PSY 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Amygdala, Habituation, Fetishism
6 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psychology 1001 / Temple University
Chapter 6: Learning: How Nurture Changes Us / March 12-15
Book and Lecture notes
Book: Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding (4th Edition) / Professor: Dr. M. Weinraub
*Disclaimer: Most of the definitions used in this these notes are copied directly from the book. All sources listed on the last page. *
Notes by: Kirstin Ortiz
Learning – Change in an organism’s behavior or thought as a result of experience
• Our brains physically change when we learn
Habituation – Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli (ex. The
feeling of your clothes against your skin)
➢ The simplest (and probably earliest) form of learning to emerge in humans
➢ Weak stimuli habituate quicker than small stimuli, & sometimes strong
stimuli doesn’t habituate at all
Sensitization – Instead of a stimulus getting weaker, it gets stronger
➢ Ex. You’re studying, and someone keeps whispering to you; the
whispering seemingly gets louder because you’re annoyed
Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning – Form of learning in which animals come to
respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus
that elicits and automatic response
Pavlov’s Conditioning Experiment:
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Unconditioned Response (UCR) - Automatic response to a nonneutral stimulus that
does not need to be learned
Unconditioned Stimulus (UGS) - Stimulus that elicits an automatic response
➢ Pavlov’s UCR – The dog’s salivation
Conditioned Response (CR) – Response previously associated with a nonneutral
stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning
➢ Pavlov’s CR – Dog salivating to metronome
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – Initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response as
a result of association with an unconditioned stimulus
➢ Pavlov’s Metronome
Neutral Stimulus (NS) – No response
• The CR and UCR are generally similar, but not identical
➢ Ex: The dogs salivated less in response to the metronome (CS) than the
meat powder (UCS)
• Classical conditioning is extremely replicable and has even been found in
humans in a vegetative state
Principles of Classical Conditioning:
Acquisition – Learning phase during which a conditioned response is established
Extinction – Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the CR after the CS is
presented repeatedly without the UCS
➢ Pavlov said that during extinction, the CR doesn’t go away; it is
overwritten by new memories
o How we know this is true: Spontaneous Recovery – Sudden
reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay in
exposure to the conditioned stimulus (usually in weaker form)
Renewal Effect – Sudden remembrance of a CR following extinction when an animal is
returned to the environment in which the CR was acquired
Stimulus Generalization – Process by which conditioned stimuli similar, but not
identical, to the original CS elicit a CR (ex. Little Albert)
➢ The closer the CS is to the original, the stronger the CR
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
