Mary cover jones achieved counterconditioning with little peter by using

Chapter Outline

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Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

1. Identify the key behavioral theorists and their contributions to psychology.

2. Employ key principles of classical conditioning, including an unconditioned stimulus, an uncon- ditioned response, a conditioned stimulus, a conditioned response, and a neutral stimulus.

3. Summarize the conditioning experiment involving Little Albert; explain its relationship to counterconditioning.

4. Compare and contrast classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

5. Illustrate the shaping process.

Learning and Cognition 3

Introduction

3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov • Classical Conditioning • Stimulus Generalization and Stimulus

Discrimination • Extinction • Conditioning Attitude

3.2 John Watson • Conclusions • Ethical Considerations

3.3 Counterconditioning

3.4 B. F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning • Shaping • Autoshaping

3.5 Cognitive Theory • Postformal Thought • William Perry • Reflective Judgment Model • Logic and Emotion

3.6 Schaie’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development

3.7 Executive Function

3.8 Other Kinds of Learning • Priming • Latent Learning

Chapter Summary

6. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of adult cognitive theories.

7. Apply Schaie’s stage theory to adult cognitive development.

8. Explain how executive function represents growth in cognitive development.

9. Recognize the relationship between priming and latent learning to memory and cognition.

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CHAPTER 3Introduction

Introduction: What Is Learning?

When people initially try to define what learning is, they usually focus on acquired knowledge or a specific skill. A student can learn a list of state capitals; I can learn to count in a new language; you are learning about psychol- ogy right now. You may not first think of walking, discovering visual perspective, or making friends as learning processes, but they too are all forms of learning. Psychologists define learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs due to experience or practice. In the broadest sense, you can learn to play a musical instrument or how to add numbers, but learning also takes place when people turn their eyes away from the sun, take a second bite of tasty food, and hold a phone to one ear instead of the other.

There are many kinds of learning. Behavioral per- spectives are popularly regarded as those that teach people (and animals) how to act. Social cognitive learning allows people to learn by watching others and recreating what they have observed. Cognitively, learning can occur in relatively simple ways when someone reads information then remembers it. However, it can also occur when observing an abusive parent or mentally solving a problem. In the first part of this chapter, we will explore these fundamental approaches to psy- chology from both a historical and an applied perspective. Later, the focus will shift to integrate these traditional theories with contemporary models of adult cognitive development.

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Learning continues throughout all stages of human development.

Using Psychology to Inform Learning: Andragogy

Major proponents of adult education believe that adults learn differently from children. Malcolm Knowles, a famous North American adult educator, is well-known for his theoretical approach towards adult learning. Andragogy, or adult learning strategy, is grounded in psychological and developmental assumptions that are unique to adult learners. Notice the theme of self-direction and responsibility that runs through each of the assumptions (Knowles, 1970; 1984):

• Self-concept—Adults mature into a self-concept of accepting responsibility for decisions, and choosing their own learning paths.

• Experience—Adult learners (as compared to children) have accumulated a wealth of experience that contributes to learning activities.

• Motivation to learn—As adults mature, there is more intrinsic motivation to learn (i.e. self-satisfaction) than extrinsic motivation (e.g. higher salary).

(continued)

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

Along with Freud and the attractiveness of the psychodynamic perspective, psychology continued its rise in prominence with the behaviorists, including Ivan Pavlov, John Wat-son, and B. F. Skinner. Contemporary developmentalists who strictly adhere to the behav- ioral perspective reject the idea that people pass through universal stages. Instead, behaviorists generally focus on actions that can be measured through contact with the environment. They focus on certain principles, like rewarding and ignoring behavior according to the law of effect. These principles can help explain why people choose particular friends and are motivated to pur- sue specific interests.

Ivan Pavlov The behavioral perspective has its origins in the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), who, though technically not a psychologist, became an iconic figure in the advancement of psychological sci- ence. Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who in 1904 won a Nobel Prize in medicine for his study of digestion. He collected saliva by exposing dogs to food without allowing them to eat it. However, just as pet owners know that the sound of a bag or can of food being opened will initiate a change in behavior, Pavlov accidentally discovered that dogs salivated to objects and circumstances that were associated with food, even though no food was present. Specifically, dogs began to salivate when they heard familiar footsteps or observed white lab coats of the technicians that normally delivered food.

Using Psychology to Inform Learning: Andragogy (continued)

• Application of Knowledge—Adults need to know how learning will apply to their life situations before they become immersed in learning activities.

• Orientation to learning—Adult learning is problem-centered in that adults are immediately ready to usefully apply learned concepts. School children’s learning, in contrast, is subject-centered, in that learning is necessitated by preset subject matter.

Analyze Knowles’s assumptions and identify how they relate to your life as an adult learner. What knowledge do you hope to gain as a college student? What drove you to seek knowledge? How can your life experiences enrich discussions and assignments? What problems will the knowledge you acquire help solve? What do you hope to achieve from your learning?

