A lady with arachnophobia visits a therapist for help. The therapist begins by getting her comfortable on a couch and encourages her to relax whilst listening to some music. When confident that she is relaxed, the therapist asks her to think about a small spider 100 meters away. Initially the lady becomes anxious but then when able to think about this image and stay relaxed the therapist asks her to think about a medium sized spider 1 meter away. The process is repeated and after a number of weeks she is able to hold a spider whilst remaining relaxed. Which of the following is described?
Higher order conditioning18%Reciprocal inhibition20%Instrumental conditioning20%Selective abstraction21%Aversive conditioning
21%
21%
Exam Question Oct 2014
The therapists approach is that of systematic desensitization. The negative response of anxiety is inhibited by the relaxed state (a process called reciprocal inhibition).
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.
