VCE Psychology Learning

UNIT 3 AOS 3 – LEARNING

●​ Behaviourist approaches to learning, as illustrated by classical conditioning as a three-phase process
(before conditioning, during conditioning and after conditioning) that results in the involuntary association
between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response, and operant
conditioning as a three-phase process (antecedent, behaviour, and consequence) involving reinforcement
(positive and negative) and punishment (positive and negative)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
LEARNING: A relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs because of experience. It can be intentional,
unintentional, active, or passive

BEHAVIOURIST APPROACHES TO LEARNING: theories that propose learning occurs by interacting with the external
environment

Classical conditioning is a process of learning through the involuntary association between a neutral stimulus and an
unconditioned stimulus that results in a conditioned response.​
It involves three stages: Before conditioning, During conditioning, and After conditioning.

PHASE 1: BEFORE CONDITIONING is the first stage of classical conditioning, during which the neutral stimulus has no
associations and therefore does not produce any significant response. This first stage of classical conditioning
involves the:

●​ neutral stimulus, which is the stimulus that produces no significant response prior to conditioning.
●​ unconditioned stimulus, which is the stimulus that produces an unconscious response.
●​ unconditioned response, which is a naturally occurring behaviour in response to a stimulus.




PHASE 2: DURING CONDITIONING (also called acquisition) the second stage of classical conditioning, during which the
neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus, producing the unconditioned response

●​ the NS is repeatedly paired with the UCS, which in turn produces the UCR.
●​ the NS is to be presented half of a second before the UCS.

, PHASE 3: AFTER CONDITIONING - the third stage of classical conditioning, during which the neutral stimulus becomes
the conditioned stimulus, producing a conditioned response

●​ conditioned stimulus, which is the stimulus (originally the neutral stimulus) that produces a conditioned
response after being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
●​ conditioned response, which is the response that occurs involuntarily after the conditioned stimulus is
presented.




PAVLOV'S DOGS EXAMPLE
BEFORE: the dogs displayed no significant response to the sound of a bell. By contrast, the unconditioned stimulus
was the presentation of food, which automatically produced the unconscious response of salivation.

DURING: the repeated presentation of the sound of the bell (NS) with the dog’s food (UCS), which in turn produced the
UCR of salivation. The bell was sounded first, and then the food was presented directly afterwards.

AFTER: the sound of the bell ultimately became the conditioned stimulus after conditioning had occurred. The sound of
the bell alone made the dogs salivate. The dogs salivating in response to the sound of the bell was the conditioned
response and outcome of Pavlov’s experiments.




OPERANT CONDITIONING: a three-phase learning process that involves an antecedent, behaviour, and consequence,
whereby the consequence of a behaviour determines the likelihood that it will reoccur.

The ANTECEDENT (A): the stimulus or event that precedes and often elicits a particular behaviour
The BEHAVIOUR (B): the voluntary actions that occur in the presence of the antecedent