Norvin Aquerido II-I BSE History CLASSICAL CONDITIONING RECAPICULATION: Learning is a goal-directed act.

Learning is acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves. INTRODUCTION: People learned new things from different situations, but did you ever asked yourself why did you acquire that kind of knowledge? In this lesson you will find out what is Classical Conditioning and how this theory work in acquiring learning. THEORIST: Ivan Pavlov was born in a small village in Ryazan, Russia, where his father was the village priest. His earliest studies were focused on theology, but reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species had a powerful influence on his future interests. He soon abandoned his religious studies and devoted himself to the study of science. In 1870, he began studying the natural sciences at the University of Saint Petersburg. Pavlov's primary interests were the study of physiology and natural sciences. He helped found the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine and continued to oversee the program for the next 45 years. While researching the digestive function of dogs, he noted his subjects would salivate before the delivery of food. In a series of well-known experiments, he presented a variety of stimuli before the presentation of food, eventually finding that, after repeated association, a dog would salivate to the presence of a stimulus other than food. He termed this response a conditional reflex. Pavlov also discovered that these reflexes originate in the cerebral cortex of the brain. Pavlov received considerable acclaim for his work, including a 1901 appointment to the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology. The Soviet government also offered substantial support for Pavlov's work, and the Soviet Union soon became a well-known center of physiology research.

While Ivan Pavlov was not a psychologist, and reportedly disliked the field of psychology altogether, his work had a major influence on the field, particularly on the development of behaviorism. His discovery and research on reflexes influenced the growing behaviorist movement, and his work was often cited in John B. Watson's writings. Other researchers utilized Pavlov's work in the study of conditioning as a form of learning. His research also demonstrated techniques of studying reactions to the environment in an objective, scientific method. THEORY: Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behavior via the process of association. In simple terms two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal. There are three stages to classical conditioning. In each stage the stimuli and responses are given special scientific terms: Stage 1: Before Conditioning: In this stage, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR) in an organism. In basic terms this means that a stimulus in the environment has produced a behavior / response which is unlearned (i.e. unconditioned) and therefore is a natural response which has not been taught. In this respect no new behavior has been learned yet. For example, a stomach virus (UCS) would produce a response of nausea (UCR). In another example a perfume (UCS) could create a response of happiness or desire (UCR). This stage also involves another stimulus which has no affect on a person and is called the neutral stimulus (NS). The NS could be a person, object, place etc. The neutral stimulus in classical conditioning does not produce a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus. Stage 2: During Conditioning: During this stage a stimulus which produces no response (i.e. neutral) is associated with the unconditioned stimulus at which point it now becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS). For example a stomach virus (UCS) might be associated with eating a certain food such as chocolate (CS). Also perfume (UCS) might be associated with a specific person (CS).

Often during this stage the UCS must be associated with the CS on a number of occasions, or trials, for learning to take place. However, one trail learning can happen on certain occasions when it is not necessary for an association to be strengthened over time (such as being sick after food poisoning or drinking too much alcohol). Stage 3: After Conditioning: Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned response (CR). For example a person (CS) who has been associated with nice perfume (UCS) is now found attractive (CR). Also chocolate (CS) which was eaten before a person was sick with a virus (UCS) is now produces a response of nausea (CR). THE LITTLE ALBERT EXPERIMENT: Little Albert was a 9-month-old infant who was tested on his reactions to various stimuli. He was shown a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey and various masks. Albert described as "on the whole stolid and unemotional" showed no fear of any of these stimuli. However what did startle him and cause him to be afraid was if a hammer was struck against a steel bar behind his head. The sudden loud noise would cause "little Albert to burst into tears. When "Little Albert" was just over 11 months old the white rat was presented and seconds later the hammer was struck against the steel bar. This was done 7 times over the next 7 weeks and each time "little Albert" burst into tears. By now "little Albert only had to see the rat and he immediately showed every sign of fear. He would cry (whether or not the hammer was hit against the steel bar) and he would attempt to crawl away. Watson and Rayner had shown that classical conditioning could be used to create a phobia. A phobia is an irrational fear, i.e. a fear that is out of proportion to the danger. Over the next few weeks and months "Little Albert" was observed and 10 days after conditioning his fear of the rat was much less marked. This dying out of a learned response is called extinction. However even after a full month it was still evident. EXAMPLES: Classical conditioning exercises in the classroom help reinforce lessons presented about both conditioned and unconditioned stimuli and their effects on learned behaviors. This means you use a specifically introduced stimuli like the bell or yardstick to illicit a

response over the conditioning time. An unconditioned stimulus is something like smelling a food that made you sick might illicit feeling nauseated. Another example is this: Our students enter Mr. Smith's classroom on the first day, and are chatty. Mr. Smith was in the room when they entered, and he sat on his desk, watching them walk in. Eventually Mr. Smith stood up and walked towards the chalkboard. Students continued to talk, and he cleared his throat and waved his hand, motioning for people to quiet down. The students shut up. On day two, Mr. Smith again was sitting on his desk as the students entered, and again when he walked towards the chalkboard, the students did not quite right away. He then told the students to be quiet. They did so. On day three, Mr. Smith sat on his desk as the students entered, and as he walked towards the chalkboard, the students hushed on their own. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus was Mr. Smith telling students to hush or gesturing at them to shut up. The conditioned stimulus was him walking towards the chalkboard. The students learned to associate him walking towards the chalkboard with being quiet (they learned this was his cue that he was ready to start). They therefore started shushing when he walked towards the chalkboard, without him needing to tell them or gesture to be quiet. REFERENCES: Retrieved August 22, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning Retrieved August 18, 2013, from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201 01031134056AAMD43D Cherry K. (n.d). Ivan Pavlov Biography (1849-1946). Retrieved August 18, 2013, from http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/pavlov.htm McLeod, S. A. (2008). Classical Conditioning - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html