MODULE

21 Basic Learning Concepts and Classical Conditioning

No topic is closer to the heart of psychology than learning. Psychologists study infants
learning, and the learning of visual perceptions, of a drug's expected effect, and of
gender roles. They also consider how learning shapes our thoughts and language, our
motivations and emotions, our personalities, and attitudes.

How Do We Learn?
LEARNING OBJECTIVE QUESTION (LOQ 21-1 How do we define learning, and
what are some basic forms of learning?
By learning, we humans adapt to our environments. W e learn to expect and prepare
for significant events such as the arrival of food or pain (classical conditioning). W
e learn
to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results (operant
conditioning). We learn new behaviors by observing events and people, and through
language, we learn things we have neither experienced nor observed (cognitive learning).
But how do we learn?
One way we learn is by association. Our mind naturally connects events that occur in
sequence. Learned associations feed our habitual behaviors (Urcelay & Jonkman, 2019;
Wood, 2017). Habits can form when we repeat behaviors in a given context-sleeping
ni a certain position in bed, biting our nails when taking an exam, or switching off the
lights when leaving a room. As behavior becomes linked with the context, our next expe-
rience of that context will evoke our habitual response. That's true of both good habits
(eating fruit) and bad (overindulging ni alcohol) (Graybiel &Smith, 2014). T o increase
your self-control, and to achieve your academic goals, the key is to form helpful habits
(Fiorella, 2020).
How long does it take to form a beneficial habit? To find out, one British research
team asked 96 university students to choose a healthy behavior (such as running before
dinner or eating fruit with lunch), to do it daily for 84 days, and to record whether the
behavior felt automatic (something they did without thinking and would find ti hard
not to do). On average, behaviors became habitual after about 66 days (Lally et al., 2010)
Is there something you'd like to make a routine or essential part of your life? Just do it
every day for two months, or a bit longer for exercise, and you likely will find yourself
→ learning the process of acquiring through with a new habit. This happened for two of your authors—with a midday workout [DM
experience new and relatively enduring and a late afternoon guitar practice session [ND] having long ago become an automatic
information or behaviors. daily routine.
 MODULE 21 BASIC LEARNING CONCEPTS AND CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 261

Two related events:

Stimulus 1: Stimulus 2: Response:

Lightning Thunder Startled
reaction;

+ , BOOM! wincing

Result after repetition: G FI GURE 21. 1

Classical conditioning
Stimulus: Response:
Lightning Anticipation
of booming
thunder;
wincing

Other animals also learn by association. Disturbed by a squirt of water, the sea slug associative learning learning that certain
Aplysia protectively withdraws its gill. If the squirts continue, as happens naturally events occur together. The events may be
ni choppy water, the withdrawal response diminishes. But fi the sea slug repeatedly two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a
receives an electric shock just after being squirted, its protective response ot the squirt response and its consequence (as in operant
instead grows stronger. The animal has associated the squirt with the impending shock. conditioning).
Complex animals can learn to associate their own behavior with its outcomes. An stimulus any event or situation that evokes
aquarium seal will repeat behaviors, such as slapping and barking, that prompt people a response.
to toss ti a herring. After five speech-imitating African gray parrots were adopted and respondent behavior behavior that occurs
housed together at England's Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, they started using obscenities, as an automatic response to some stimulus.
which put the park staff into hysterics. The birds' "fowl" language prompted moving
them from public display. "The more they swear, the more you usually laugh, which then operant behavior behavior that operates on
t h e environment, producing a c o n s e q u e n c e
triggers them ot swear again," explained the park manager (Franklin &Merrifield, 2020).
By linking two events that occur close together, sea slugs, seals, and parrots are exhib-
iting associative learning. The sea slug associates the squirt with an impending shock;
the seal associates slapping and barking with a herring treat; and the parrot associates
uttering an obscenity with a positive reaction from humans. Each animal has learned
something important to its survival: anticipating the immediate future.
This process of learning associations is conditioning. It takes two main forms: Most of us could not list ni order the songs
• In classical conditioning (FIGURE 21.1), we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to on our favorite album or playlist. Yet hearing
the end of one piece cues (by association)
anticipate events. A( stimulus si any event or situation that evokes a response.) We an anticipation of the next. Likewise, when
learn that a flash of lightning signals an impending crack of thunder; when lightning singing your national anthem, you associate
flashes nearby, we start to brace ourselves. We associate stimuli that we do not the end of each line with the beginning of the
control, and we respond automatically (exhibiting respondent behavior). next. (Pick a line out of the middle and notice
• nI operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its how much harder it is to recall the previous line.)
consequence. Thus, we (and other animals) learn ot repeat acts followed by good
results (FIGURE 21.2) and avoid acts followed by bad results. These associations produce
operant behaviors (which operate on the environment to produce consequences). I FIGURE 21.2
Operant conditioning
To simplify, we will explore these two types of
associative learning separately. Often, though, they
occur together, as on one Japanese cattle ranch, where
the clever rancher outfitted his herd with electronic
pagers, which he called from his cell phone. After a
week of training, the animals learned to associate two
stimuli-the beep of their pager and the arrival of food
(classical conditioning). But they also learned to associ-
ate their hustling to the food trough with the pleasure
of eating (operant conditioning), which simplified the
rancher's work. Classical conditioning + operant condi-
tioning did the trick. (a) Behavior: Being polite (b) Consequence: Getting a treat (c) Behavior strengthened
 262 CHAPTER 7 LEARNING (MODULES 21-23)

