Psychology of Learning

He deciphered that dogs like humans salivate (reflex response) when they see food; it is a natural physiological reflex response. However he also demonstrated that a signal such as using a bell (stimulus) just before he gave the dog food would eventually lead the dog to salivate at the sound of the bell even if there was no food present. Pavlov verified by pairing or associating another stimulus (the bell) with food he could train the dogs to salivate. This theory could then be applied to people as well. According to Richard et al (2007) it was found that pairing one stimulus with another stimulus could also provoke a reflexive response in people. This is also called a stimulus – response theory of learning.

Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner both studied learning, in which they both did different experiments on different animals and with different conditioning. Classical conditioning is the process in which two stimuli become linked; once this association has been recognized, an originally neutral stimulus is conditioned to provoke an involuntary response. The dogs in Pavlov’s studies learned to associate countless stimuli with the expectation of food, which caused in them salivating when the stimuli were presented. Pavlov revealed how such associations are learned, and referred to this process as conditioning. While the

Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).

This is known as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Meat is the unconditioned stimulus because at the sight of the meat the dogs begin to salivate (Feldman, 2010).   The dog’s response to the meat educes salivation and is known as the unconditioned response (UCR). An unconditioned response is defined as a reflexive and natural response that is not connected to prior learning. Unconditioned responses always occur in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus (Feldman, 2010).   While conditioning the dogs, Pavlov would ring a bell right before the presentation of meat. Eventually, the dogs would associate the ringing of the bell with the meat. Therefore, the dogs would begin to salivate at the sound of the bell. At this point, Pavlov could state that he had classically conditioned his dogs. The bell which was a prior neutral stimulus had now become the conditioned stimulus (CS) that brought forth the conditioned response (CR) of salivation (Feldman, 2010). Moreover, we have to ask what would happen if these poor dogs were never again received food upon the ringing of the bell. This would lead to extinction. Extinction occurs when a prior conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears (Feldman, 2010).   In order for Pavlov to unconditioned his dogs he would have to break their association with the sound of the ringing bell and the presentation of food. To do so he

In an experimental setting, psychologists have the ability to control the stimulus and responses in Classic Conditioning through two methods: delayed conditioning and trace conditioning. The difference between delayed and trace conditioning is when and for how long the stimuli are presented during the conditioning trials. In delayed conditioning, the conditioned stimulus will forego

Within the book Mastering the World of Psychology chapter five covers a basis surrounding the process of learning and how it relatively has permanent changes on behavior, knowledge, capability, or attitude (“Book”). These affects are acquired through everyday experiences such as actions that take place, enhancing our understanding of everything encompassed around us. As we continue to observe and apply associative learning we continue enhance our understanding of the world we live.

Learning is more than a person sitting at a desk and studying off a book. Everything that we do is a result of what we have learned. We respond to things that happen to us, we act and experience consequences from our behavior, and we observe what others say and do. Psychologists explain our many experiences with basic learning processes.

6) to achieve positive learning relationships and behaviours. This relates to the modern behaviourism theory of learning to be ‘the production of desired behaviours’ (Hammond et al. 2001, p. 5), whilst working under the operant conditioning theory that ‘reinforced behaviours increase in frequency or duration’ (Hoy & Margetts 2010, p. 235).

Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning which occurs when two stimuli are paired together repetitively and therefore become associated with each other eventually producing the same response. Classical conditioning was developed from the findings of Ivan Pavlov to account for associations between neutral stimuli and reflexive behavior such as salivation. Pavlov (1927) accidently discovered that dogs began to salivate before they had tasted their food. To support his theory, he carried out experiments using dogs which involved measuring the amount of saliva they produced. In his experiments, food started off as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produced salivation, an unconditioned response (UCR). They are both unconditioned as they occur naturally without being learned. The dogs were presented with a bell (NS), this provided no salivation. The bell and food were presented together and after many trails an

After conducting an experiment, Pavlov realized that not only the dog physically eating the food set off the chemical reaction in its body, but so did the appearance of the bowl or the smell of the food (Saunders 48). From this hypothesis, he formulated the experiments that would later be known as classical conditioning (Krapp). Pavlov created five more experiments which significantly helped in proving his hypothesis (Saunders 50-51). In his first experiment, Pavlov would make a neutral sound and then present the food immediately after (Saunders 47). Saunders said, “Pavlov was interested in studying not the behavior of the dog in response to a stimulus such as food, but the automatic changes in the dog’s body in response to the stimulus (the reflex)” (Saunders 45). After this first experiment Pavlov realized that over time, if the animal heard the sound, it would have the same reaction as if it had just been fed. The dogs would drool and secrete stomach juices as if they were being fed, although the chemical makeup of the juices was different than if the animal actually ate the food (Saunders 48). In his next experiment, he found that a similar, not identical, sound would also trigger a reaction in the dog. This is called “stimulus generation". By contrast, his third experiment showed that he could teach a dog that a certain note from tuning a fork meant that it would get food, and another note would mean it did not get food. This is known as “stimulus discrimination”. During his fourth experiment, he realized that he could get the same reaction by creating another conditional stimulus. For example, he would pair a whistle with hand claps. For his final experiment, he would present the stimulus multiple times without giving the dog food. Eventually, the dog would not respond to the stimulus. This is known as extinction (Saunders 50-51).

The dogs would start to salivate just by hearing the bell ringing, which normally would not produce this response. The first part of the process involves an unconditioned response, like blinking or salivating. The next part needed for classical conditioning is an unconditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus is one that automatically produces the unconditioned response, such as the smell of food triggering salivation. During conditioning, the neutral stimulus, like the bell in Pavlov’s case, is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus, or the meat powder. After a while, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus then produces a conditioned response, since the subject of the experiment has associated the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned response. Many interesting experiments have been conducted using classical conditioning. Another scientist that preformed an experiment with classical conditioning is John B. Watson. Watson used classical conditioned to make a young boy fear white fluffy objects. He scared the child by making loud noises every time the child was presented a white rat.

Classical conditioning is learning that occurs trough association can be defined as a type of learning in which a conditioned stimulus (sound of a bell, Pavlov) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) to evoke a response. In the early twentieth century Pavlov’s research included dogs that would start to salivate when food was presented. Pavlov suggested that salivation was a learned response. During the research a bell was rang when the food was presented, the dog salivated

     Classical conditioning refers to a simple form of learning, which occurs through the repeated association of two or more different stimuli. Learning is

Learning itself, cannot be observed as it is a hypothetical concept, but behavioural changes can be observed which lead to the assessment and understanding of what learning has taken place. Therefore when Psychologists use the term learning, they are referring to the process of learning, i.e. that technique or strategy which has been used to facilitate the learning.

Learning can be defined as a process by which our behavior, knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes lead to a potential change or a permanent change in how we perceive, interpret and understand our environment or incoming stimuli. As a way to explain how this learning process takes place, numerous theories about learning have been and continue to be developed as a way to further define this process. A theory, though defined many ways, can be understood simply as