Classical Conditioning - AP Psychology

Generalization refers to the tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to induce the conditioned response. For example, a dog’s owner rings a bell when he feeds his dog. Over successive occurrences, a dog might begin to salivate to bells of a slightly different timbre.

The light is considered the conditioned stimulus because it results in the conditioned response only after it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus (i.e. the loud noise). Prior to learning, the conditioned stimulus does not elicit the learning response. On the other hand, the unconditioned stimulus always causes the response, even without learning. The unconditioned and conditioned responses are the subject's jumping behaviors.

Forward conditioning is an effective form of classical conditioning. Forward conditioning includes both trace and delay conditioning. In trace conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented first, is then stopped/removed, and then the unconditioned stimulus (US) is presented. While this can be effective, it is not the most effective of the choices. The most effective form of forward conditioning is delay conditioning, where the CS is presented and then overlaps with the US. In backward conditioning the US is presented before the CS, and does not result in any learning. Simultaneous conditioning occurs when both the US and CS are presented at the same time.

The correct answer is classical conditioning. In classical conditioning you can train an animal to have a response to an unrelated stimuli. Originally clapping was not associated with going for a walk. Because you associated them together the dog is now conditioned to think clapping means he is going for a walk. On the other hand the rest of the choices are incorrect. Operant conditioning is training a certain desired behavior by reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is an example of operant conditioning. This is when you take something good away to create a desired behavior. Such as taking away a child's cell phone until they clean their room. Positive reinforcement is another example of operant conditioning. This is when you give something good to create a desired behavior. An example of this is giving a child a cookie because they cleaned their room. Last, positive punishment is when you add something bad to decrease a behavior. An example of this is if you spank a child for misbehaving.

"Little Albert" or "Albert B" was the name of a 9-month old child used in this experiment. Watson and a graduate student named Rosalie Raynor exposed Little Albert to a series of stimuli and documented his reactions.

Classical conditioning is described as a reflexive type of learning in which a stimulus is able to elicit a response that was originally elicited by another stimulus. In Pavlov's experiment, he initially presented laboratory dogs with meat powder (stimulus 1), which caused the dogs to salivate (response). Then, he began to present the meat powder while ringing a bell (stimulus 2), again causing the dogs to salivate. After presenting the meat powder and bell together several times, he then presented the bell alone. Though no meat powder was available, the dogs still salivated. They had learned to respond the same way to both individual stimuli.

When Ivan Pavlov trained a dog to salivate and expect food whenever it heard a bell, he demonstrated the existence of classical conditioning. This process uses an initially neutral stimulus (a bell ringing) paired with an innate or biological stimulus (food) to elicit an innate response (salivation). Eventually, the biological stimulus can be removed and the neutral conditioned stimulus will result in the same response, despite the absence of the biological stimulus.

Extinction happens when you present the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus, thus unpairing the two stimuli. The conditioned response will happen less frequently following the extinction phase.

Ivan Pavlov conducted experiments on dogs, in which he used classical conditioning principles to spur the dogs to salivate whenever a bell was rung. Specifically, the dogs learned to associate the ringing of the bell (the conditioned stimulus) with the presentation of food (the unconditioned stimulus).

"Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with a non-neutral one until there is a nonneutral reaction to the neutral stimulus, whereas operant conditioning occurs when a creature's actions are influenced by the consequences of their actions" is the only answer choice that correctly lists the definitions of the two types of conditioning.

Extinction is the eventual cessation of a learned response (salivating) after the conditioned response (the bell) and unconditioned (the food) are no longer presented together to the subject (the dog).

"A dog begins salivating to the sound of a bell after the bell and food have not been presented together for a significant period of time" is the opposite of the classical conditioning concept of extinction, and goes against the rules of classical conditioning.

"A dog starts salivating to the sound of a bell because the bell and food are presented together" refers to acquisition, the learning of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus pairing.

"A dog salivates to the presentation of a red napkin because the red napkin was often presented with a bell, which was originally often presented with food" describes second-order conditioning, in which a conditioned stimulus from a previous round of conditioning becomes the unconditioned stimulus in a new round.

"A dog salivates to the sound of a whistle because the bell and food were presented together many times, and a whistle is similar to a bell" refers to the concept of generalization, when the conditioned response is observed even when the conditioned stimulus is slightly different from the original one.

Generalization occurs when the conditioned response (fear) occurs even when the conditioned stimulus (cello) is slightly different from the original CS (violin).

Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between similar stimuli.

Extinction is the cessation of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented.

Spontaneous recovery is the comeback of a conditioned response after extinction when the unconditioned stimulus is presented again.

Acquisition is the learning period of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus are being presented together.

The unconditioned stimulus is the test and the unconditioned response is nervousness during the test. The test naturally and automatically elicits nervousness, making the test a stimulus and nervousness a response.

The conditioned stimulus is the song and the conditioned response is nervousness when hearing the song. The pairing of the test and song together had to be learned/conditioned for the song to elicit that reaction.

In Pavlov's dog experiment, there were 5 elements:

Unconditioned Stimulus- The food that triggered the dog's drooling.

Unconditioned Response- The drooling due to the presence of food.

Neutral stimulus- a stimulus that initially does not produce the drooling

Conditioned Stimulus- The ringing of the bellby the dog's owner.

Conditioned Response- The drooling due to the sound of the bell.

The most correct answer is: The dog drools due to the sound of the bell.

Given that this question focuses on the effects on the dog, salivation may be considered a response. Because salivation is said to occur whenever food is present, this would be an unconditioned response because no learning was required in the process. Conversely, the food in this instance would be an unconditioned stimulus.

Because the problem specifies that the dog salivates every time it sees the food, this would mean that no learning was part of the response, making salivation an unconditioned response. Because the food is causing the response, it is a stimulus. Furthermore, because the response is unconditioned, the stimulus is unconditional as well.

Because the question does not ask about the effects on the dog, we can deduce that the tones were stimuli. Given that these stimuli elicited no response from the dogs, they can be initially labeled as neutral stimuli because there is no learned association with food at this time.

In Pavlov's experiment, he coupled what was once a neutral stimulus with an association (food) for the dogs. This neutral stimulus became associated with food through a learned process, thus becoming a conditioned stimulus for what was once an unconditioned response.

Given that the problem is referring to the effect on the dog, salivation can be labeled as a response. Because it is a tone that's creating the salivation and not the food itself, it observes an association that was learned. Therefore, the dog was conditioned to expect food upon hearing the bell. Salivation, in this situation, is a conditioned response.