→ cognitive learning hte acquisition fo mental Conditioning is not the only form of learning. Through cognitive learning, we acquire
information, whether by observing events, by mental information that guides our behavior. Observational learning, one form of cogni-
watching others, or through language. tive learning, lets us learn from others' experiences. Chimpanzees, for example, some-
classical conditioning a type of learning ni times learn behaviors merely by watching other chimpanzees perform them. fI one
which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, animal sees another solve a puzzle and gain a food reward, the observer may perform
to illustrate with Pavlov's classic experiment, the trick more quickly. So, too, in humans: We look and we learn.
the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit
behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the
RETRIEVAL PRACTICE
second stimulus (food).
behaviorism the view that psychology RP-1 Why are habits, such as having something sweet with that cup of coffee, so hard to break?
(1) should be an objective science that I APPENDIX E
ANSWERS N
(2) studies behavior without reference to
mental processes. Most research psychologists
today agree with (1) but not with (2).
Classical Conditioning
LOQ 21-2 What is behaviorism's view of learning?
For many people, the name Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) rings a bell. The Russian physiologist's
early twentieth-century experiments— now psychology's most famous research-are
classics, and the phenomenon he explored we justly call classical conditioning
Pavlov's work laid the foundation for many of psychologist John B. Watson's ideas. nI
searching for laws underlying learning, Watson (1913) urged his colleagues to discard
reference to inner thoughts, feelings, and motives. The science of psychology should
instead study how organisms respond to stimuli in their environments, said Watson: "Its
theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essen-
tial part of its methods." Simply said, psychology should be an objective science—based
on observable behavior.
This view, which Watson called behaviorism, influenced North American psychol-
ogy, especially during the first half of the twentieth century. Pavlov and Watson came to
Ivan Pavlov "Experimental investigation. share both a disdain for "mentalistic" concepts (such as consciousness) and abelief that
should lay a solid foundation for a future true
the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals —whether sea slugs or dogs or
science of psychology" (1927). humans. Few researchers today agree that psychology should ignore mental processes.
but most do agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning by which all
organisms adapt to their environments.

