PSY100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Little Albert Experiment, Learning, Classical Conditioning
Ongoing Mystery and Controversy of Little Albert
- John B. Watson presented a nine-month-old baby, ‘Little Albert,’ with a white lab rat
- Every time Watson presented the rat, they clanged the hammer to frighten the child
- sight of the rat alone was enough to frighten Little Albert
- Purpose of study: to prove phobias could be acquired by associative learning
- Watson believed anyone can be whatever they please given appropriate conditions
Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge, resulting from experience
Three types:
1) Associative learning → when you learn something new about a new kind of stimulus
2) Nonassociative learning → when you're not pairing a stimulus with a behavior
a) Habituaration (e.g. buzzing light → when repeated exposure to a stimulus decreases
an organism's responsiveness to the stimulus)
b) Sensitization (e.g. crying baby → occurs when stimulus is repeated, each time your
response to it increases)
3) Observational (social) learning
Classical VS Operant Conditioning
- Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning → occurs when two different stimuli come to be
associated with one another; doesn’t require any action on part of the learner
- Operant (or instrumental) conditioning → when an animal or person operates on their
environment to produce particular results
- e.g. learning a trick to receive a treat
Classical Conditioning
- type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a reflexive response because it has
become associated with a stimulus that already produces that response
- Key terms:
- Unconditioned stimulus (US)
- Food in mouth
- Unconditioned response (UR)
- Salivation
- Neutral stimulus
- Tone of bell
- Conditioned stimulus (CS)
- Tone (after conditioning)
- Conditioned response (CR)
- Salivation (after conditioning)
- Acquisition: gradual formation of an association between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
- Extinction: a process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned
stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
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Document Summary
John b. watson presented a nine-month-old baby, little albert," with a white lab rat. Every time watson presented the rat, they clanged the hammer to frighten the child sight of the rat alone was enough to frighten little albert. Purpose of study: to prove phobias could be acquired by associative learning. Watson believed anyone can be whatever they please given appropriate conditions. Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge, resulting from experience. Classical (or pavlovian) conditioning occurs when two different stimuli come to be associated with one another; doesn"t require any action on part of the learner. Operant (or instrumental) conditioning when an animal or person operates on their environment to produce particular results e. g. learning a trick to receive a treat. Classical conditioning type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a reflexive response because it has become associated with a stimulus that already produces that response.
