Preview

Classical Conditioning Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
989 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Classical Conditioning Research Paper
Use classical conditioning principles to explain the development of phobias, and describe how systematic desensitisation can be used to overcome fears and phobias. Illustrate with an example/s

Classical conditioning is a wonderful form of therapy which involves studying the condition that predicts that a spesific event will occur. Humans acquire a lot of their behavior through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning involves different learning principles, which include: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalisation and discrimination(Sarma, 2010). It has being proved by tests, that classical conditioning will only occur when the conditional stimulus is a reliable predictor of the unconditional stimulus.
…show more content…
Classical conditioning can develope phobias, for example, if a parent has a fear of snakes the child can develop that fear just by observing the signs of fear that his or her parent is expressing. It is possible for classical conditioning to occur without direct experience with the conditional and unconditional stimulus(Sarma, 2010). There is no need for the child to be attacked by the snake. Therefor, human beings can acquire phobias vicariously-by hearing or even reading different types of stories that portray unpleasant episodes. The imaginary episode that is pictured as the story (unconditional stimulus) if read or heard is able to give imagionary stimuli (conidtional stimuli) that result in emotional responses (conditional reponses)(Sarma, …show more content…
The child would then portray a sence of fear or unrest whenever they then saw the dog. Systematic desensitization can occur in this situation if everytime the child comes in close contact or even touches the dog, they then recieve a special treat such as a lolly pop or chocolate to reward them for being in contact with the dog. As a result the child would then learn to associate the dog with recieving special treats, therefore the child would want to remain in contact with the dog on a regular basis in order to get the treats, which would result in the child 's fear of the dog completely

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    PSY 422 Study Guide #1

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Chapter 3 begins with a brief examination of the history of classical conditioning. The research of Pavlov, Twitmyer, Vul’fson and Snarskii is presented. The historical accounts are used as a basis for defining the classical conditioning paradigm. Several experimental situations, including fear conditioning, eyeblink conditioning, sign tracking, and taste-aversion learning, are described in detail. The specifics of excitatory and inhibitory conditioning are then presented. These specifics include definitions, conditioning and control procedures, and measurement of the conditioned responses. The chapter concludes with an examination of the prevalence of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning mechanisms involved in responses during causal judgment, food preference learning, nursing, and sexual behavior are presented.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    PSYCH 550 Week 1 DQ 2

    • 650 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prepare a 1,400 to 1,750-word paper in which you examine the concept of classical conditioning. As a part of your examination be sure to address the following items:…

    • 650 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical conditioning is learning by associated, this is when we create a new stimulus response link by associating one stimulus to a response. For example little albert was conditioned to have a phobia of white fluffy objects.…

    • 663 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    unit 8 p2 &p3

    • 2966 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Individuals may change their behaviours due to certain aspects, for example; a young boy may have a fear of dogs and because of this they may not want to go to school or go and play out in the park because they may fear that they will encounter a dog. Another example of this would be if an old woman had a fear of going out (agoraphobia), and due to the fact that this fear dominates her life she gets depression. Thanks to classical conditioning an individual’s behaviour can be changed so that they can then overcome their phobia.…

    • 2966 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A neutral stimulus (such as a bell) which normally wouldn’t produce a response (such a salivating) eventually becomes paired with another stimulus (such as the food) this is referred to an unconditional response. When the bell and food (unconditional stimulus) are paired often enough the dogs start to salivate as soon as they hear the bell and before the food is served. When this occurs conditioning has taken place. (Cited in Burns 1995) Pavlov argued that if dogs could be conditioned to salivate then it is possible to apply the process to bodily process that effect illness and mental health disorders. Nowadays classical conditioning is applied in the treatment of phobias and in aversion therapies.(Cited in Burns 1995).…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical conditioning is the learning that takes place based on an association of a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit the response.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prepare a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you discuss phobias and addictions as related to classical and operant conditioning. Be sure to include the following:…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phobias and Addiction

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We have to ask ourselves what does phobia or addiction has to do with classical and operant conditioning. In this paper I will explain why how phobias can be developed through classical conditioning and operant conditioning as well as:…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    pys/300