Pavlov's Experiments
LOO 21-3 Who was Pavlov, and what are the basic components of classical
conditioning?
Pavlov was driven by a lifelong passion for research. After setting aside his initial plan to
follow his father into the Russian Orthodox priesthood, Pavlov earned a medical degree
at age 3 and spent the next two decades studying dogs' digestive system. This work
earned him, in 1904, Russia's first Nobel Prize. But Pavlov's novel experiments on learn-
ing, which consumed the last three decades of his life, earned this feisty, intense scien-
tist his place in history (Todes, 2014).
Pavlov's new direction came when his creative mind seized on an incidental observation.
John B . Watson Watson (1924) admitted
Without fail, putting food ni a dog's mouth caused the animal to salivate. Moreover, the dog
began salivating not only to the taste of the food, but also to the mere sight of the food, or the
to "going beyond my facts" when offering
his famous boast: "Give me a dozen healthy
food dish, or the person delivering the food, or even the sound of that person's approach-
infants, well-formed, and my own specified
ing footsteps. At first, Pavlov considered these "psychic secretions" an annoyance—
world to bring them up ni and I'l guarantee until he realized they pointed to asimple but fundamental form of learning.
to take any one at random and train him Pavlov and his team of researchers —over half of whom were women (Hill
to become any type of specialist I might 2019) - tried to imagine what the dog was thinking and feeling as it drooled in antic-
select - - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant- ipation of the food. This only led them into fruitless debates. So, to explore the phe-
chief, and, yes; even beggar-man and nomenon more objectively, they experimented. To eliminate other possible influences,
thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, they isolated the dog in a small room, secured it in a harness, and attached a device to
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of divert its saliva to a measuring instrument (FIGURE 21.3). From the next room, they pre-
his ancestors." sented food —first by sliding in a food bowl, later by blowing meat powder into the dog's
 MODULE 21 BASIC LEARNING CONCEPTS AND CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 263

* FIGURE 21.3
Pavlov's device for recording neutral stimulus (NS) in classical
salivation Atube ni the dog's
conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no
cheek collects saliva, which si
response before conditioning.
measured ni a cylinder outside
the chamber. unconditioned response (UR) in classical
conditioning, an unlearned, naturally
occurring response (such as salivation) to an
unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in
the mouth).
unconditioned stimulus (US) ni
classical conditioning, a stimulus
that unconditionally— naturally and
automatically - triggers an unconditioned
response (UR).
conditioned response (CR) ni classical
mouth at a precise moment. They then paired various neutral stimuli (NS) —events the conditioning, a learned response to a
dog could see or hear but didn't associate with food —with food ni the dog's mouth. If a previously neutral (but now conditioned)
sight or sound regularly signaled the arrival of food, would the dog learn the link? If so, stimulus (CS).
would it begin salivating in anticipation of the food? conditioned stimulus (CS) in classical
The answers proved to be Yes and Yes. Just before placing food ni the dog's mouth conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus
to produce salivation, Pavlov sounded a tone. After several pairings of tone and food, that, after association with an unconditioned
the dog, now anticipating the meat powder, began salivating to the tone alone. In later stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned
response (CR).
experiments, a buzzer,' a light, a touch on the leg, even the sight of a circle set off the
drooling. (This procedure works with people, too. When hungry young Londoners viewed
abstract figures before smelling peanut butter or vanilla, their brain soon responded in
anticipation to the abstract images alone [Gottfried et al., 2006].)
Adog does not learn ot salivate ni response ot food ni its mouth. Rather, food ni the
mouth automatically, unconditionally, triggers a dog's salivary reflex (FIGURE 21.4). Thus,
Pavlov called this drooling an unconditioned response (UR). And he called the food an
unconditioned stimulus (US).
Salivation in response to a tone, however, is learned. It is conditional upon the dog's
V FIGURE 21.4
Pavlov's classic experiment Pavlov
associating the tone with the food. Thus, we call this response the conditioned response presented a neutral stimulus a( tone) tusj
(CR). The stimulus that used to be neutral (in this case, a previously meaningless tone before na unconditioned m
usiults dof(in
that now triggers salivation) is the conditioned stimulus (CS). Distinguishing these two mouth). The neutral m
sit uuls then became
kinds of stimuli and responses is easy: conditioned =learned; unconditioned =unlearned. a conditioned stimulus, producing a
conditioned response.

