A female patient complains that each time she sees a man in a white coat she becomes highly anxious. She says that this is very distressing and often results in her having to leave the area resulting in considerable social disruption. During your interview you discover that she spent prolonged periods of time in hospital as a child for treatment of cancer and that the experience was very painful and traumatic. You make a link between the white coats and the traditional doctors uniforms. In this case, what does the white coat represent?
Exam Question Jul 2014
In this case, the innate response of anxiety (unconditioned response) occurred following repeated painful experiences (unconditioned stimulus). The white coat of the doctors which was initially neutral became associated with the pain to produce a conditioned stimulus which then elicited the anxiety in the absence of pain.
A secondary reinforcer19%A conditioned stimulus20%A conditional response19%An unconditioned stimulus20%A primary reinforcer
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Exam Question Jul 2014
In this case, the innate response of anxiety (unconditioned response) occurred following repeated painful experiences (unconditioned stimulus). The white coat of the doctors which was initially neutral became associated with the pain to produce a conditioned stimulus which then elicited the anxiety in the absence of pain.
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is the work of Ivan Pavlov. It is a learning theory that suggests that events which occur together are associated and acquire a similar meaning.
Classical conditioning is different to operant conditioning. In classical conditioning we are looking at responses to stimuli whereas in operant conditioning we are interested in responses to behaviour.
Pavlov demonstrated that innate responses such as a dog salivating (unconditioned response) when it sees food (unconditioned stimulus) can be associated with a neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus) such as ringing a bell, so that ringing the bell can cause salivation even in the absence of food (conditioned response).
Important terms used in classical conditioning include:-
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Extinction | If a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus then the conditioned response will disappear |
| Stimulus Generalisation | This is the extension of the conditioned response from the original conditioned stimulus to other similar stimuli |
| Higher Order Conditioning | This occurs when a new stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus when it is paired with an established conditioned stimulus |
| Spontaneous recovery | If the conditioned stimulus is not presented at all for sometime after extinction and is then presented again the conditioned response will return to some degree |
| Forward conditioning | In forward conditioning the conditioned stimulus precedes to unconditioned stimulus. There are two main types: In delay conditioning the conditioned stimulus proceeds the unconditioned stimulus by a delay. The conditioned stimulus is still active when the unconditioned stimulus begins. In contrast, trace conditioning involves the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus once the conditioned stimulus has finished |
| Simultaneous conditioning | In this form of conditioning, the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus are presented at the same time |
| Backward conditioning | Here, the conditioned stimulus follows the unconditioned stimulus |
| Temporal conditioning | Here the unconditioned stimulus is paired to time. The unconditioned stimulus is presented at regular intervals (for example, every 20 minutes). Eventually the unconditioned response will occur shortly prior to the unconditioned stimulus |
| Aversive conditioning | A technique where an unpleasant stimulus is paired with an unwanted behaviour (such as nail-biting, smoking) in order to create an aversion to it |
| Counter conditioning | Teaching a different task or behaviour than the one that was previously occurring in a situation. For example, a dog lunges at the window when the postman walks by. The new task will be sitting quietly |
| Incubation | This occurs in fear responses. When a person is exposed to a stimulus which causes fear (for example being bitten by a dog), the fear response can increase over time due to brief exposures to the conditioned stimulus (for example to sight of dogs). This explains how fears can grow |
Some stimuli are more prone to conditioning than others. This is referred to as stimulus preparedness. This is probably an evolutionary issue. We are more likely to develop fear responses to things such as insects and snakes rather than cars.
