Learning Revision Notes. Important terms and major experiments

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Learning Revision Notes

Learning

Is a relatively permanent change in behavior which is due to experience

Classical Conditioning

A form of learning in which an automatic response becomes associated with a previously unrelated stimulus

Ivan Pavlov (1990s)

Studied dogs

The dogs began salivating every time they heard the researchers' footsteps. Salivation is a REFLEX response; it occurs automatically when an animal smells food but Pavlov found that the dogs associated the sound of footsteps to the arrival of food because the two stimuli had occurred together so many times.

He figured that he could get his dog to respond to other things too. So, he conducted an experiment. Everytime the food arrived, Pavlov ringed the bell. Eventually he took away the food and only rang the bell. He found that the dog still salivated.

Unconditioned stimulus: food

Unconditioned response/ natural reflex action: salivation

Conditioned stimulus: Bell

Conditioned response: Salivation

John Watson and Rosalind Raynor (1920)

'Little Albert': created ethical concerns. They intended on extinguishing his fear but the boy was taken away before they could.

Unconditioned stimulus: loud noise when metal bar