1. Learning (Behaviorism)
AP Psychology
Learning (Behaviorism)
Essential Task 5-2: Describe basic classical conditioning phenomena with specific attention to unconditioned
stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, pairing, acquisition, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, contingency, and higher-order learning.
Logo Green is R=8 G=138 B= Blue is R= 0 G=110 B=184
Border Grey is R=74 G=69 B=64

2. Observational/Social- Cognitive Learning Theory
Learning The process by which experience or practice results in a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior
We are here
Classical
Conditioning
The type of learning in which a response naturally elicited by one stimulus becomes to be elicited by a different formally neutral stimulus
Operant
Conditioning
The type of learning in which behaviors are emitted to earn rewards or avoid punishments
Observational/Social- Cognitive Learning Theory
The type of learning in which behaviors are learned by observing a model
Pavlov and Watson
B.F. Skinner
Albert Bandura
UCS, UCR, CS, CR
Reinforcement and Punishment
Modeling and Vicarious Learning

3. Essential Task 5-2: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Outline
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
unconditioned response (UCR)
neutral stimulus
pairing
acquisition
conditioned stimulus (CS)
conditioned response (CR)
stimulus generalization
stimulus discrimination
extinction
spontaneous recovery
contingency
higher-order learning (in classical conditioning)

4. Classical Conditioning
Definition: The type of learning in which a response naturally elicited by one stimulus becomes to be elicited by a different formally neutral stimulus.
Working definition:
Type of learning that happens TO someone
Person learns to respond to a stimulus.
Previously the stimulus meant nothing.
Now it means something IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
Outline

5. Examples of Classical Conditioning
Phobias
After the attacks, cats become a warning stimulus for pain causing fear when the child sees cats.
After this botched photo, 6 ft bunny becomes warning stimulus for someone trying to capture you.

6. Examples of Classical Conditioning
Taste Aversion
After throwing up a food, it becomes a warning stimulus for getting sick.

7. Examples of Classical Conditioning
Using Sex to Sell
Advertisers pair their product with sexual imagery hoping that the product will become a ‘promising stimulus’ for sexual arousal. Hopefully this connection makes you grab their product off the self .

8. Examples of Classical Conditioning

9. Key Psychologists
Ivan Pavlov Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning.

10. Key Psychologists
John B. Watson

11. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that invariably causes an organism to respond in a specific way
Outline

12. Unconditioned Response (UCR)
A response that takes place in an organism whenever an unconditioned stimulus occurs

13. Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A stimulus that does not naturally cause a response in the organism.

14. Acquisition
refers to the first stages of learning when a response is established. In classical conditioning, it refers to the period of time when the stimulus comes to evoke the conditioned response.

15. Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
An originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus and eventually produces the desired response in an organism when presented alone.

16. Pairing
Presenting the organism with the CS and then the UCS multiple times.

17. Conditioned Response (CR)
After conditioning, the response an organism produces when only a conditioned stimulus is presented.

18. Stimulus Generalization
the transfer of a learned response to different but similar stimulus.

19. Stimulus Discrimination
learning to respond to only one stimulus and to inhibit the response to all other stimuli.

20. Extinction
Extinction is a decrease in the strength or frequency of a learned response because of no longer pairing the US and CS

21. Spontaneous Recovery
reappearance of an extinguished response after the passage of time, without further conditioning

22. Contingency Theory of Classical Conditioning
For Pavlov, the key variable in associative learning was the number of times the CS was paired with the US.
The Pairings Principle:
As the number of pairings increases, the strength of the association between CS and US increases.
This was because the CS became a more reliable signal that the US was going to occur.

23. Contingency Theory of Classical Conditioning
In the 1960s, an alternative theory was proposed by Robert A. Rescorla, the Contingency Theory.
Rescorla agreed with Pavlov that for learning to take place, the CS had to be a useful predictor of the US.
But he disagreed on what made the CS a useful predictor. It was more complicated than the number of CS-US pairings.
He maintained that it was the contingency OR THE CONNECTION between the CS and US.

24. Higher Order Learning in Classical Conditioning
Also known as second-order conditioning.
A form of learning in which a stimulus is first made meaningful or consequential for an organism through an initial step of learning, and then that stimulus is used as a basis for learning about some new stimulus. For example, an animal might first learn to associate a bell with food (first-order conditioning), but then learn to associate a light with the bell (second-order conditioning).