Classical Conditioning Phenomena and Applications
Why is timing of the CS and UCS important in classical conditioning?
Delayed conditioning is the most effective form of classical conditioning. Less effective are simultaneous conditioning and trace conditioning
After conditioning, extinction of the CR occurs when the UCS is discontinued. Allowing time to pass and returning the subject to the apparatus is typically accompanied by spontaneous recovery.
Why is it important for the CS to “predict” the UCS?
The crucial factor in classical conditioning is the consistency with which the CS predicts the occurrence of the UCS.
How do generalization and discrimination work?
Stimulus generalization occurs when a stimulus similar to the original CS also produces CR. Stimulus discrimination, its complement, occurs when dissimilar stimuli produce lesser CR or none at all.
How does biological predisposition affect classical conditioning?
Biological predispositions are often apparent in classical conditioning. Because of pre-wiring, some CS-UCS associations can be established much more easily that others and some not at all.
Taste aversion experiments provide an example of how biological predispositions affect conditioning. The learning of taste aversion is easy for animals that naturally associate taste with food but difficult to impossible for animals that use other cues, such as visual ones for food.
Experiments:
In the modern view, conditioning can be best explained by the development of expectancies-that is, what animals and humans learn is the expectation that a particular conditioned stimulus (CS) will be followed by an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
Classical conditioning by past events may account for many of the fears and preferences displayed by human adults-and also for physical symptoms such as unexplained headaches or nausea and the intense desire to return to drug use that is some times displayed by former drug addicts.
In Watson and Rayner’s “Little Albert” experiment, the loud sound was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the rat was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and a fear response was the (UCR), and the (CR).
In the experiment on conditioned illness in rats, the insulin was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the light and syringe were the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the coma was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).
In the experiment on conditioning the immune system in rats, the drug was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the novel taste was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and production of the antibodies was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).
In the experiments on conditioning sexual behavior in rats, normal female odors were the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the lemon scent was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and sexual arousal was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).
Focus Questions
What is operant conditioning and how did Skinner study it?
Operant behavior “operates” on the environment in accord with contingencies. Operant conditioning
is base on contingencies that are arranged in the lab or occur in real life.
Contingency: the relationship between behavior and its consequences.
Operant conditioning: the imposition of contingences, either deliberate or natural.
The controlled environment of the Skinner box revolutionized the study of learning and conditioning.
Parallels between classical and operant conditioning occur in areas extinction and spontaneous recovery, as well as stimulus generalization and discrimination.
Shaping and successive approximations is an efficient procedure for training subjects to perform specific behaviors.
Shaping and successive approximations: a procedure for quickly establishing a contingency, such as bar pressing by rats or key pecking by pigeons, by rewarding successive approximations to the target behavior.
An operant is a class of behaviors-not a specific behavior.
What basic terms and procedures are involved in operant conditioning?
The first half of Thorndike’s law of effect corresponds to positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement: the second half corresponds to positive punishment and negative punishment.
Positive reinforcement: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is strengthened because it results in presentation of an appetitive stimulus; also known as reward training.
Negative reinforcement: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is strengthened because it results in removal of an aversive stimulus; also known as escape or active avoidance training.
In operant conditioning contingencies, positive means that a stimulus is presented or “added” and negative means that a stimulus is removed or subtracted. The effect on behavior is then determined by whether the stimulus is appetitive or aversive.
Positive punishment: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is weakened or suppressed because it results in presentation of an appetitive stimulus; also known as reward training

The Mind as an Iceberg
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, compared the human mind to an iceberg. The tip above the water represents consciousness, and the vast region below the surface symbolizes the unconscious mind. Of Freud’s three basic personality structures-id, ego, and superego-only the id is totally unconscious.
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