Lecture Notes: Learning
This chapter covers the major theories of learning (Classical Conditioning, Operant
Conditioning, and Social Learning Theory).
Classical Conditioning (CC)—This approach was developed by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov
was not originally a psychologist—he was a physiologist who studied how dogs
digested their food. Whoa! In the course of this research he noticed that his dogs would
salivate when he entered the lab even though he had no food. He assumed that they
had “associated” him with food and that the salivation was occurring to prepare for
eating. Pavlov was intrigued by this and couldn’t leave it alone. He shifted his research
to investigating this phenomenon.
Pavlov assumed that if the animals had associated him with the sight of food he could
condition them to salivate to any stimulus, as long as it had first been paired with food.
Now, everything in the CC process has a label. Pay close attention!
FOOD ---------------------> SALIVATION
Unconditioned Unconditioned
Stimulus Response
(UCS) (UCR)
Food naturally elicits the salivation response. Elicit means involuntary. You do not teach
or condition an animal to salivate to food. It happens naturally—it is an inborn natural
reflex. It is unconditioned. CC takes advantage of this natural process by pairing a
Neutral Stimulus (NS) a bell, with the UCS (food). Each pairing is called a trial. So, look
at the labels below:
BELL
Neutral Stimulus
(NS)
The bell has no influence on the animal.
CC involves pairing the NS (Bell) with the UCS (Food)
NS-------------UCS------------->UCR
(BELL) (FOOD) (SALIVATION)
, (Each paring of the bell and the food is called a trial)
After several trials one tests to see if conditioning occurred. So, the bell is presented
alone, and hooray it causes salivation!
BELL----------------->SALIVATION
(CS) (CR)
Note: The bell is now called a Conditioned Stimulus. The salivation is now called a
Conditioned Response.
Pavlov also studied some other important phenomena. They are discussed below:
a) Stimulus Generalization-This occurs when the response spreads to other similar
stimuli. So. for instance, Pavlov’s dog once conditioned, may salivate to other similar
bell tones. Consider a real life human example: A child is stung by a bee. Afterwards, he
may not only fear bees but all flying insects.
b) Stimulus Discrimination-This occurs when the animal salivated to only one particular
bell tone and no other. Consider a real life human example: A man is bitten by a Golden
Retriever. He now fears Golden Retrievers but no other breed.
c) Extinction-Pavlov wanted to find out what would happen if he kept presenting the bell
(CS) without presenting the food (UCS). Over time the salivation response decreased
until it stopped. Essentially, it was “turned off” as the animal’s nervous system learned
that the bell no longer signaled food. It would be a waste of vital energy to produce
saliva for no good reason. So, it stops!
d) Spontaneous Recovery-After extinction had occurred Pavlov decided to see what
might happen if he rang the bell again. Low and behold the salivation returned. It is if
the animal never forgot it—the response was always there—it had been learned!
Now, John B. Watson, while developing Behaviorism, had read Pavlov’s work and was
quite impressed. Remember from Chapter 1 that Watson stated that the focus of
psychology should be on observable behavior and that everything about the human
being had been learned. He decided to use CC principles to condition a young infant
(“Little Albert”) to fear a white lab rat. Initially, Little Albert had no fear of the rat. It was
Watson’s goal to create an environmental event that would lead to the development of
fear of the rat. So, each time the rat came near, Watson would bang a loud noise
behind Albert’s head. This created a natural fear response (Albert would be startled and
cry). After a few pairings (trials) of the rat and the loud noise Watson tested to see if the
This chapter covers the major theories of learning (Classical Conditioning, Operant
Conditioning, and Social Learning Theory).
Classical Conditioning (CC)—This approach was developed by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov
was not originally a psychologist—he was a physiologist who studied how dogs
digested their food. Whoa! In the course of this research he noticed that his dogs would
salivate when he entered the lab even though he had no food. He assumed that they
had “associated” him with food and that the salivation was occurring to prepare for
eating. Pavlov was intrigued by this and couldn’t leave it alone. He shifted his research
to investigating this phenomenon.
Pavlov assumed that if the animals had associated him with the sight of food he could
condition them to salivate to any stimulus, as long as it had first been paired with food.
Now, everything in the CC process has a label. Pay close attention!
FOOD ---------------------> SALIVATION
Unconditioned Unconditioned
Stimulus Response
(UCS) (UCR)
Food naturally elicits the salivation response. Elicit means involuntary. You do not teach
or condition an animal to salivate to food. It happens naturally—it is an inborn natural
reflex. It is unconditioned. CC takes advantage of this natural process by pairing a
Neutral Stimulus (NS) a bell, with the UCS (food). Each pairing is called a trial. So, look
at the labels below:
BELL
Neutral Stimulus
(NS)
The bell has no influence on the animal.
CC involves pairing the NS (Bell) with the UCS (Food)
NS-------------UCS------------->UCR
(BELL) (FOOD) (SALIVATION)
, (Each paring of the bell and the food is called a trial)
After several trials one tests to see if conditioning occurred. So, the bell is presented
alone, and hooray it causes salivation!
BELL----------------->SALIVATION
(CS) (CR)
Note: The bell is now called a Conditioned Stimulus. The salivation is now called a
Conditioned Response.
Pavlov also studied some other important phenomena. They are discussed below:
a) Stimulus Generalization-This occurs when the response spreads to other similar
stimuli. So. for instance, Pavlov’s dog once conditioned, may salivate to other similar
bell tones. Consider a real life human example: A child is stung by a bee. Afterwards, he
may not only fear bees but all flying insects.
b) Stimulus Discrimination-This occurs when the animal salivated to only one particular
bell tone and no other. Consider a real life human example: A man is bitten by a Golden
Retriever. He now fears Golden Retrievers but no other breed.
c) Extinction-Pavlov wanted to find out what would happen if he kept presenting the bell
(CS) without presenting the food (UCS). Over time the salivation response decreased
until it stopped. Essentially, it was “turned off” as the animal’s nervous system learned
that the bell no longer signaled food. It would be a waste of vital energy to produce
saliva for no good reason. So, it stops!
d) Spontaneous Recovery-After extinction had occurred Pavlov decided to see what
might happen if he rang the bell again. Low and behold the salivation returned. It is if
the animal never forgot it—the response was always there—it had been learned!
Now, John B. Watson, while developing Behaviorism, had read Pavlov’s work and was
quite impressed. Remember from Chapter 1 that Watson stated that the focus of
psychology should be on observable behavior and that everything about the human
being had been learned. He decided to use CC principles to condition a young infant
(“Little Albert”) to fear a white lab rat. Initially, Little Albert had no fear of the rat. It was
Watson’s goal to create an environmental event that would lead to the development of
fear of the rat. So, each time the rat came near, Watson would bang a loud noise
behind Albert’s head. This created a natural fear response (Albert would be startled and
cry). After a few pairings (trials) of the rat and the loud noise Watson tested to see if the