Us (food
in m o u t n i

NS
SUR (tone)
(salivation) salivation
An unconditioned stimulus (US) produces an unconditioned response (UR). Aneutral stimulus (NS) produces no salivation response.
D U R I N G C O N D I T I O N I N G
AFTER CONDITIONING

NS US (food
(tone) ni mouth)

CS
(tone) .
Coo
(salivation) (salivation)
The U
S is repeatedly presented just after the NS. I n e p r e v i o u s v n e u r a s u m u l u s a l o n e n o w p r o c u c e s a c o n c i u o n e d r e s p o n s e
i n e 0 3 C o n t t lu e s t o D O u u ce d u K. K , Thereoy d e c o m i n g a c o n c i i o n e d s t m u l u s o .

T'he "buzzer" (English translation) was perhaps the bel people commonly associate with Pavlov (Tuly, 2003). Pavlov used
various stimuli, but some have questioned whether he used a bell.
 264 CHAPTER 7 LEARNING (MODULES 21-23)

THE EARS HEAR THE RIGHT AWAY THE HOW DO THE EARS IVE NEVER BEEN
CAN OPENER.. STOMACH KNOWS THAT TELL THE STOMACH? ABLE TO FIGURE
SUPPER S
I COMING. THAT OUT

fI Pavlov's demonstration of associative learning was so simple, what did he do

for the next three decades? What discoveries did his research factory publish in his
532 papers on salivary conditioning (Windholz, 1997)? He and his associates explored
five major conditioning processes: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generaliza-
tion, and discrimination.

RETRIEVAL P R A C T I C E

RP-2 An experimenter sounds a tone just before delivering an air puff that causes your eye ot
blink. After several repetitions, you blink to the tone alone. What si the NS? The US? The
UR? The CS? The CR?
I APPENDIX E
ANSWERS N

ACQUISITION
LoQ 21-4 nI classical conditioning, what are the processes of acquisition, extinction,
spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination?
T
o understand the acquisition, or initial learning, of the stimulus-response relationship,
Pavlov and his associates wondered: How much time should elapse between present-
ing the NS (the tone, the light, and the touch) and the US (the food)? In most cases, not
much —hafl a second usually works well.
What do you suppose would happen fi the food (US) appeared before the tone (NS)
rather than after? Would conditioning occur? Not likely. Conditioning usually won't occur
when the NS follows the US. Remember: Classical conditioning si biologically adaptive because
ti helps humans and other animals prepare for good or bad events. To Pavlov's dogs, the originally
neutral tone became a CS after signaling an important biological event— the arrival of food
(US). oT deer ni the forest, a snapping twig (CS) may signal a predator's approach (US).
Research on male Japanese quail shows how a CS can signal another important bio-
logical event (Domjan, 1992, 1994, 2005). Just before presenting a sexually approachable
female quail, the researchers turned on a red light. Over time, as the red light continued
acquisition ni classical conditioning, the to herald the female's arrival, the light alone caused the male quail to become excited
initial stage —when one links a neutral They developed a preference for their cage's red-light district, and when a female
stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so appeared, they mated with her more quickly and released more semen and sperm
that the neutral stimulus begins triggering (Matthews et al., 2007). This capacity for classical conditioning supports reproduction.
the conditioned response. (In operant In humans, too, objects, smells, sounds, and sights associated with sexual
conditioning, the strengthening of a pleasure-even a geometric figure, in one experiment-can become conditioned stim-
reinforced response.)
uli for sexual arousal (Byrne, 1982; Hoffman, 2012, 2017). Onion breath, for example, si
higher-order conditioning a procedure an NS-it does not typically produce sexual arousal. But when repeatedly paired with a
in which the conditioned stimulus in one passionate kiss, it can become a CS and do just that (FIGURE 21.5).
conditioning experience is paired with a
new neutral stimulus, creating a second
The larger lesson: Conditioning helps an animal survive and reproduce— by responding ot
(often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For cues that help ti gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring (Hollis, 1997).
example, an animal that has learned that a Learning makes for yearning.
tone predicts food might then learn that a Through higher-order conditioning, a new NS can become a new CS without the pres-
light predicts the tone and begin responding ence of a US. Al that's required is for it to become associated with a previously condi-
to the light alone. (Also called second-order tioned stimulus. fI a tone regularly signals food and produces salivation, then a light
conditioning.) that becomes associated with the tone (light →tone →food) may also begin ot trigger
 MODULE 21 BASIC LEARNING CONCEPTS AND CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 265

