Introductory psychologyLesson 2 of 3 in the course Learning

Classical Conditioning: Associations, Cues, and Learning Processes

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) was a Russian physiologist whose research focused on digestion. While measuring how much saliva dogs produced in response to food, he noticed that the dogs began salivating before food reached their mouths. They responded to the sight of food, an empty food bowl, and even the laboratory assistants’ footsteps.

Salivation to food in the mouth is a natural reflex. Salivation to footsteps or an empty bowl is not an innate response to those events; it reflects learning. Pavlov called these anticipatory reactions psychic secretions and investigated them through controlled experiments.

All flashcards

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that naturally elicits a response without prior learning.
Conditioned response (CR)
A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus.
Higher-order conditioning
Learning in which an established conditioned stimulus helps condition a new, initially neutral cue.
Biological constraints on learning
Limits on learning that make some associations easier to acquire than others.
Spontaneous recovery
The return of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

Quiz questions

  1. In Pavlov’s experiment, what role did meat powder play when it naturally caused dogs to salivate?Answer: It was the unconditioned stimulus.
  2. A cat already responds excitedly to a can-opener sound that predicts food. A squeaky cabinet sound is repeatedly followed by the can-opener sound. What process could make the squeak elicit excitement?Answer: Higher-order conditioning
  3. What feature of taste-aversion learning distinguishes it from many other conditioning examples?Answer: It can form after one pairing and a delay of several hours.
  4. According to Rescorla’s emphasis on predictive reliability, when is a cue more likely to become an effective conditioned stimulus?Answer: When it reliably predicts the unconditioned stimulus.
  5. In the Little Albert study, what made the white rat a conditioned stimulus?Answer: It was repeatedly paired with a loud noise that naturally frightened Albert.

Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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