Edexcel Psychology
  • Social Psychology
    • Obedience
    • Prejudice
    • Milgram 1963 Experiment of Obedience
    • Milgram's Variations
    • Hofling's Study of Nurses
    • Meeus and Raaijmakers
    • Sherif Study of Intergroup Relations
    • Key Issue
    • Research Methods
    • Practical (social)
  • Cognitive Psychology
    • Levels of Processing Model of Memory
    • Multi-store Model of Memory
    • Reconstructive Memory
    • Cue Dependent Theory of Forgetting
    • Displacement Theory of Forgetting
    • Godden & Baddeley's Study of Context Dependent Forgetting
    • Craik & Tulving's Study of Levels of Processing
    • Key Issue
    • Research Methods
    • Practical (cognitive)
  • Learning Approach
    • Classical Conditioning
    • Operant Conditioning
    • Social Learning Theory
    • Explanation of Gender
    • Treatments
    • Bandura, Ross and Ross Bobo Doll Study
    • Watson & Rayner Little Albert
    • Key Issue
    • Research Methods >
      • Practical (learning)
  • Psychodynamic Approach
    • Concepts
    • Explanation of Gender
    • Freud: Case Study of Little Hans
    • Axline: Case Study of Dibs
    • Key Issue
    • Research Methods
    • Practical (Psychodynamic)
  • Biological Approach
    • Genes, Hormones and Brain Lateralisation
    • Evaluation of Biological Explanation for Gender
    • Gottesmann & Shields: Twin Study of Schizophrenia
    • Dr Money: The case of Bruce Reimer
    • Key Issue
    • Research Methods
    • Scanning Techniques
    • Practical (Biological)
  • Statistical Tests
Classical Conditioning

This is a stimulus – response  theory. A stimulus is what is done to a person and the response is how the individual responds to the stimulus. A response is a reflex  action – this means they are involuntary and happen automatically e.g. sneezing, startle, jerking if hit on the knee in the right place.
 According to classical conditioning this response can be conditioned in response to a stimulus that would not normally produce that response. E.g. you feel sick at the sight of chocolate, having previously eaten too much and being sick.

 The classical conditioning process was found by Pavlov  and his work on dogs.


The process:

 An unconditioned  stimulus (UCS) produces and unconditioned response (UCR)
                         Food                                                               Dog salivates  


The UCS is then paired with a neutral stimulus (NS) which still gives the UCR
                         Food + Bell                                                       Dog Salivates

 After a number of pairings, the NS becomes conditioned (CS), this means it produces the response without the UCS, it is a conditioned response  (CR)
                        Bell                                                                  Dog salivates 

There are other aspects that can occur in classical conditioning:

Extinction
: This is when the association between the CS and CR is broken and the behaviour no longer occurs. E.g. the dog no longer salivating when the bell is rung

Spontaneous recovery:
Occurring after extinction, this is when the CS suddenly produces the CR again. It is when the learned behaviour that appeared to have been extinguished makes a spontaneous return. E.g. the dog no longer salivating when a bell is rung, suddenly salivating a few weeks later

Discrimination: This is when the CR occurs to a specific CS, e.g. the dog only salivates to a hand bell and not the door bell

Generalisation: This  is when the CR occurs to anything similar to the CS, e.g. the dog salivates to any bell 

Exam hint: make sure you can identify the UCS, UCR, NS/CS, CR in a range of situations. You may be given a scenario in the exam and asked to
explain how it developed using this theory. 


   
Strengths
+ There is anecdotal evidence for classical conditioning in everyday life e.g. feeling sick with cleaning products
+ Evidence comes from lab studies e.g.  Pavlov. These are highly  controlled and can establish cause and effect relationships. 
+ Can explain how people develop phobias and has lead to the development of treatments using the principles of classical conditioning (see aversion therapy and systematic desensitisation)

Weaknesses
- Cannot explain how novel behaviours are acquired, only explains  when an association is made
- A lot of research uses animals – does
not take into account that  humans reason and understand and may be less
influenced 


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.