Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Classical Conditioning193The experiment is also open to criticism on ethical grounds. Watsonand Rayner (1920) did not extinguish Little Albert’s fear of furry animalsand objects, even though they believed that such conditioned emotionalresponses would “persist and modify personality throughout life.”Whether they had originally intended to extinguish the fear is not completelyclear (see Paul & Blumenthal, 1989). Little Albert left the hospitalshortly after the completion of the experiment. Watson (1930) laterwrote that he and Rayner could not try to eliminate Albert’s fear responsebecause the infant had been adopted by a family in another city shortly afterthe experiment had concluded. Today, conducting such an experimentwould be considered unethical.You can probably think of situations, objects, or people that evoke astrong classically conditioned emotional reaction in you, such as fear oranger. One example that many of our students can relate to is that of becoming classicallyconditioned to cues associated with a person whom you strongly dislike, suchas a demeaning boss or a hateful ex-lover. After repeated negative experiences (theUCS) with the person eliciting anger or fear (the UCR), a wide range of cues canbecome conditioned stimuli (CSs)—the person’s name, the sight of the person, locationsassociated with the person, and so forth—and elicit a strong negative emotionalreaction (the CR) in you. Just mentioning the person’s name can make yourheart pound and send your blood pressure soaring. Other emotional responses,such as feelings of happiness or sadness, can also be classically conditioned.In this chapter’s Prologue, we saw that Erv became classically conditioned tofeel anxious whenever he entered the attic. The attic (the original neutral stimulus)was coupled with being trapped in extreme heat (the UCS), which produced fear(the UCR). Following the episode, Erv found that going into the attic (now a CS)triggered mild fear and anxiety (the CR). Like Erv, many people experience a conditionedfear response to objects, situations, or locations that are associated withsome kind of traumatic experience or event. In fact, despite their knowledge of classicalconditioning, your authors are not immune to this effect (see photo).Classically Conditioned EmotionalReactions After being involved in a seriousauto accident, many people develop a conditionedemotional response to the sceneof the accident. Your author Don is noexception. He still shudders when hedrives through the intersection of 10thand Cincinnati streets near the downtowncampus of Tulsa Community College. Hiscar (shown here) was crumpled by an SUVthat sped up through a red light andsmashed into the driver’s side, spinningthe car almost 180 degrees. (Fortunately,the entire sequence of events waswitnessed by the Tulsa police officer in thecar directly behind Don.) Although Donwasn’t seriously hurt, just looking at thephoto of the intersection (and his totaledcar) makes his neck tighten up and hisheart race. In this example, can youidentify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR?Other Classically Conditioned ResponsesUnder the right conditions, virtually any automatic response can become classicallyconditioned. For example, some aspects of sexual responses can become classicallyconditioned, sometimes inadvertently. To illustrate, suppose that a neutral stimulus,such as the scent of a particular cologne, is regularly paired with the person withwhom you are romantically involved. In other words, your romantic partner almostalways wears his or her “signature” cologne. You, of course, are most aware of thescent when you are physically close to your partner in sexually arousing situations.After repeated pairings, the initially neutral stimulus—the particular cologne scent—can become a conditioned stimulus. Now, the scent of the cologne evokes feelings ofromantic excitement or mild sexual arousal even in the absence of your lover or, insome cases, long after the relationship has ended. And, in fact, a wide variety of stimulican become “sexual turn-ons” through classical conditioning.CATHYCathy Guisewite