Classical Conditioning

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AP Psychology › Classical Conditioning

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1

Ted’s favorite food is his mother’s homemade chili. His mother often sets out a certain silver pot on the kitchen table while she cuts up the ingredients on a nearby counter. Now, whenever Ted comes home and sees this silver pot on the table, he immediately starts salivating.

What type of learning does this example illustrate?

Classical conditioning

Operant conditioning

Social learning

Taste aversion

Explanation

We can see that Ted is being "classically conditioned" to salivate at the sight of the silver pot. This is because a neutral stimulus (i.e. the silver pot) is being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (i.e. the delicious chili), which by itself naturally produces an unconditioned response (i.e. salivation). Now, the sight of the pot (now a conditioned stimulus) produces the same response (now a conditioned response).

2

A bell is rung each time a dog is given a steak. Soon, the dog salivates at the sound of the bell even when the steak is not presented. What is the conditioned response in this scenario?

The dog salivating at the sound of the bell

The dog salivating in response to the steak

The dog

The bell

The steak

Explanation

In classical conditioning, the steak is the unconditioned stimulus in this scenario. The unconditioned stimulus is the object that naturally provokes the unconditioned response (e.g. salivation to steak) without any sort of training or pairing. The unconditioned stimulus (e.g. steak) is then paired with the conditioned stimulus (e.g. the bell), which is what the experimenter wants the subject to associate the unconditioned stimulus with. Once the subject associates the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus enough, they start to have a conditioned response (e.g. salivation to bell alone).

3

A bell is rung each time a dog is given a steak. Soon, the dog salivates at the sound of the bell even when the steak is not presented. What is the unconditioned response in this scenario?

The dog salivating in response to the steak

The dog salivating at the sound of the bell

The steak

The bell

The dog

Explanation

In classical conditioning, the steak is the unconditioned stimulus in this scenario. The unconditioned stimulus is the object that naturally provokes the unconditioned response (e.g. salivation to steak) without any sort of training or pairing. The unconditioned stimulus (e.g. steak) is then paired with the conditioned stimulus (e.g. the bell), which is what the experimenter wants the subject to associate the unconditioned stimulus with. Once the subject associates the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus enough, they start to have a conditioned response (e.g. salivation to bell alone).

4

In Pavlov’s experiments, the dog’s salivation triggered by the sound of the tone was considered to be which of following?

Conditioned response

Conditioned stimulus

Unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned response

Extinction

Explanation

The dog was conditioned to expect food after hearing the bell or sound, which caused him to salivate before eating. After many repetitions, even before the food arrived, the dog expected to be fed soon after hearing the bell; therefore, the salivation was conditioned to happen after hearing the sound.

5

Who is considered to be the founder of classical conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov

Barbara Steinway

Henri Mendel

B.F. Skinner

Carl Jung

Explanation

"Ivan Pavlov" was a Russian physiologist who is primarily known for his research on classical conditioning with dogs. Pavlov was looking at salivation in dogs in response to being fed, when he noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever he entered the room, even if he was not bringing food to them.As a result, he posited that his presence functioned as an unconditioned stimulus, which lead to the dogs' salivation as an unconditioned response.

6

Which of the following is an example of extinction in classical conditioning?

A dog stops salivating to the sound of a bell after the bell and food have not been presented together for a significant period of time

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

A dog starts salivating to the sound of a bell because the bell and food are presented together

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

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

Explanation

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.

7

Your dog loves to go on walks around the neighborhood. You begin an experiment by clapping your hand 3 times before getting the least to walk your dog. Soon every time you clap your hands the dog comes running. This is an example of what concept?

Classical conditioning

Operant conditioning

Negative reinforcement

Positive reinforcement

Positive punishment

Explanation

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.

8

Generalization refers to the tendency for stimuli similar to the __________ to elicit the conditioned response.

conditioned stimulus

unconditioned response

conditioned reinforcer

spontaneous stimuli

None of these

Explanation

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.

9

What happens to the neutral stimulus in higher-order conditioning?

It becomes the new CS

It becomes the new CR

It becomes the new US

It becomes the new UR

It becomes the old NS

Explanation

Higher-order conditioning, also known as second-order conditioning, in classical conditioning is when a neutral stimulus becomes linked to a conditioned stimulus. All that's required for this process is for the neutral stimulus to become associated with a prior conditioned stimulus. For instance, in terms of Pavlov's experiment, if a tone triggers salivation, then a flashing light that becomes associated with the tone will trigger salivation. However, second-order conditioning is weaker than first-order.

10

The idea that intelligent creatures can learn when two events occur alongside one another is most broadly called __________.

associative learning

classical conditioning

operant conditioning

acquisition

generalization

Explanation

Associative learning is the idea that living beings of even limited intelligence can learn to associate the occurrence of one event with the occurrence of another. This may be two stimuli occurring in pairs (classical conditioning) or an action and a paired consequence (operant conditioning).

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