G FIGURE 2 1.5
US UR An unexpected CS Psychologist Michael
(sexual
(passionate
K i s s I arousal) Tirel (1990) recalled: M
y" firstgirlfriend loved
onions, so l came to associate noino breath
whti kissing. Before long, onion breath sent
tingles up and down m y spine. Oh wtah a
NS feeling!"
⼗
US UR
(onion (passionate (sexual
breath) kiss) arousal)

lonion (sexual
Dreatn arousal)

salivation. Although this higher-order conditioning (also called second-order conditioning)

tends to be weaker than first-order conditioning, it influences our everyday lives. If a
dog bites you, just the sound of a barking dog may later make you feel afraid. Remember:
NS = Neutral Stimulus
A S K YOURSELF US = Unconditioned Stimulus
UR = Unconditioned Response
Apsychologist recalled coming to associate his girlfriend's onion breath with arousal. Can you
CS = Conditioned Stimulus
remember ever experiencing something that would normally be neutral (or even unpleasant) CR = Conditioned Response
but came to mean something special to you?

EXTINCTION AND SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY What would happen, Pavlov

wondered, if, after conditioning, the CS occurred repeatedly without the US? fI the tone
sounded again and again, but no food appeared, would the tone still trigger salivation?
The answer was mixed. The dogs salivated less and less, a reaction known as extinction.
Extinction is diminished responding that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an
impending US (food). But fi Pavlov sounded the tone again after several hours' delay, the
dogs drooled in response (FIGURE 21.6). This spontaneous recovery - the reappearance of
a (weakened) CR after a pause-suggested to Pavlov that extinction was suppressing the
R rather than eliminating .ti
C
extinction in classical conditioning,
RETRIEVAL PRACTICE the diminishing of a conditioned
response —when an unconditioned stimulus
RP-3 Abaker loves the taste and aroma of apple pie. Every time the baker sees a photo of does not follow a conditioned stimulus. (In
apple pie, he salivates. In this situation, what si the US? The CS? The CR? operant conditioning, when a response is no
RP-4 The first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, si called longer reinforced.)
.When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes spontaneous recovery the reappearance,
weakened, this is called after a pause, of a weakened conditioned
ANSWERS IN APPENDIXE response.

Strong
A c o u i s i t i o n .
Spontaneous
(NS +US) Extinction recovery of C
R
(CS alone)
Strength @ FIGURE 21.6
of CR Extinction Idealized curve of acquisition, extinction,
(CS alone)
and spontaneous recovery ehT rising
curve shows the C R rapidly growing stronger
sa the NS becomes a SC eud to repeated
pairing with the U RC then
S (acquisition). ehT
Weak weakens rapidly as het SCis presented onela
Pause
(extinction). After a pause, the (weakened) CR
Time reappears (spontaneous recovery).
 CHAPTER 7 LEARNING (MODULES 21-23)

