This section tells us the dynamics involved in Pavlov's accidental discovery of Classical Conditioning. Do you believe an understanding of this phenomena gives us insight into certain human behaviors? Which ones? Predict how this concept can be applied to humans.
Post blog by Friday, November 14.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
Well,
First of all, before I can answer this question, I had to understand the definition given of Classical Conditioning. It is a process of learning associations between stimuli (page 187).
I believe that an understanding of this phenomenon gives us insight into certain human behaviors because of the diagram I had seen on page 189 in the book. The diagram shows how when a bell is ringed and food is nearby, a dog responds by coming to the bell to eat his food. It is a natural response. Just like for humans, when they're driving and the light turns red, their mind tells them to apply their foot to the brakes and stop.
The two principles of Classical Conditioning which seem to make the most sense are Conditional stimulus and Conditioned response. Conditioned stimulus is a reflective response to something, such as, if the car in front of you is applying the brakes, your reflexes tell you to slow down. There is a reason to slow down. Conditional stimulus is a reflex you have learned. As an example, you learn when you are a child, that when your mom calls you (yelling) by your first and middle name that you must go see her quickly because you are in big trouble.
Also, stimulus generalization can be compared to my example of when the light turns red, the person driving must stop.
I think what I am noticing is that a great deal of the principles in Classical Conditioning can be grouped together to provide a better understanding of that the learning method of Classical conditioning is all about.
~Natalie D. :)
My direct answer to the question would be yes. Absolutely. Human beings have the exact same sort of behaviors, except most of us tend to formulate responses a little more complex than drooling when we know we’re going to get a treat. But, our reactions to different things can definately help us figure out our own behavior.
One example of this may be how we get up when the bell rings every day. All of us realize – consciously or not – that if we don’t leave the classroom when the bell rings multiple consequences will commence. We could be told to leave. We may be late. We may even get some sort of detention. If we care or not is another story, but, nonetheless, we know what the bell means. One could literally list anything we do in everyday life and give reason for it based on “learning.” Waiting in lines instead of cutting to the front, being afraid of various non-threatening things, knowing I shouldn’t mention the name Mitt Romney in Mr. Yip’s class. The consequences are known through experiences. And most of the time we don’t want to deal with those consequences again, whether it’s through fear, annoyance, or whatever. Those consequences may not even occur again, yet we still maintain the same learned behavior.
This study could most likely provide insight for reasoning behind fear, procrastination, laziness, passive behavior, and aggressive behavior -- all among various others.
Ted Wynne
Of course I do. Like Ted said, the responses humans make are a bit more developed than the behaviors of dogs or other animals Pavlov used for testing, but they still deliver the same type of reaction that allows us to learn more about human behavior as a whole.
His experiment with Little Albert is the perfect example of how classical conditioning gives insight to human behavior. By taking Albert as an infant and programming him to associate a loud, and at his age scary, noise with rats programmed Albert to think a certain way. When he heard the bell, he got scared. He always heard the bell when the rat was around. Therefore, Albert will be scared of the rat. It’s like one of those math rules that we were supposed to learn in Geometry but nobody ever really picked up because we were too busy reading Flatland. (Downright dreadful book, by the way.)
By understand how classical conditioning works, we can understand why people behave a certain way. Knowing how bizarre human behavior can be, I find the possibility of comprehending it fascinating. We may be able to understand why people act the way they do in certain situations – it could be because of the way they were brought up. I’ve heard of a lot of crazy religious cult stories where brothers marry sisters and then their daughters and whatnot, and how the rest of society shuns them away labeling them as freaks or whatever. What’s most interesting to me is that they have been raised to believe that type of behavior is normal, so for them marrying your sister is just like marrying a man you met for the first time in college and had no familial associations with is for us! I know it’s a bit of a strange example, but it works.
Katherine Gannon
I like the idea of classical conditioning and learned association, associating sights, smells, sounds and feelings to a positive response. Pavlov's experiment was interesting to read how even before Pavlov would reach the dog, he would begin to slobber. The same technique that Pavlov uses to test the dogs, such as ringing a bell, and presenting the dog with food is the same way to train a dog to come. To teach a dog to come, you say the command 'come' and give him a peice of food. As time goes on, he will learn when he is told to come, he will get food. But is then conditioned long enough to hear come, but expect no food.
Conditioned stimulus and conditioned response is used around us everyday without knowing it. Such as if you study real hard on a test, and get a 98% with a pat on the back and a smiley faced sticker on your paper, you've learned that if you study really hard, get good grades, that you will be congradulated more, and not have to take summer school because you've failed the class.
~Nunes
Mmm.. Classical conditioning. Well, it's natural for us humans. It's sort of our reflex.When we burp, we always say "Excuse Me" because we were told that it's the polite thing to do. Now evenwhen you're by yourself and you burp, you automatically say "Excuse me". It's stuck with you.
When someone sneezes, what do you immediately say to that person? The response is always "Bless You" and we don't even know why we say "Bless you" when someone sneezes. We were raised with our elders telling us if someone sneezes we have to say "Bless you" to them.
For example whenever my mother sneezes I say "Bless you" to her but she scolds me and says "I'm already blessed". Each time I said "Bless you" to her I would get scolded and as time went on I didn't respond any longer. I was condtioned into not saying "Bless you" to my mother any longer. I don't even notice when she sneezes now.
So yes, Classical Conditioning does apply to us humans.
I completely agree that like dogs, humans also have the same type of reactions and behavior. The book explains that when a dogs owner holds treats in front of the dog, the dog is going to start to drool and become excited. This is because overtime the dog has learned that if he does what his owner requests, he knows that a treat is coming his way.
