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PSYCHOLOGY ___________________________________
(8th Edition, in Modules)
David Myers ___________________________________
PowerPoint Slides ___________________________________
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University ___________________________________

Worth Publishers, © 2007 1

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Classical Conditioning ___________________________________

Module 21 ___________________________________
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Classical Conditioning ___________________________________
How Do We Learn? ___________________________________
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Classical Conditioning
ƒ Pavlov’s Experiments ___________________________________
ƒ Extending Pavlov’s  ___________________________________
Understanding
ƒ Pavlov’s Legacy ___________________________________

Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  1

Definition
Learning is a relatively permanent change in an  ___________________________________
organism’s behavior due to experience.
Learning thus is more flexible, unlike genetically 
programmed behaviors of say, Chinooks.
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OBJECTIVE 21‐1| Define learning, and 
How Do We Learn? identify two forms of learning. 

We learn by association. Our minds naturally  ___________________________________
connect events that occur in sequence. 
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Aristotle, 2000 years ago, suggested this law of  ___________________________________
association. Then 200 years ago Locke and Hume 
reiterated this law. ___________________________________
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Stimulus‐Stimulus Learning
Learning to associate one stimulus
with another.
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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  2

Stimulus‐Stimulus Learning
Learning to associate one stimulus
with another.
Response‐Consequence Learning
Learning to associate a response
with a consequence.
Response‐Consequence Learning
Learning to associate a response
with a consequence.
Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  3
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 ___________________________________
Classical Conditioning ___________________________________
Ideas a of classical conditioning originate from  ___________________________________
old philosophical theories, however it was a 
Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who elucidated  ___________________________________
classical conditioning. His work became seminal 
for later behaviorists like John Watson and B. F.  ___________________________________
Skinner.
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Sovfoto

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Ivan Pavlov (1849‐1936)

OBJECTIVE 21‐2| Explain how an 
Pavlov’s Experiments unconditioned stimulus (US). 

Before conditioning food (Unconditioned  ___________________________________
Stimulus, US) produces salivation 
(Unconditioned Response, UR). The tone (neutral  ___________________________________
stimulus) does not.
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Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus 
Pavlov’s Experiments that automatically and naturally triggers a 

During conditioning, neutral stimulus (tone) and  response. Unconditioned Response (UCR): A 
US (food) are paired resulting in salivation (UR).  unlearned, naturally occurring response to the 
After conditioning neutral stimulus (now 
Conditioned Stimulus, CS) elicits salivation (now  unconditioned stimulus, like salivation in the 
Conditioned Response, CR)
dog when food is in the mouth.  

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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  4
 OBJECTIVE 21‐3| Describe the timing 
Acquisition requirements for the initial learning of a 

stimulus‐response relationship. 
The initial stage in classical conditioning. 
during which association between a neutral  ___________________________________
stimulus and a US takes place.
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1. Neutral stimulus needs to come before the 
US for conditioning to occur (most cases). ___________________________________
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2. The time between the two stimuli should be 
about half a second. ___________________________________
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Acquisition
The CS needs to come half a second before
the US to cause acquisition.
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OBJECTIVE 21‐4| Summarize the processes of 
Extinction extinction, spontaneous recovery, 

When a US (food) does not follow a CS (tone)  generalization, and discrimination. 
CR (salivation) starts to decrease and at some  ___________________________________
point goes extinct.
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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  5
 ___________________________________
Spontaneous Recovery ___________________________________
After a rest period an extinguished CR  ___________________________________
(salivation) spontaneously recovers and if CS 
(tone) persists alone becomes extinct again. ___________________________________
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Stimulus Generalization ___________________________________
Tendency to respond to  ___________________________________
stimuli similar to CS is 
called generalization. Pavlov  ___________________________________
conditioned the dog’s 
salivation (CR) by using  ___________________________________
miniature vibrators (CS) to 
the thigh. When he  ___________________________________
subsequently stimulated 
other parts of the dog’s 
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body, salivation dropped.
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OBJECTIVE 21‐5| Discuss the survival value 
Stimulus Discrimination of extinction, spontaneous recovery, 

generalization and discrimination. 
Discrimination is the learned ability to 
distinguish between a CS and other stimuli  ___________________________________
that do not signal a US.
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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  6
 ___________________________________
Extending Pavlov’s Understanding ___________________________________
Pavlov and Watson considered consciousness  ___________________________________
or mind not fit for scientific study of 
psychology. However, they underestimated  ___________________________________
the importance cognitive processes and 
biological constraints. ___________________________________
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OBJECTIVE 21‐6| Discuss the importance of 
Cognitive Processes cognitive processes in classical conditioning. 

Early behaviorists believed that learnt  ___________________________________
behaviors of various animals could be reduced 
to mindless mechanisms. ___________________________________
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However, later behaviorists suggested that  ___________________________________
animals learn predictability of a stimulus, thus 
learn expectancy or awareness of a stimulus  ___________________________________
(Rescorla, 1988).
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OBJECTIVE 21‐7| Describe some of the ways 
Biological Predispositions that biological predisposition can affect 

learning by classical conditioning. 
Pavlov and Watson believed that laws of 
learning were similar across all animals.  ___________________________________
Learning in a pigeon and a person was not 
different. ___________________________________
However, later behaviorists suggested that  ___________________________________
learning was constrained by animal’s biology.
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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  7
 ___________________________________
Biological Predispositions ___________________________________
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Courtesy of John Garcia

Garcia showed that duration 
between CS and US can be long  ___________________________________
(hours) and yet result in 
conditioning. Biologically adaptive 
CS (taste) led to conditioning and not 
John Garcia ___________________________________
others (light or sound). 

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Biological Predispositions ___________________________________
Even humans develop classically conditioned  ___________________________________
nausea.
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OBJECTIVE 21‐8| Summarize Pavlov’s 
Pavlov’s Legacy contribution to our understanding of learning. 

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Pavlov’s greatest contribution  ___________________________________
to psychology is isolating 
elementary behaviors from  ___________________________________
more complex ones through 
objective scientific  ___________________________________
procedures.
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Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936)

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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  8
 OBJECTIVE 21‐9| Describe some uses of 
Applications of Classical 
classical conditioning to improve human 
Conditioning
health and well‐being. 

Watson used classical  ___________________________________
conditioning procedures to 
develop advertising  ___________________________________
campaigns for a number of 
organizations including  ___________________________________
Maxwell House, making 
“coffee break” an American  ___________________________________

Brown Brothers
custom.
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John B. Watson
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Applications of Classical 
Conditioning ___________________________________
1. Alcoholics can be conditioned (aversively)  ___________________________________
partly reversing their positive‐associations 
with alcohol. ___________________________________
2. A drug (plus its taste) that affects the 
immune response, can lead the taste to 
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invoke the immune response through 
classical conditioning.
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Psychology 8 ed., David Myers               Module 21              PowerPoint Slides, Aneeq Ahmad  9