PSY 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 44: Classical Conditioning, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Amygdala

• School: Pace University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 112
• Professor: Siporin

Document Summary

Classical conditioning in the role of nature: At first, behaviorists argued that learning was driven by experience & natured played no role in it. Classical conditioning is based on learning through experience: it represents an example of the importance of the environment, but classical conditioning can"t be understood entirely in terms of experience. Unconditioned stimulus response patterns generally represent reflexes that are species-specific. Our evolutionary history has made us more prepared to learn some associations than others. Conditioning is evolutionarily beneficial because it allows organisms to develop expectations that help them prepare for good & bad events. Nature based conditioning is superior to other environmental stimuli present during conditioning: biological preparedness: organisms are evolutionarily prepared to learn some associations more easily than others. Clinical psychologists make use of classical conditioning to the learning of a phobia: phobia: a strong & irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation. Classical conditioning has been used to help explain posttraumatic stress.