Classical Conditioning

Cheng Zhang

Habituation (↓ strength of behaviour; low intensity stimuli; stimulus specific generalisation; ↓NTs)/sensitisation (opposite)  learning to notice or ignore – simplest form of learning

Classical conditioning:

UCS (stimulus that evokes an innate response)  UCR (the innate response to UCS)
UCS + CS (stimulus with association with UCS elicits a CR)  UCR
CS  CR
Examples: Pavlov’s dogs;Little Albert (classical conditioning of fear of white rat with association with hitting a metal rod)
Strongest when repeated CS-UCS pairings; UCS more intense; forward pairing i.e. CS  UCS; time interval between CS and UCS is short
Extinction = CS presented repeatedly in absence of UCS causing CS to weaken and disappear
Spontaneous recovery = reappearance of a previously extinguished CR after a rest period
Stimulus generalisation = similar stimuli elicit response, but weaker
Stimulus discrimination = respond to various stimuli differently (CR in one stimulus but not another)
Higher-order conditioning = neutral stimulus becomes CS after paired with already established CS

Operant (instrumental) conditioning:

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE = presentation or removal of a stimulus

Reinforcement = response strengthened by outcome that follows it
Positive reinforcement = positive event follows response
Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs e.g. food; secondary associated with primary e.g. money
Negative reinforcement = negative event removed by response
Reinforcer = outcome that increases frequency of response
Punishment = outcome weakens the frequency of a response
Positive/aversive punishment = discomfort follows response
Negative punishment/response cost = positive state removed after response

Learning:

Shaping (learn complex behaviours in small steps) and chaining (reinforce each response with the opportunity to perform the next response to learn a sequence of reponses)
Operant extinction (response weakens and disappears as no longer reinforced); operant generalisation and discrimination

Reinforcement schedules:

Fixed (interval/ratio) schedule = reinforcement occurs after fixed no of responses or after fixed time interval
Variable (interval/ratio) schedule
Continuous reinforcement = more rapid learning but extinction more rapid

Two factor theory of phobias

Factor 1: classical conditioning of fear e.g. CS (car) + UCS (car accident)  CR (conditioned fear of cars)
Factor 2: operant conditioning of avoidance e.g. avoid cars  fear is reduced  tendency to avoid cars strengthened i.e. avoidance of cars negatively reinforced

Observational learning/social learning/vicarious conditioning

Watching/imitating others and noting consequences of their actions
Vicarious reinforcement: if their behaviours are reinforced we tend to imitate the behaviour
Example: Bobo doll experiment – those who observed violence to Bobo doll were more violent to the doll

Health behaviour = any activity undertaken by a person believing himself to be healthy, to prevent disease or to detect it at asymptomatic stage

Effect of education of health behaviour = Effect smoking in schools (Nutbeam)showed no effect of education on outcome

Effect of pos reinforcement and limitations = Effect pos reinf on health behaviours (Kegels) showed that reward > information > discussion for compliance. Limitation is positive reinforcement is too costly.

Effect of fear arousal (Janis & Fesbach)showed that negative reinforcement more effective on behaviour if the fear induced was lower.

Expectancy value theory = potential for behaviour to occur function of the expectancy the behaviour will lead to a particular outcome and the value of that outcome.

Outcome efficacy = individual’s expectation that the behaviour will lead to a particular outcome

NEED TO KNOW Self efficacy = belief that one can execute the behaviour required to produce the outcome

Depends on:

Mastery experience/performance experiences (previous successes/failures on similar tasks)
Social learning (obs of behaviours and consequences to similar models in similar situations)
Verbal persuasion or encouragement
Physiological arousal (enthusiasm or anxiety)

NEED TO KNOW Health belief model and Theory of planned behaviour

Abstinence violation effect = person upset and self-blame over relapse – views as proof of their incapability to resist temptation. Relapse prevention – need coping response for increased self-efficacy to decrease probability of relapse.

Sensation = sense organs translate env stimuli to nervous impulses to brain (sense organs respond to constant stimulus by decreasing activity); Perception = making sense of what our senses tell us (higher processing)

Absolute threshold = lowest intensity stimulus is detected 50% of time
Difference threshold = smallest difference between two stimuli detected 50% of the time
JND = smallest increase of decrease in intensity of a stimulus that a person is able to detect

Attention

Focusing on certain stimuli; filtering out other stimuli
Affected by stimulus characteristics: intensity, novelty, movement, contrast, repetition
Affected by personal factors: motives, interests, threats to well-being
Cocktail party effect; Attentional capacity model (avail attention depends on level of arousal); Dichotic listening task (focus on one convo, not consciously aware of input to unattended ear but can affect interpretation of information in the attended ear)

(Gestalt laws of perceptual organisation: similarity, proximity, closure, continuity)

(Perceptual constancy: visual, shape, brightness, size compensation)

Bottom-up processing: progression of recognising and processing info from individual components of a stimuli and moving to the perception of the whole

Top-down processing: sensory info is interpreted in light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas, and expectations

Perceptual schema = mental representation or image containing the critical and distinctive features of a person, object, event or other perceptual phenomenon. Provide mental templates that allow us to identify and classify sensory input. Perception differs across cultures e.g. object on woman’s head.

