After many trials of pairing, with the light or the bell, with the food, eventually the dogs began to associate being feed with the stimuli if the light or the bell. Upon making the association with the light or bell with the food, the dogs would then begin to salivate when the light turned on or when the bell was rung. The dogs had been conditioned to salivate at the sight of the light being turned on, or at the sound of a bell being rung. Pavlov’s discovery of conditioned reflexes led to the modern day theory of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning considers stimuli and response: unconditioned stimuli, unconditioned response, conditioned stimuli, and conditioned
This reveals the dogs mind is remembering the past association with the bell and the food. Classical conditioning is reflexive, automatic behaviour, where the stimulus comes before. A common occurrence of classical conditioning in human behaviour would be the study and treatment of phobias many individuals would have, persistent fears or anxieties of an object or situation.
Classical and Operant Conditioning Name Institution Date Classical and Operant Conditioning One of the ways human beings learn is by association. For instance, if an individual associate a given sound with a frightening outcome, hearing the sound might always trigger fear. It is also evident that when people repeat behaviors in a given context, the behaviors become part of the context (Myers, 2008). This aspect of associating behaviors with events has been explored in great depth in the classical and operant condition. In classical conditioning, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), conducted an experiment on the eating habits of dogs.
Bowlby’s theory is an evolutionary approach to attachment. These attachment behaviours are displayed to ensure the survival of the infant. It is also an instinct for the parent to make an attachment. He states that infants are born with social releasers for example crying, smiling, a cute face with big eyes and a small nose. These social releasers encourage the care giver to provide care.
Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior Before we had the technology to look at genes specifically, a theory was used to explain how we’ve adapted the traits we have today. Darwin’s theory was that those who adapt best to an environment will have a greater chance of surviving, having offspring, and passing their genes to their offspring. As our environment is always changing, we need to adapt our characteristics to survive in that specific environment. It is the whole aspect of adaptation. It is said that those who are better suited for a certain environment will be more like to breed and pass on these genes also known as natural selection.
While taking accurate measurements from the dog about how much it was salivating; Pavlov noticed that the dog would salivate at the sight of food as well as tasting it. Due to this; he carried out an experiment which sought to discover whether he could connect the dogs response to food to a neutral stimulus. To do this Pavlov presented the dog with a neutral stimulus, in this case a bell which Pavlov rung and to which the dog did not salivate to; he then presented the dog with both the ringing bell and a bowl of food, the unconditioned stimulus, this is repeated until the dog connects the ringing
A dog usually tries to get its owner’s attention, by licking or barking, when hungry. Strand creates the imagery of becoming desperate for more poetry, so desperate that he acts like a dog, barking and licking the librarian’s hands, wanting more. Therefore, Strand expresses his thirst for more poetry through imagining himself as a hungry
This observation lead Pavlov on to the belief that the dog learnt that at the sight of a stimulus it meant food, therefore it had “learnt” Dogs would normally salivate at the smell of food this is known as “unconditioned reflex” continuing with his experiments he found that by using other stimulus in this case a bell he could condition the dog to salivate on its sound even to the extent of the dog salivating at the sound of the bell though there was no food, “Classical Conditioning”. The bell known as the “unconditioned stimulus” and the dog salivating to its sound lead Pavlov on to label this response; “condition response”. Out of Pavlov theory grew the understanding
He studied the salivation in dogs and concluded that a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus to a dog and make it salivate, when it is paired with food. For example, when giving food to a dog, it starts salivating. When making a tone with a bell everytime before giving food to the dog, the salivation starts with the bell-ringing. The final part of this experiment is the observation of salivation, only at the bell-ringing, even when no food follows. This is in principle a learning effect.
Outline and Evaluate Bowlby’s Evolutionary Theory of Attachment. (12mark) Attachment can be described using two theories, one being Bowlby’s attachment theory which is based on an evolutionary perspective. The theory suggests that evolution has produced a behaviour that is essential to the survival to allow the passing on of genes. An infant that keeps close to their mother is more likely to survive. The traits that lead to that attachment will be naturally selected.