimuli are
Rat generalised
CS
when they are
similar to the
originally
other stimuli similar
to rat (rabbit, cotton
conditioned
wool, fur coat) stimulus.
CS
 Stimulus Discrimination
Stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism that
has a learned response to a specific stimulus does not
respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to
the original stimulus.

You learn to discriminate between the sound of your

mobile phone and the ringing of others.
Extinction

Extinction is the gradual weakening or suppression of a

previously conditioned response.

If you have a
classically conditioned
fear of a dentist’s drill
and later start working
as a dental assistant,
your fear would
gradually diminish.
Spontaneous Recovery

Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a

previously extinguished conditioned response after a
period of non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery

The acquisition and extinction phases of a

conditioning experiment. Spontaneous recovery,
occurring after several hours of rest, is also shown.
Spontaneous Recovery

Couples who have recently

broken up sometimes
misinterpret and overvalue a
similar sudden ‘flare-up’ of
feelings and return to doomed
relationships.
Prejudice can be classically conditioned
Racism
Sexism
Homophobia
Religious
intolerance
Classical Conditioning: Learning Prejudice

NS
No relevant response
Member of disliked group

UCS UCR
Parent’s negative reaction Child is upset and fearful

NS
Member of disliked group

UCS UCR
Parent’s negative reaction Child is upset and fearful

CS CR
Member of disliked group Child is upset and fearful
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

Garcia and Koelling found that the type of

conditioned stimulus is important in
obtaining a conditioned response.
Some combinations of unconditioned
stimulus and conditioned stimulus were more
effective for conditioning to take place.

This questioned the universality of classical

conditioning.
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

Conditioned Stimulus

Unconditioned
Taste Light & noise
Stimulus

Electric shock Difficult Easy

Poison
Easy Difficult
(vomiting)
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

Conditioned Fears
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life