Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Classical Conditioning189outburst of fear and crying (the CR). Interestingly, Laura’s conditioned fear generalizedto a wide range of white uniforms, including a pharmacist’s white smock, a veterinarian’swhite lab coat, and even the white jacket of a cosmetics saleswoman in a departmentstore.To illustrate higher order conditioning, imagine that baby Laura reacted fearfullywhen she saw a white-jacketed cosmetics saleswoman in a department store.Imagine further that the saleswoman compounded Laura’s reaction by spraying hermother Sandy with a new perfume fragrance and handing Sandy a free perfumesample to take home. If Laura responded with fear the next time she smelled thefragrance, higher order conditioning would have taken place. The perfume scenthad never been paired with the original UCS, the painful injection. The scentbecame a new CS by virtue of being paired with the first CS, the white jacket.Extinction and Spontaneous RecoveryOnce learned, can conditioned responses be eliminated? Pavlov (1927) found thatconditioned responses could be gradually weakened. If the conditioned stimulus(the ringing bell) was repeatedly presented without being paired with the unconditionedstimulus (the food), the conditioned response seemed to gradually disappear.Pavlov called this process of decline and eventual disappearance of the conditionedresponse extinction.Pavlov also found that the dog did not simply return to its unconditioned statefollowing extinction (see Figure 5.2). If the animal was allowed a period of rest(such as a few hours) after the response was extinguished, the conditioned responsewould reappear when the conditioned stimulus was again presented. This reappearanceof a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of time withoutexposure to the conditioned stimulus is called spontaneous recovery. The phenomenonof spontaneous recovery demonstrates that extinction is not unlearning.That is, the learned response may seem to disappear, but it is not eliminated orerased (Bouton, 2007; Rescorla, 2001).Amount of saliva in cubic centimetersFigure 5.2 Extinction and SpontaneousRecovery in Pavlov’s Laboratory Thisdemonstration involved a dog that hadalready been conditioned to salivate (theCR) to just the sight of the meat powder(the CS). During the extinction phase, the CSwas repeatedly presented at three-minuteintervals and held just out of the dog’sreach. As you can see in the graph, over thecourse of six trials the amount of saliva secretedby the dog quickly decreased to zero.This indicates that extinction had occurred.After a two-hour rest period, the CS waspresented again. At the sight of the meatpowder, the dog secreted saliva once more,evidence for the spontaneous recovery ofthe conditioned response.Source: Data adapted from Pavlov (1927).From Pavlov to WatsonThe Founding of BehaviorismKey Theme• Behaviorism was founded by John Watson, who redefined psychology asthe scientific study of behavior.Key Questions• What were the fundamental assumptions of behaviorism?• How did Watson use classical conditioning to explain and produce conditionedemotional responses?• How did Watson apply classical conditioning techniques to advertising?Over the course of three decades, Pavlov systematically investigated different aspectsof classical conditioning. Throughout this process, he used dogs almost exclusivelyas his experimental subjects. Since Pavlov believed he had discovered the mechanismby which all learning occurs, it seems ironic that he had very little to say aboutapplications of classical conditioning to human behavior. This irony is less puzzlingwhen you understand that Pavlov wanted nothing to do with the newly establishedscience of psychology. Why?At the beginning of the twentieth century, psychology’s early founders haddefined the field as the scientific study of the mind (see Chapter 1). They advocatedthe use of introspective self-reports to achieve two fundamental goals: describingand explaining conscious thought and perceptions. Because the early psychologistswanted to study subjective states of consciousness, Pavlov did not see psychology asstimulus generalizationThe occurrence of a learned response notonly to the original stimulus but to other,similar stimuli as well.stimulus discriminationThe occurrence of a learned response to aspecific stimulus but not to other, similarstimuli.higher order conditioning (also calledsecond-order conditioning)A procedure in which a conditioned stimulusfrom one learning trial functions as theunconditioned stimulus in a new conditioningtrial; the second conditioned stimuluscomes to elicit the conditioned response,even though it has never been directlypaired with the unconditioned stimulus.extinction (in classical conditioning)The gradual weakening and apparent disappearanceof conditioned behavior. In classicalconditioning, extinction occurs when theconditioned stimulus is repeatedly presentedwithout the unconditioned stimulus.spontaneous recoveryThe reappearance of a previously extinguishedconditioned response after a periodof time without exposure to the conditionedstimulus.