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Classical Conditioning

John Watson

Carlo N. Almanzor

Bachelor of Elementary Education

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

John B. Watson (1878 – 1958)

Classical Conditioning

WHO IS JOHN WATSON?

"FATHER OF BEHAVIORISM"

- Was born on farm near Greenville, South Carolina.

- He said that “ I was lazy in school, somewhat insubordinate, and so far as I know, I never made above a passing grade.”

- Went to college at Furman University and University of Chicago.

- in 1913, Watson made a great impact on psychology by issuing the manifesto,” Psychology as the Behaviorist Views”.

- In this article he argued that the study of consciousness through introspection has no place in psychology as a science. Psychology should abandon “the term consciousness, mental states, mind, content, introspectively verifiable, imagery and the like.”

- 1961, Watson began research on young children, becoming the first major psychologist to apply principle of learning to be the problems of development.

Timeline

1913

1916

1915

TIMELINE

Timeline

1916, Watson began research on young children

Watson served as the President of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology in 1915.

In 1913, Watson published the article "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It"

Environmentalism

Environmentalism

– Watson was a behaviorist; he said we should study only overt behavior. He also was an environmentalist and made this famous proposal:

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-informed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialists I might select— doctor, lawyer, artists, merchant, chief, and yes, even begger-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors."

Study of

Emotions

Study of Emotions

– One of Watson’s major interests was the conditioning of emotions.

–He claimed that at birth there are only three (3) unlearned emotional reactions –

(1) Fear

– is observed when infants suddenly jump or start, breath rapidly, clutch their hands, close their eyes, fall, and cry.

- There are only two unconditioned stimuli that elicit fear: One is a sudden noise; The other is the loss of support.

Example: A little boy was afraid of snakes because he was frightened by a loud scream when he saw one. The snake became the conditions stimulus.

fear

rage

(2) Rage

- is initially unlearned response to the restriction of body movement.

- Although rage is initially a reaction to one situation- being forcibly held- it later is expressed in a variety of situations; children become angry when told to wash their faces, sit on the toilet, get undressed, take a bath, and so on.

- The child becomes angry when told to get undressed because their order was initially associated with being forcibly held.

love

(3) Love

- initially a response that is automatically elicited by the stoking of the skin,tickling, gentle rocking and patting.

- The baby responds by smiling, laughing, gurgling, and cooing, and other response that we call affectionate, good natured, and kindly.

-Infants initially do not love specific people, but they are conditioned to do so.

Conditioning

Fear in Little Albert

Conditioning Fear in Little Albert

  • Watson and Reynor wanted to see if they could condition Albert to fear a white rat. At the beginning of the experiment, Albert showed no such fear.

  • Next experiment in four occasions presented the rat and the simultaneously pounded bar behind Albert’s head, producing a startle response.

  • On the fifth trial, Albert was shown the rat alone, and puckered his face, whimpered and withdrew. He has been condition to fear the rat.

  • For good measure, the experiment combined the rat and the pounding twice more, and on the next trial, when the rat was again presented alone, Albert cried and tried to crawl away as rapidly as he could.

  • Albert’s fear had generalized to all furry objects.

Practical Application

  • One of Watson’s major practical innovations was a method of deconditioning fears.

  • Because "Little Albert" was taken out of town, Watson did not have the time to decondition the child. This obviously has ethical implications, but Watson did put in place a method for deconditioning fears.

  • He worked with a colleague, Mary Cover Jones, on a set of procedures aimed at eliminating the fears of another little boy, Peter.

  • Peter seemed to fear white rats and rabbits. Watson and Jones put Peter in his highchair and gave him a nice afternoon snack. At the same time a white rabbit in a cage was put in a distance that did not seem to disturb the child.

Practical Application

  • The next day the rabbit was put slightly closer until Peter showed signs of slight disturbance.

  • This treatment was repeated days after days until Peter could serenely eat his snack with the rabbit being right next to him.

  • Peter was even able to play with the rabbit afterwards.

  • This form of behavior modification is a technique today called systematic desensitization

Evaluation

Evaluation

  • The conditioning paradigm has certain limitations.

  • Researchers have had a hard time conditioning infants that are just a few months old.

  • This might be because they have not yet developed what Piaget calls "primary circular reactions". Because they cannot coordinate sensory motor actions they cannot learn to make different associations between their motoric behaviors and the environment.

  • Another limitation concerns the kind of conditioned stimuli humans can learn. When researchers attempt to condition children to fear things such as curtains or wooden blocks they have had great difficulty.

  • Humans may be "innately disposed to fear certain stimuli".
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