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Classical conditioning is when learning proceeds to take place when an original stimulus manifest to a conditioned response due to the association with an unconditioned stimulus (APA.com). I took my puppy to the vet for the first time for his first dose of vaccinations. The vet came in with a needle and my puppy whined when the vet gave him the vaccination. The second time we went for his second dose of vaccinations, the puppy saw the vet come in with the needle and my puppy became scared and hid behind me. When my puppy saw the needle, he remembered that it hurt the last time, this in turn caused fear and triggered a fear for needles.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conditioning can be used to develop or eliminate emotional difficulties in subjects. There are two types of conditioning that can and have been distinguished between. These two types are classified as operant and classical. Phobias can and have been purposely developed by using classical conditioning in subjects using fear tactics. Addictions can be developed or removed by using operant conditioning in subjects. Despite operant and classical conditioning being used to develop phobias and addictions, extinction can be used in both to remove the current conditionings.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pavlov used classical conditioning, his experiment was used with a dog. When the bell rings the dog doesn't do anything until after a while Pavlov gives the dog a treat every time the bell is rung so every time the bell rings now the dog will start salivating. This is how systematic desensitisation works, people associate a fear or a phobia by something they may of seen the say that an accident may have occurred causing the phobia e.g. if a man had a car accident and the car that crashed in to him was blue, the man may have a fear of blue now because of this (the dog learning that food comes with the ring of the bell) psychologists can help this by slowly showing the man that blue isn't scary by talking about the colour, seeing the word written on paper then seeing the colour and being comfortable with it, this is then cured of the fear this is called the Hierarchy of fear. This reaction can't be learned so he called this unconditioned response. This theory is what psychologists use to look at phobias, it shows that there is always something too set a behaviour off e.g. if something bad happened in your life and the most thing you remember is a poster on the wall or even a song you listened to that night, you could develop a phobia of that poster or song. The best way to help this is to find the cause and ask the patient to make a list of their worst fear about that phobia.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a potent stimulus obtains the ability to evoke an innate response that was originally elicited by a neutral stimulus. In classical conditioning, a UR is an event that occurs naturally in response to some stimuli. On the other hand, a UR is the stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without learning. A CS in classical conditioning is an originally neutral stimulus that, through learning, comes to be associated with some unlearned responses. Finally, a CR is the learned response to the originally neutral but now conditioned stimulus (CITE BOOK). These are the basic components involved in classical conditioning. Classical conditioning theory was first discovered and described…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Classical Conditioning

    • 375 Words
    • 1 Page

    Classical conditioning is a method of conditioning in which associations are made between a natural stimulus and a learned, neutral stimulus. I consider classical conditioning to be very important because it’s such an efficient way of teaching, training or conditioning people or animals, especially children. Classical conditioning could be used for psychological distress like phobias. For example, Mary cover jones put a child with a fear of rabbits in a room with the rabbit far way. Then she gave him his favorite food and put the rabbit closer. Associating the pleasure of food with the feared object made him no longer scared of rabbits. This applies to my life because my mom used this method when she raised me. I was scared of riding my bike because I fell off it once. So every time I attempted pedaling she would give me a dollar. Finally she put 5 dollars all way down the street and told me to bike there and get it; making me lose my phobia of bikes.…

    • 375 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conditioning: Psychology

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The idea of classical condition is one of the most notable learning techniques because it involves a stimulus rewarded for a certain response. Naturally, animals and human have unconditioned stimulus that triggers an unconditioned response. The most common connection is the correlation between food and salivation. Food naturally draws organism to it in order to satisfy a drive created by hunger to acquire homeostasis. A response is created because of the organism’s reaction to food, which is usually salivation. Classical conditioning is considered an effective way to train an organism to learn habits not naturally associated with certain unconditioned stimulus. This creates a conditioned stimulus. The once unconditioned response is now conditioned to respond to the conditioned stimulus, which is called a conditioned stimulus. An example of conditioned stimulus and response is the example of associating the school bell with food. Children are hungry by nature, but when the school bell is added, the children are reinforced to associate the school bell with lunchtime. Classical…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Classical Conditioning

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The phenomenon studied by Pavlov is an interesting one to consider. (Myers, 2010) Trying to choose a personal experience that reflects classical conditioning was difficult. There were many obvious choices, so it took a while to choose one. When I was a little girl I attended a funeral with my mother. One of the hymns played at the funeral was “In the Garden”. Being a funeral, it was a very sad event and there were many tears. Afterward, my mother said to me, “I want that song played at my funeral”. To this day I cannot hear that song without tears coming to my eyes. I hear it and imagine my mother’s funeral.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays