Classical%20Conditioning%20Applications

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Chapter 4

• Classical Conditioning Applications

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Emotional Conditioning

• Wide range of emotional responses
• Emotions universal
• Positive and negative
• Emotional response to stimulus reflexive
• Conditioned Emotional Responses (CERs)

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John Broadus Watson

• Hard-line Behaviorism
• British Empiricism (nurture over nature)
• Early work with rats
• Shifted to infant research

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Conditioning of Fear

• Watson Raynor (1920)
• Albert B.
• Mother a wet nurse at Harriet Lane Home (attached
  to Johns Hopkins University)
• Albert first assessed at about 8 months
• Emotionally stable, healthy

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Method

• Present white rat
• No fear
• Present white rat and bang metal bar
• Produces CER of fear, avoidance, withdrawl
• US noise, UR startle
• CS rat CR fear
• CER generalizes to other furry objects
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFMnhyGozLyE

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• Study went for several months
• Intended to reverse CER conditioning, but Albert
  Bs mother ended her job at hospital
• Mary Cover-Jones counter-conditioning with Peter

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What Happened to Albert

• Beck, Levinson Irons (2009)
• Historical detective work
• Albert B.s mother probably Arvilla Irons
  Merritte
• Douglas Merritte, born 9 March 1919
• Arvilla Merritte left Johns Hopkins
• Worked as assistant for ill wife of farmer
• Douglas Merritte died 10 May 1925, probably from
  meningitis

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Name

• Why Albert B.?
• Ethical concerns with confidentiality not firmly
  established
• Watson may have played name games
• His sons William and James
• His name from John Albert Broadus, Baptist
  minister Albert B.

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What Happened to Watson

• Affair with Rosalie Raynor, his grad student
• Divorce, fired, resigned as president of APA
• Worked for J. Walter Thompson advertising agency
  vice-president within two years
• Ponds Cold Cream, Maxwell House coffee
• Published books and articles on childcare
• Psychological care of infant and child (1928)
• Criticized by many modern child
  experts/advocates, but no more extreme than other
  childcare texts of the time
• Strongly advocated against spanking and corporal
  punishment

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Nonhuman Studies of Fear

• Usually shock as US
• Rats freeze
• Train operant response train CS for aversive
  US, test suppression of operant response in
  presence and absence of CS
• Suppression video

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Suppression Ratio

• 0 if behaviour entirely suppressed
• 0.5 if no suppression

Pre-CS CS Calculation S.R.
25 25 25/(2525)25/50 0.5
25 0 0/(025)0/25 0
25 15 15/(1525)15/40 0.375
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Prejudice

• Prejudice related to hate
• Hate conditionable
• Staats Staats (1958)
• Subjects rate nationalities
• Paired positive, negative, neutral words with
  nationalities

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Association

• Political speeches
• Media coverage
• Negative images, words, impressions paired with
  identifiable group

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Counter Conditioning

• Mary Cover Jones (1924)
• Eliminate phobia via classical conditioning
• Peter feared rabbits
• Peter eats snack (US) present rabbit (CS)
• Associate positive US with CS

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Systematic Desensitization

• Relaxation techniques
• Gradual introduction of phobic stimulus
• Imagination up to real situation

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Flooding

• Flood patient with exposure to fear-inducing
  stimulus

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Advertising
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First-Order C.C. in Ads

• Product (initially neutral --gt CS)
• Pair with stimulus that elicits positive emotion
  (US)
• Consumer sees product, has positive CR

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Example

• Postbank
• US funny situation
• UR happiness
• CS brand
• CR happiness, amusement, positive emotion

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Second-Order C.C.

• Use previously conditioned celebrity, situation,
  etc.
• CS1 US
• Now, pair brand (CS2) with CS1

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Example

• Chanel No. 5
• Nicole Kiddman CS1
• Positive feeling CR
• Attractive, successful, lifestyle US
• Positive feeling UR
• Chanel No. 5 CS2
• Assumption buy perfume, be rich, popular, get
  the cute guy, romance

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Example

• Japander.com
• Brad Pitt and 503 Jeans
• Pitt (CS1), leading man, celebrity, rich, pretty
  desirable (US), 503s (CS2)
• Pierce Brosnan and VISA
• Bond persona (CS1), excitement, adventure,
  sophistication desirable (US), VISA (CS2)

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Paraphilia
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Paraphilia

• Incorrect love
• Fetishism, masochism, pedophilia, rape, etc.
• More common in males
• Freud unconscious forces
• Classical conditioning association formed

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Example Masochism

• Generally, CS is previously neutral
• But, a US, by pairing with another strong US, can
  become a CS
• Pavlov shock (CS) for food (US)
• Masochism painful stimulus (CS) for stimulus
  eliciting sexual pleasure (US)

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Counter Conditioning

• Pair undesired CS with strongly aversive US
  (resulting in, e.g., nausea)
• Aversion therapy
• Treatment difficult with some forms of paraphilia
  (e.g., pedophilia)

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Taste Aversion
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Typically

• Long-delay or trace conditioning
• US is food poisoning, illness, etc.
• UR is nausea induced pain
• CS is novel food/flavour
• CR is avoidance, nausea
• Violation of contiguity?

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Explanations?

• Sensitization
• Aftertaste
• Biological preparedness
• Taste aversion a special case

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Biological Preparedness in Taste-Aversion

• Garcia Koelling (1966)

Foot shock
X-ray
Water intake
Water intake
Pre-cond.
Post-cond.
Pre-cond.
Post-cond.
Flavoured water
Bright-noisy water
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Explanation

• Biological predispositions
• Must know about CS-US relationship before
  predicting nature of CR
• Certain stimuli more easily associated than others

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Immune Function
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Allergic Reaction

• Release of histamines
• Bodys immune response to allergens
• Not all allergic responses biological
• Can be learned

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Examples

• Pollen and artificial flowers
• My allergy to cats

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Russell et al. (1984)

• Expose guinea pigs to BSA
• Becomes allergen (US for histamine release)
• Pair BSA with odour of fish or sulphur (CSs)
• Expose guinea pigs to odours and get increased
  histamines (CR) in bloodstream
• Preparatory value of classical conditioning

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Schaller et al. (2010)

• Subjects see photo sets of guns (G) or people
  with infectious diseases (ID)
• Stress test given G more stressful than ID
• Blood drawn, incubated with bacteria
• ID subjects white blood cells produced 24
  increase in cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) over
  baseline
• G subjects only show 7 increase in IL-6 over
  baseline
• Photos CS, IL-6 production CR