S FI GURE 21. 7 Drops GENERALIZATION Pavlov and his stu-

Generalization Pavlov demonstrated of
s t r o n c e s , r e s o o n s e dents noticed that a dog conditioned to
generalization by attaching miniature saliva from areas nearest the sound of one tone also responded
vibrating devices to various parts of a the thigh
s o m e w h a t to the s o u n d of a n e w a n d dif-
dog's body. After conditioning salivation to
50 ferent tone. Likewise, a dog conditioned
stimulation of the thigh, he stimulated other to salivate when rubbed would also drool
areas. The closer a stimulated spot was to the a bit when scratched (Windholz, 1989) or
dog's thigh, the stronger the conditioned
response. (Data from Pavlov, 1927.) when touched on a different body part
(FIGURE 21.7). This tendency to respond
30
to stimuli similar to the CS is called
generalization (or stimulus generalization).
20 Generalization can be adaptive, as
when toddlers who learn to fear moving
10 cars also become afraid of moving trucks
and motorcycles. And generalized fears
can linger, sticking in our memory (Simon-
Hind r e v i s Shoulder Front Kutscher et al., 2019; Stout et al., 2018). For
0 d w D a w
two months after being in a car collision,
Thigh Trunk Foreleg sensitized young drivers are less vulner-
Part of body stimulated able to repeat collisions (O'Brien et al.,
2017). Years after being tortured in an
Argentinean prison, one journalist reported still flinching with fear at the sight of black
shoes —his first glimpse of his torturers as they approached his cell (Timerman, 1980).
Generalized anxiety reactions have been demonstrated ni laboratory studies comparing
children who have been abused with children who have not (FIGURE 21.8).
Stimuli related to naturally disgusting or morally objectionable objects wil, by asso-
ciation, also evoke some physical or moral disgust. Would most people eat otherwise
desirable fudge shaped ot resemble dog feces? Or hold an English dictionary apparently
owned and used by Adolf Hitler? Or wrap themselves in a blanket thought to be previ-
ously owned by members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group? No, No, and No. These situ-
ations cause people to feel repulsed (Fedotova & Rozin, 2018; Rozin et al., 1986, 2015).
These examples show how people's emotional reactions to one stimulus can generalize
to other, related stimuli.
①FIGURE 21. 8 DISCRIMINATION Pavlov's dogs also learned to respond to the sound of a particular
Child abuse leaves tracks in the brain tone and not to other tones. One stimulus (tone) predicted the US, and the others did not.
Abused children's sensitized brains react This learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus (which predicts the US)
more strongly to angry faces (Pollak et al., and other, irrelevant stimuli is called discrimination. Being able to recognize differences is
1998). This generalized anxiety response adaptive: Slightly different stimuli can cause vastly different consequences. After eating a
may help explain their greater risk of butterfly that makes them sick, birds will generalize —they will avoid preying on similar
psychological disorder.
butterflies. But they will also discriminate such butterflies from other butterfly species
that are edible (Sims, 2018). Kenyan elephants flee the scent of Maasai hunters, whom
they have learned to fear, but not the scent of the nonthreatening Kamba people (Rhodes,
2017). Facing a guard dog, your heart may race; facing a guide dog, ti probably will not.
→ generalization (also called stimulus
generalization) in classical conditioning, RETRIEVAL PRACTICE
the tendency, once a response has been
RP-5 What conditioning principle is influencing
conditioned, for stimuli similar to the
conditioned stimulus to elicit similar the snail's affections?
responses. (In operant conditioning, when
responses learned ni one situation occur ni

discrimination ni classical conditioning,

the learned ability to distinguish between a
conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that
do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (In "I don't care fi she's a tape dispenser.
operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish Ilove her."
responses that are reinforced from similar
ANSWERS IN APPENDIX E
responses that are not reinforced.)
 MODULE 21 BASIC LEARNING CONCEPTS AND CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 267

Pavlov's Legacy
LOQ 21-5 Why does Pavlov's work remain so important?
What remains today of Pavlov's ideas? Agreat deal. Most psychologists now agree that
classical conditioning is a basic form of learning. Modern neuroscience has also sup-
ported Pavlov's ideas — yb identifying neural circuits that link a conditioned stimulus
(warning signal) with an impending unconditioned stimulus (threat) (Harnett et al., 2016;
Yau &McNally, 2018). Other researchers have applied Pavlov's ideas to shopping. Condi-
tioning neutral brand logos with positive or negative images can cause people to like or
loathe those brands (Alves et al., 2020). Judged with today's knowledge of the interplay
of our biology, psychology, and social-cultural environment, some of Pavlov's ideas were
incomplete. But if we see further than Pavlov did, it is because we stand on his shoulders.
Why does Pavlov's work remain so important? fI he had merely taught us that old
dogs can learn new tricks, his experiments would long ago have been forgotten. Why
should we care that dogs can be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a tone? The
importance lies first ni the finding that many other responses ot many other stimuli can be
classically conditioned ni many other organisms— in fact, in every species tested, from micro-
scopic creatures to earthworms ot fish to dogs to monkeys to people (Schwartz, 1984;
. Zhou et al., 2019). Thus, classical conditioning is one way that virtually all organisms
S
learn to adapt to their environment.
Second, Paulov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively. He
was proud that his methods involved virtually no subjective judgments or guesses about
what went on in a dog's mind. The salivary response is a behavior measurable ni cubic
centimeters of saliva. Pavlov's success suggested a scientific model for how the young
discipline of psychology might proceed —by isolating the basic building blocks of com-
plex behaviors and studying them with objective laboratory procedures.

