Psychology of Learning questions...

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1) A conditioned response in Pavlovian conditioning is the response that the conditioned stimulus elicits after it has been repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned response may be similar in form to the unconditioned response.

For examples:
A) I rang a bell to get my dog to come to the deck to get food. I immediately put meat in the dog's mouth, and dog salivated. The dog would THEN salivate whenever I rang the bell, which is a conditioned response.
B) The same example works as above, but another conditioned response could be to feel hunger at the ringing of the bell.
C) I go to the eye doctor and get told that I have to get the eye puff. I sit and the doctor does the eye puff, which makes my eye physically flinch and my body flinch. MY BODY'S FLINCHING is a conditioned response.

Unconditioned responses occur to an unconditioned stimulus without prior conditioning. For example:
A) The blinking response after a puff of air to the cornea of the eye is an example of an unconditioned response.
B) Opening my eyes after hearing a loud noise in my sleep is an unconditioned response--it's just natural.
C) Jumping after someone scares you is an unconditioned response

2) Prior experience (reinforcements/punishments) determines behaviors. That is, the conditioning history determines how individuals respond in a learning situation, as well as the rate at which individuals respond. ***IN ESSENCE, IN THE TRADITIONAL S-R (STIMULI-RESPONSE) RELATIONSHIP, THE NOTICED PATTERNS OF RESPONSES TO STIMULI DETERMINE THE RESPONSE TO THE STIMULUS. THIS THEN ASSISTS/PERSUADES AN INDIVIDUAL TO REACT AND/OR RESPOND IN A CERTAIN WAY.***

3) The highly selective nature of food aversion is called the Garcia Effect. John Garcia showed that animals associated illness with food, even if the illness was caused by something else. If rats got sick from a dose of radiation after drinking saccharin-flavored water in a cage illuminated with red light, the rats later avoided saccharin-flavored water. But they did not avoid red light. Similarly, they got shocked after tasting the water, they learned to avoid the environment where they got shocked, but they did not learn to avoid the water. THE GARCIA EFFECT could be used to inform people about irrational aversions and dislikes, or could be manipulated to keep people from certain things (John's father had mental illness and was an alcoholic too. John's mom could convince John to avoid alcohol because ...