This is also true for humans. One example in which this natural response is used is with a crying baby. For whatever reason the baby might be crying, once it sees its mother coming to pick him/her up, the baby usually stops crying. This is because the baby is extremely close to its mother, is not afraid of her, and knows that their mommy makes them feel better. If the baby starts crying because he/she doesn’t recognize the person holding him/her, once he/she see's their mom, they automatically feel better, therefore the crying stops. The baby has begun to grow up with its mom always around, so he/she is trained to know that mom makes everything better.
Classical conditioning also applies to people of all ages. From an early age, you are taught to say "please" when you want something, and "thank you" after you receive what you asked for. Because of this lesson we were taught, we now automatically say "please" when we want something from someone, and "thank you" when they give it to us. Since these responses have been embedded into our brains for so long, we instantly say them without having to think about it.
These responses have become a part of our everyday language. Due to the numerous life situations that demonstrate these responses, it is evident that classical conditioning is a part of both humans and animals lives.
-Marissa Mardo
Mr. Yip,
After reading the pages, I believe that classical conditioning does gives us insight into certain human behaviors. I believe that most people are conditioned to do certain things.
For example, whenever we pick up the phone, we always seem to say "hello?" We do this becuase we conditioned to do so, just like most things we do in life.
- Chris E. (Period 1)
yes, I do believe that classical conditioning applies to humans. It explains why people are afraid of certain things or our emotions change when something occurs. One example I can give is very similar to the example the book gives about the man in the attic and how he now puts a sign on the door (pg. 186). When I was about 9 or 10 I was at the park with my sister and I decided to go down the slide and I did not notice on the end that there was a dead bee at the bottom of the slide. I then went down the slide and the bee's stinger stung me on the back of my leg and it hurt so bad! I ran screaming...it was the first time I had ever been stung by a bee...terrible experience! So now whenever I'm at the park I ALWAYS check the slides before I go down them. Psychologists would call this operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is the basic learning process that involves changing the probability of a response being repeated by manipulating the consequences of that response. (pg.187 and G-9 for definition)
An example of unconditional stimulus would be when the phone rings during class, students become excited in hopes that we will get out of class or we may become nervous when we hear we are needed in the principles office!
In conclusion I definitely feel that classical conditioning applies to humans as well as many other animals.
btw thats me, Michaela Laliberte..you all should know me by now :)
i think that yes understanding classical conditioning can give us insights into personality. The examples we are given are the extreme. people's behavior can be affected by all stages of the conditioning its called ebing in a routine if your used to get punched by your friends really hard or dodging it if your lucky when you see someone's hand move you may flinch a attempt to dodge it even though a punch might not be coming.if you stop at your locker every morning and one morning you cant get there you're going to feel wierd. but those really dont deal with how conditioning will affect personality they're just examples, and i can't think of any on how it affects personality right now so...
Mike D'Amore
Howdy Yall
I believe that classical conditioning is amongst us all and can give insight into human behaviors. Things exist that humans do basically out of instinct because of what they've been taught there entire life. Whether its saying please or thank you or just going t school. No one absolutely forces you to go to school, but most kids do because that is the accepted way of life nower days and is the thing to do. Therefore, classical conditioning exists in us all and exhibited fairly frenquent.
Love Benjamin Miguel
when we do soemthing in life we have a reaction to it whether it be a positive or negative one. I do think that classical conditioning is applied to every thing we go through in life and it helps us to feel the way we feel about certain things. I thnk that this is a normal feeling. Also people think differntly about different situations, therefore they are going to have different feelings about the same things. This is wat makes the world less boring. Most often people have different reactions because they may have experienced something that triggers bad or happy emotions.
Classical conditionaing is all around us! It is involved in our everyday life and has been with us since birth. Every day when we were little and started to comprehend things, we have been doing it! "Don't touch the stove!", why because it's hot! "Don't hit your brother!", why because he will grow up nad be bigger than you and hurt you more! (haha)
Classiacal Conditioning is aprat of us nad it is somewhat invollitary because of how it has been drilled into our brains. When someone sneezes, when someone cries, when you bump into to someone, when you are in church. There are all things that you learn to deal with yourself nad deal witht eh cercumstances around you!
Yes, I think that humans and dogs are alike! I think just like dogs and humans we are rasied to think a certain way and are "trained" to do thinkgs and not to do things! If we weren't than the world as we know it would be complete choas!
I do believe that this gives us insight to human behaviors. As we also learned about in class, when pavlov did the dog experience and then stopped ringing the bell, the dog stopped looking for food. This can work with humans too, humans are susceptible to classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning is really bringing forth an existinting behavior. So the experiment with the dog just brought out its desire for food. Classical conditioning could also bring out an existing behavior in humans as well, with the right conditioning.
Studying Classical Conditioning definitley would help us understand how we as humans develop our everyday behaviors. For example, the child in the book who cried at his immunization and later became afraid of anyone that wore something that resembled a Nurse's white coat.
An example of Classical Conditioning that I've noticed in my house is when my bird decides to eat. Whenever my brother John sits at the kitchen table to eat, my bird climbs down to his food and begins eating as well. Now whenever my brother is just sitting at the kitchen table with no food and I suppose my bird assumes it's feeding time and starts eating.
I believe that by understanding classical conditioning, we will be able to better understand human behavior. By seeing the way in which behaviors are created, we will have further insight into how to either prevent or encourage certain behaviors in the future. If we then take the concept of classical conditioning and apply it to humans, we will have a proven way to mold behavior. I would also like to add that "Benjamin Miguel Pickering" is wrong when he states that classical conditioning is instinctual.
Post a Comment