1. Learning and Conditioning
Watson and Little Albert

2. Classical Conditioning
Type of learning where a stimulus gains the power to cause a response by predicting a different stimulus already associated with that response.
Because the subject learned to associate the new stimulus
with the old stimulus – both stimuli now create the same
response.
Behaviorism- school that focuses on observable behavior-
not mental processes.
Zimbardo and Pavlov
Watson goes to College

3. Components of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)- a stimulus that naturally
triggers an automatic or reflexive response
(the food with the dogs, the dart with the roommate)
Unconditioned Response (UCR)- the automatic or reflexive
response to the UCS (drooling, flinching)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)- a neutral stimulus that had no
meaning to the subject before the learning took place
(bell, “That was easy”)
Conditioned Response (CR)- same response as the UCR,
which has now become the CR due to the learning process.
(drooling, flinching)

4. 3 Processes of Classical Conditioning
Acquisition- process of developing the connection between
the CS and the UCR through trial pairings- during each trial
the new stimuli is activated immediately prior to the UCS until
the subject connects them mentally- once the CS can produce
the UCR without the UCS it is considered a learned behavior.
Watson w/Jim
Extinction- process by which the subject “un-learns” the
connection by activating the CS and not producing the UCS
that originally created the UCR. Eventually the subject no
longer responds to the stimuli.
Extinction with Supernanny

5. Spontaneous Recovery
The rapid return of a behavior that had been extinguished after a rest period when the learned connection is once again rewarded. Conditioning a 3 yr Old

6. Generalization and Discrimination
Generalization- when a subject reacts the same way to different but similar stimuli
Meanwhile at the Mall...
This mall too
Discrimination - Realizing that similar stimuli are not the same and only responding to one specific stimuli
Smart Chicken