RETRIEVAL P R A C T I C E
RP-6 Companies often pay to make their products visible ni popular movies and television
shows - such as when beloved characters drive particular car brands. (Have you
noticed that the Avengers all drive Audis?) Based on classical conditioning principles,
what might be an effect of this pairing?
ANSWERS N I APPENDIXE

APPLICATIONS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

LoO 21-6 What have been some applications of Pavlov's work to human health and
well-being? How did Watson apply Pavlov's principles to learned fears?

psychoolgcial disorders, nad therapy, Percons pustipse, movitaoitn, emoitn, heaht,

health and well-being. Three examples:
• Drug cravings: Classical conditioning may inform treatments for substance use
disorder. People who formerly misused drugs often feel a craving when they are
again in the drug-using context, because their brain has become conditioned to
associate that context with a drug's reward (X. Wang et al., 2018; Wilar et al., 2019).
Breaking this association can reduce cravings (Ananth et al., 2019; Martínez-Rivera
et al., 2019). Many drug counselors advise clients ot steer clear of the people and
settings associated with previous highs (NIDA, 2017; Siegel, 2005). (The Therapy
modules illustrate how behavior therapists apply classical conditioning to treat
other psychological disorders.)
• Food cravings: Classical conditioning makes avoiding sweets difficult. Sugary
substances evoke sweet sensations. Researchers have conditioned healthy
volunteers to experience cravings after only one instance of eating a sweet food
(Blechert et al., 2016). So, the next time you think "I can definitely eat just one
cookie," you might be wise to think twice.
 268 CHAPTER 7 LEARNING (MODULES 21-23)

• Immune responses: Classical conditioning even works on the body's disease-fighting

immune system. When a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences
immune responses, the taste by itself may come to produce an immune response
(Ader & Cohen, 1985).
Pavlov's work also provided a basis for Watson's (1913) idea that human emotions and
behaviors, though biologically influenced, are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses.
Working with an 11-month-old, Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner (1920;
Harris, 1979) showed how specific fears might be conditioned. Like most infants, "Little
Albert" feared loud noises but not white rats. Watson and Rayner presented a white rat
and, as Little Albert reached to touch ,ti struck a hammer against a steel bar just behind
his head. After seven repeats of seeing the rat and hearing the frightening noise, Albert
burst into tears at the mere sight of the rat. Five days later, he reportedly generalized
this startled fear reaction to the sight of a rabbit, a dog, and even a furry coat. Amodern
reanalysis questioned Watson's evidence for Albert's conditioning, but the case remains
legendary (Powell & Schmaltz, 2021).
People later wondered what became of Watson. After losing his Johns Hopkins pro-
fessorship over an affair with Rayner (whom he later married), he joined an advertising
agency as the company's resident psychologist. There, he used his knowledge of asso
ciative learning to conceive many successful advertising campaigns, including one for
Maxwell House that helped make the "coffee break" an American custom (Hunt, 1993)
Critics have questioned the strength and reliability of Watson and Rayner's find-
ings (Ginsburg et al., 2020; Powell &Schmaltz, 2021). (These experiments would also be
unethical by today's standards, making replication studies difficult.) Nevertheless, the
case remains legendary. Little Albert's learned fears led many psychologists to wonder
whether each of us might be a walking warehouse of conditioned emotions. If so, might
extinction procedures or new conditioning help us change our unwanted responses to
emotion-arousing stimuli? Psychologist Mary Cover Jones (1924) was the first to extend
Watson and Rayner's results by showing how conditioning can also reduce children's fear.
Therapists began using conditioning to reduce their clients' fears. One person used
his therapist's conditioning strategy to treat a longtime fear of entering an elevator. For
10 days, the client entered 20 elevators a day. B y the end of the treatment, the client's
Mary Cover Jones (1897-1987) tA a fear of elevators had nearly vanished (Ellis & Becker, 1982). Comedian-writer Mark
time when men dominated the field of Malkoff extinguished his fear of flying by taking 135 flights ni 30 days, spending 41 hours
psychology, Jones pioneering behavior a day in the air (NPR, 2009). After a week and a half, his fears had faded, and he began
therapy research made her a rare female playing games with fellow passengers. His favorite was the "toilet paper experiment":
contributor. nI her most famous study, she Put one end of a roll in the toilet, unroll the rest down the aisle, and flush, sucking down
used conditioning to help a 3-year-old the whole roll in three seconds! In the Therapy modules, we see more examples of how
named Peter ot overcome his fear of white psychologists use behavioral techniques such as counterconditioning to treat psychologi-
1 6 0 0 1 s
cal disorders and promote personal growth.

