1. John Watson John B. Watson, 1878-1958
Did much of his work with human subjects.
The “Father of Behaviourism”

2. Behaviourism
Behaviourists believe that the mind is an unknowable variable.
Mental states and events are private and secret to all but the one experiencing them.
Behaviour should be studied, as it is the output of the mind.

3. “Little Albert” Experiment
Watson had a very young child exposed to many different, novel mammals.
Albert showed little to no fear when exposed to novel animals.
Then he was shown a white rat…can you guess what happened?

4. “Little Albert” Experiment
Absolutely nothing! Albert reacted to the rat similar to every other mammal before.
?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE

5. Compare to Pavlov’s Dogs

6. Ethical Implication
A lot of people thought Watson’s experiment was one of the most unethical experiments ever done.
That was in the 1920’s. There’s been way worse since.
What was unethical about the Little Albert Experiment?

7. Peter and the Rabbit
Watson also did an experiment that led to something we now call “systematic desensitization”.
Peter was a young boy who was afraid of rabbits and rats.
This experiment led Peter to not only be able to eat next to a rabbit, but play with one.

8. Nitty Gritty Terms
There are 5 terms important for describing conditioning experiments:
Neutral Stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus and Response
Conditioned Stimulus and Response

9. Neutral Stimulus A neutral stimulus is just that; neutral.
It elicits no response from the individual exposed to the stimulus.
Some stimuli can become neutral via habituation.

10. Unconditioned Stimulus
A “natural” stimulus
Results in a “natural” response
E.g. A stomach flu or food poisoning

11. Unconditioned Response
The “natural” response to the Unconditioned Stimulus.
E.g. Nausea/Vomiting

12. Conditioned Stimulus This is the same as the Neutral stimulus.
The NS is paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus to become a Conditioned Stimulus.
E.g. Banana Cream Pie

13. Conditioned Response
This is the name for the Unconditioned Response once it is elicited solely from the Conditioned Stimulus.
E.g. Nausea/Vomiting in response to Banana Cream Pie

14. Lets go back to Pavlov’s Dogs
In your groups, identify the following in Pavlov’s Dogs Experiment: NS US UR CS CR

15. Lets take a look at another example
A kid is getting a needle, administered by the nurse.
The next time he sees a nurse, he becomes anxious or afraid.
Write down the NS, US, UR, CS, CR and write 1 or 2 sentences explaining what’s going on, from a psychological perspective.

16. So what would happen if that kid heard a duck in the park?
What if Pavlov’s Dogs heard a different bell/tone?
Stimulus Generalization vs. Discrimination

17. Stimulus Generalization
?v=AjjQqd0eLzw
In a scary movie, it doesn’t have to be the same song.
Generalization is along a continuum.

18. Stimulus Discrimination
The younger sibling probably wouldn’t respond the same if a cow’s moo was played behind him.
Discrimination: Responding differently to stimuli that are not similar to each other.
Discrimination is along a continuum.

19. What happens if the kid stops getting shot after the quack?

20. What happens if the kid stops getting shot after the quack?
Eventually the conditioned response of ducking (hahaha) when hearing the quack will stop.
When the US does not follow the CS, the CR begins to decrease and eventually disappear.

21. Extinction
Extinction: The weakening of a conditioned response through removal of the unconditioned stimulus

22. Spontaneous Recovery Sometimes the CR will spontaneously come back.
Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of a learned response after its apparent extinction.
Pavlov found that spontaneous recovery is cyclical and each time the CR recovers, it is weaker.