Knowles, M. (1970). The modern practice of adult education: Andragogy vs. pedagogy. New York: Association Press. Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

For a number of years after his initial discovery, Pavlov conducted experiments in an extensive, sound-controlled laboratory. The experiment for which he is most famous occurred when he pre- sented food to a dog while ringing a bell. He learned that after a number of presentations of the food plus the bell, the sound of the bell alone would produce salivation (Pavlov, 1927/2003). At the time, Pavlov called this process learning through association, since dogs learned to associate food with the sound of the bell. We refer to this learning process as conditioning.

Classical Conditioning Psychologists now alternately refer to the way that Pavlov paired stimuli as both classical condi- tioning and Pavlovian conditioning, which is a type of learning through association. Because Pav- lov was primarily interested in physiology, the sole focus of classical conditioning is on automatic processes like salivation, fear, and nausea—responses that the autonomic nervous system mostly controls below the level of consciousness. In a laboratory, classical conditioning first begins with a natural stimulus that leads to a natural (or reflexive) response. Examples of natural stimuli that elicit natural responses include touch leading to a response of sexual arousal, a puff of air leading to the response of blinking your eyes, and being scared or cold leading to the response of piloerec- tion (or “goose bumps”).

In Pavlov’s experiment, when presented with the natural stimulus of meat, the dogs reflexively salivated. The food-salivation association is unlearned, or unconditioned. Therefore, the meat is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), and salivation is an unconditioned response (UCR).

Pavlov’s second step was to introduce a neutral stimulus (NS), an object that normally elicits no salivation response, like a bell. This NS was paired with the UCS (food) a number of times. The dogs eventually associated the bell with the food. Then, whenever the bell was rung, the dogs sali- vated. Because the dogs had learned that the bell meant “food is coming,” the previously neutral bell became a conditioned stimulus (CS) (see Figure 3.1). Salivation is not a natural response to a bell, so we call it a conditioned response (CR) in the dogs.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

Figure 3.1: Pavlovian conditioning

Before conditioning, the bell had no effect on the dogs’ behavior; it was a neutral stimulus. After it was paired with food, an unconditioned stimulus, the buzzer alone elicited the conditioned response of salivation.

NS

Bell

BEFORE CONDITIONING

UCS

Food UCR

Salivation

• elicits No response (or neutral response)

• elicits

CS

Bell

AFTER CONDITIONING

CR Salivation

• elicits

CS

Bell

CONDITIONING PROCESS (REPEATED SIMULTANEOUS PAIRING)

+ UCS

Food UCR

Salivation • elicits

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Introduction to Behaviorism: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

Pavlov and his lab associates experimented with a number of different stimuli. For instance, his original experiments used a musical metronome, a device used by musicians to keep a steady tem- po. He later paired the scent of vanilla (NS) with lemon juice, which naturally caused salivation. Af- ter the lemon juice was removed, the vanilla scent (CS) alone caused the salivation response (CR). Further experiments using moving objects and shapes of different colors as the CS were similarly successful in eliciting a CR (Pavlov, 1927/2003).

It generally took Pavlov’s dogs a number of pairings to learn the stimulus-response relationship. But classical conditioning can occur with just one pairing too. A bite of food when you are particu- larly hungry will be associated not only with the production of saliva but also with extra enjoy- ment. It is the reason that food samples are commonplace in some food stores. The association between a particular food and cessation of appetite strengthens as a function of hunger—the hungrier one is, the more enjoyable the food becomes (Egerton et al., 2009).

Aversive Conditioning People and animals also avoid situations due to classical conditioning. For instance, after a per- son is robbed, the victim is usually apprehensive about revisiting the location where the incident occurred. Animals at a game reserve often stay away from electrified fences after just one encoun- ter; even though its new owners may be kind and gentle, a previously abused dog may cower at the sight of any adult. When certain stimuli result in the avoidance of certain behaviors, we refer to it as aversive conditioning.

Applications Classical conditioning has tremendous practical value that helps to explain behavior. A teacher who witnesses a child cringe or avoid eye contact when an adult approaches may suspect that the child associates adults with fear, perhaps due to abuse. Classical conditioning explains why many people forever avoid the last food item they consumed before vomiting due to the flu. The food did not cause the vomiting, but it is nevertheless associated with nausea through classical conditioning. The virus was an unconditioned stimulus (paired with the food item) that elicited the unconditioned response of vomiting. Similarly, if wolves are (purposely) made sick from eating mutton (meat from sheep), when they later encounter sheep, they will avoid them rather than attack them. This knowledge assists ranchers and environmentalists in managing herds and preda- tory animal populations (Gustafson, Garcia, Hawkins, & Rusiniak, 1974).

Responses to songs or photos are also classically conditioned. We may associate them with tender emotions. Feeling apprehensive on encountering a smell of disinfectant may trigger a (perhaps unconscious) reminder of a visit to the hospital. Nostalgia sometimes offers a bit of flavor to foods that you otherwise might reject. Classical conditioning can even modify the immune system. Ader and Cohen (1975) famously paired saccharin water with a drug that suppresses the immune sys- tem in rats. Upon removal of the drug, the saccharin water alone produced immune suppression. Coincidentally, like Pavlov’s, their discovery was accidental. And also like Pavlov’s, their findings led to a surge of studies that demonstrated the effects of classical conditioning, this time in regards to immune system functioning in animals (Kusnecov, King, & Husband, 1989; Miller & Cohen, 2001).