1. Principles of Learning
SECTION ONE

2. Four Types of Learning
Classical Conditioning- Physical responses developed based on association with past events.
Operant Conditioning- Learning caused by consequences.
Social Learning- Learning by observing others.
Cognitive Approach- emphasizes thought processes in learning.

3. Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov was the first to demonstrate the most primitive learning in the early 1900s.
Pavlov’s research on conditioning is the base of certain types of behavior therapy that are important now.

5. Importance of Association
Pavlov wanted to discover how salivation and gastric juices aid in digestion
He learned from an operation on a dog that separated the esophagus from the stomach that food cannot reach the stomach and food cannot be put directly into the stomach without having to travel through the mouth

6. Importance of Association cont.
Pavlov noted that food put directly into the stomach didn’t generate enough gastric juices for digestion. Salivation is critical to proper digestion.
Secondly noted that food wasn’t placed in the dogs mouth yet the dog still salivated at the sight of food.
Finally noted that the sight of the experimenter who fed the animal would cause the dog to salivate even if they didn’t have any food.

7. Outline of Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s method of conditioning, associations between natural, learned, and neutral stimulus is classical conditioning. Called classical because methods were first in era.
Anything that elicits a response is a stimulus. A reaction to a stimulus is a response.
Ex. Meat that makes a dog salivate, Meat is the stimulus, Salivating is the response.

8. Outline of Classical Conditioning cont.
Unconditioned response and unconditioned stimulus are when no special conditions are needed for the meat to cause salivation; natural and automatic.
Condition Stimulus is when a previous neutral stimulus has been associated with a natural stimulus. Conditioned response is when a response is brought about by learning

9. John B. Watson Psychologist
While taking care of laboratory rats, Watson taught the rats all kinds of tricks
Watson decided that the rats’ complex behavior was actually the result of a series of stimuli and responses
From this Watson suggested that human “deep emotions” are also just the result of association and learning
Several years after Pavlov’s experiments, Watson appeared on the scene
Types of tricks
Find their way through elaborate mazes
Digging through obstacles he put in their path
Acting as construction workers in tunnels he started for them
The rats did not have “intelligence”

10. Little Albert
Watson put a white laboratory rat into the room with Albert and Albert loved playing with the rat.
Watson sneaked up behind Albert and banged a steel bar with a hammer.
Albert would fall forward crying
Each time Albert reached for the rat, Watson banged the steel bar.
Little Albert became terrified of the rat
A woman who worked at the same clinic as Watson would bring her child with her while she was working. Unknown to the mother, Watson started a series of conditioning experiments with the child. This 11-month-old is now famous in psychology and is known as “Little Albert.”
Banging the steel bar created a horrible, startling noise.
Thus Albert’s unconditional fear of the loud noise was transferred to a conditional fear of rats (and other white furry objects)

11. Fear
A sudden loud noise is an unconditioned stimulus for the unconditional response of fear.
One of Watson’s most famous experiments involved trying to get a human to spread fear from one object to another
An unexpected loud noise makes anyone’s heart race.
We don’t have to learn to be startled or afraid.
Watson expected that this would demonstrate that emotions can be mechanically induced.

12. Summary of Formula
Loud sound(UCS) Fear (UCR) Followed by the association phase: Rat(NS) Loud sound (UCS) Fear (UC) Which then becomes: Rat (CS) Fear (CR)
UCS: unconditioned stimulus
UCR: unconditioned response
NS: neutral stimulus
CS: conditioned stimulus
CR: conditioned response

13. Conclusion
Stimulus generalization: process in which a response spreads from one specific stimulus to other stimuli that resemble the original
Ex: Little Albert was also scared by a white rabbit and a fur coat because these items resembled the white rat
Watson’s observations:
Conditioning of emotions to neutral objects is possible
A conditioned emotion can generalize to other objects that have similar characteristics
All of this is helpful, but…
no one ever located “Big” Albert after Watson’s experiments and no one since Watson has done a similar experiment, so we don’t know how long such conditioned emotions last
Most likely Albert’s fear disappeared, since we do know from other studies (with adults) that if you stop pairing something like a frightening noise with an object, the original association will disappear

14. Vocabulary
It is known from studies with adults that if you stop pairing something like a frightening noise with an object, the original association will disappear
Extinction: the gradual loss of an association over time
Ex: Pavlov’s dogs would stop salivating at the sight of the experimenter, unless the experimenter fed them occasionally
Spontaneous recovery: the sudden reappearance of an extinguished response
This is called extinction
Extinction is not necessarily permanent
The cause of spontaneous recovery is unknown

15. Removal of Fears
One of Watson’s students, Mary Cover Jones, made a very important discovery on how to cure fears.
Rabbit Experiment
Associating something with pleasant with a feared object is useful to conquer fears and even used today.