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE
RP-7 nI Watson and Rayner's experiments, "Litle Albert" learned to fear a white rat after
repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented. nI these experiments,
what was the US? The UR? The NS? The CS? The CR?

I APPENDIX E
ANSWERS N
 MODULE 22 OPERANT CONDITIONING 269

21 REVIEW Basic Learning Concepts and Classical Conditioning

LEARNING OBJECTIVES extinction, p. 265 generalization, p. 266
Test Yourself Answer these repeated Learning Objective Questions on spontaneous recovery, p. 265 discrimination, p. 266
your own (before "showing" the answers here, or checking the answers ni
Appendix D) to improve your retention of the concepts (McDaniel et al,.
2009, 2015). MODULE TEST

LOQ 21-1 How do we define learning, and what are some basic
forms of learning?
Test ue answesr here,ehcholk your austisni Appendinwfirs,t hetn
1. Learning si defined as "hte process of acquiring through
LOQ 21-2 What si behaviorism's view of learning?
experience w
en dna relatively enduring
LOQ 21-3 Who was Pavlov, and what are the basic components
2. Two forms of associative learning are classical conditioning, n
i
of classical conditioning?
which the organism associates
LOQ 21-4 nI classical conditioning, what are the processes and operant conditioning, ni which the organism associates
of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery,
generalization, and discrimination? a. two or more responses; a response and its consequence
b. two or more stimuli; two or more responses
LOQ 21-5 Why does Pavlov's work remain so important? c. two or more stimuli; a response and its consequence
LOQ 21-6 What have been some applications of Pavlov's work ot d. two or more responses; two or more stimuli
human health and well-being? How did Watson apply 3. nI Pavlov's experiments, the tone started as a neutral stimulus,
Pavlov's principles to learned fears? and then became a(n) - stimulus.

4. Dogs have been taught ot salivate ot a circle but not ot a square.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS TO REMEMBER This process si an example of
Test Yourself Write down the definition in your own words, then check After Watson and Rayner classically conditioned Little Albert
5.
your answer.
to fear a white rat, the child later showed fear ni response to a
learning, p. 260 unconditioned response (UR), rabbit, a dog, and a furry coat. This illustrates
associative learning, p. 261 р. 263 a. extinction.
stimulus, p. 261 unconditioned stimulus (US), b. generalization.
respondent behavior, p. 261 p. 263 c. spontaneous recovery.
operant behavior, p. 261 conditioned response (CR), p. 263 d. discrimination between two stimuli.
cognitive learning, p. 262 conditioned stimulus (CS), p. 263 6. "Sex sells!" is a common assumption in advertising. Using classical
classical conditioning, p. 262
acquisition, p. 264 conditioning terms, explain how sexual images in advertisements
behaviorism, p. 262 higher-order conditioning, can condition your response to a product.
p. 264
neutral stimulus (NS), p. 263