1. “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
Albert Einstein
Class 1

2. How does learning take place?
Class 1. Animals learn differently than humans – many animals have innate behaviours, which they are born with. For instance, migratory animals, such as salmon, know where to migrate every year, octopi can make shelter out of coconut shells underwater. They do not need to be taught, they do not need to be shown, they just know how to do it. People, on the other hand, are different.
- mimic octopus
- Frasier

3. What is learning?
“A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behaviour due to experience”.
Class 1. Have students brainstorm in groups as to what learning is. How do you know you have learned? ~5 minutes

4. How do you learn? Three different types: Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social learning/Observational learning
Class 1. Ask students how they learn before showing the different types of learning.

5. Classical conditioning
Experiment  - Who would like to get wet…?
Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
Originally studied how much dogs salivated during digestion
Noticed that dogs started salivating at the sight of food…
…so he started varying the stimuli before feeding
Class 1. Demo – spray bottle and deck of cards with two student volunteers. Bring a towel!!
Discuss afterwards how learning took place.

6. Pavlov’s Dogs
Class 1.

7. Little Albert John B. Watson (1878 – 1958) Little Albert experiment
Class 2. After video, get students to name the neutral stimulus, US, UR, CS, and CR. Compare answers with next slides.

8. Little Albert
Before conditioning:
UCS
Class 2.
UCR (Fear)

9. Little Albert
Before conditioning:
Neutral stimulus
Class 2.
No fear

10. Little Albert During conditioning: UCS Neutral stimulus UCR (Fear)
Class 2.
Neutral stimulus
UCR (Fear)

11. Little Albert
After conditioning:
Class 2. CS
CR (Fear)

12. Classical conditioning
Class 2. Ask students to name the US, UR, NS, CS, and CR in the Frasier video.

13. Classical conditioning
What is an example of classical conditioning?
For each example, name the following:
US – unconditioned stimulus
UR – unconditioned response
Neutral stimulus
CS – conditioned stimulus
CR – conditioned response
Class 2. Have a spokesperson from each group give the examples.

14. Classical conditioning
Initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship - Acquisition
How much time should elapse between presenting the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus?
Class 3. Ask students: How long do you think it takes for somebody to be un-conditioned? How long do the effects of conditioning stay? What factors do you think come into play?

15. Acquisition
The CR grows stronger as the CS and US are repeatedly paired
Strong CR
Acquisition (CS + US)
Class 3.
Weak CR
Time
(CS + US)

16. Classical conditioning
What happens if the CS occurs repeatedly without the US?
Response diminishes when the CS no longer signals the US – Extinction
Class 3. Response diminishes when the CS no longer signals the US. Called extinction.

17. Extinction Time Acquisition: (CS + US) Extinction (CS alone):
Weak CR
Strong CR
(CS + US)
Extinction (CS alone):
CR weakens as the CS is presented alone
Acquisition: (CS + US)
Class 3.
Time

18. Classical conditioning
After a pause in time, the CS is sounded again with the US. What happens?
-The CR reappears – Spontaneous recovery
-Extinction suppressed the CR, but did not eliminate it
Class 3.

19. Spontaneous Recovery Time 1. Acquisition: (CS + US)
Weak CR
Strong CR
(CS + US)
2. Extinction (CS alone)
Time
Pause
1. Acquisition: (CS + US)
3. Spontaneous recovery of CR
4. Extinction (CS alone)
Class 3.

20. Classical conditioning
What do you think happened when Pavlov used a slightly different sounding tone than the original CS? (i.e., a metronome vs. a buzzer)
Dogs still responded to the stimuli – Generalization
Class 3.

21. Generalization Applications for generalization?
Human health and well-being – former drug users
Toddlers fearing vehicles
Class 3. Journal - In a half-page journal entry, describe ways in which your emotions or behaviours have been classically conditioned, and explain whether these have been positive or negative learning experiences.
Alternatively, you may describe your thoughts and feelings on potential or past ethical issues of classical conditioning.