Critical periods in perceptual development = certain kinds of experiences must occur if perceptual abilities and brain mechs that underlie them are to develop normally e.g. kittens raised in vertical environment unable to see horizontal objects

Humphreys and Riddoch hierarchical model of object recognition

Early visual processing ↔ view-pt dep. object descrip ↔ perceptual classif ↔ semantic classif ↔ naming

Gate theory of pain: A gating mechanism – gate open = high pain (stimulatory input from brain and other peripheral fibres on the gating mech); gate closed = low pain (inhibitory input on gating mech)

Example: Beecher: wound severity and painrelationship between soldiers and civilians – psychological factors influence pain perception

Measurement of pain

Subjective

Verbal measures: unstructured; verbal rating scales e.g. mild, mod, severe; visual/graphical scales e.g. 0-10 numeric; visual analog scale; simple descriptive pain intensity scale

Behavioural

Based on behaviour e.g. facial expression, crying, breathing patterns e.g. Neonatal/infant pain scale (NIPS) recommended for <1 year old

Physiological measures

e.g. Galvanic skin response (GSR); Heart rate, Breathing rate

Factors affecting the perception of physical symptoms

Attention
Environmental cues e.g. coughing in lectures i.e. attention directed to internal sensations if level of external stimulation is low or overwhelming
Expectation – what people are told affects perception (if you’re told it’ll hurt you’re more likely to feel pain) – Example: Anderson & Pennebaker – effect of expectancy of perceptionhand on vibrating sandpaper, told felt pleasant/painful/no info
Emotional factors – Example: Arntz – attention vs anxiety low attention reduces pain, the level of anxiety has no affect

Also, physiological state, and beliefs/labels affect how symptoms are perceived – Example: Ruble – effect of label on symptom perception given ‘label’ of menstruation due date, those closer to due date reported more premenstrual symptoms

Placebo effect

Improvement in condition of a sick person occurs in response to treatment but cannot be considered due to the specific treatment used
Associated with patient factors (no clear responder personality); treatment factors – injections > pills, larger pills more effective, green/brown pills more effective; therapist factors e.g. status of practitioner, confidence in practitioner
Possible MOA: Expectancy; Classical conditioning; Anxiety/attention; Release of endogenous opiates

Acute vs. chronic pain

Acute = <1 month from injury to resolution: usually obvious tissue damage; increased nervous system activity; pain resolves on healing; serves a protective function

Chronic = >3-6 months: pain beyond expected period of healing; usually no protective function; degrades health and function

Illness representations (NEED TO KNOW) = patient’s own implicit commonsense beliefs about their illness

Identity (the label)
Cause
Time-line (patient’s view how long it will last and acute, chronic or episodic)
Consequences (patient’s view of effects they expect from illness and views on outcome)
Curability/Controllability (patient’s expectations as they recover from or control illness)

Factors influencing illness representations e.g. previous experience; social learning; culture; personality/individual differences; transmission of information e.g. medical student’s disease

Leventhal’s self-regulatory model = interpretation of health threat  action plan/coping strategy  appraisal of coping strategies/actions and reflecting on need for modification

Nature vs. Nurture

Temperament = innate aspects of an individual’s personality

Reciprocal socialisation = children socialise parents and vice versa – behaviours of both rely on interconnection, mutual regulation and synchronisation

Development of attachment

Birth to 3mths: prefer people to inanimate objects
3-8mths: smiles to main caregivers
8-12mths: selectively approaches main caregivers; shows fear of strangers and separation anxiety
>12mths: attachment behaviour can be measured reliably

Secure attachment in infancy protective factor leading to resilience throughout lifespan

Piaget’s model of cognitive development = children’s thinking changes qualitatively with age

Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2): differentiate self from objects; recognises self as an agent of action; acts intentionally; understand the world mainly through sensory experiences and motor interactions with objects; achieves object permanence i.e. understands object continues to exist even if it cannot be sensed
Preoperational stage (2-7): learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words; thinking still ego-centric; no understanding of principle of conservation i.e. principle of objects stay same even through outward appearance may change; animism (attributes life-like qualities to physical objects and natural events)
Concrete operational stage (7-12): can think logically about objects and events; can perform basic mental operations concerning problems that involve concrete/tangible objects and situations; understands concept of reversibility (can reverse actions mentally); easily solve conservation problems; trouble with hypothetical and abstract reasoning
Formal operation (12 and up): can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically; concerned with hypothetical, future and ideological problems

Accommodation = process where new experiences cause existing schemas to change

Assimilation = process where new experiences are incorporated into existing schemas

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning(basis for judging what is moral)

Level 1 – preconventional morality: whether you think you will be rewarded or punished
Level 2 – conventional morality: conform to social expectations and adopt others’ values e.g. parents
Level 3 – post-conventional morality: moral principles internalised as one’s own belief/value system

Criticisms: western cultural bias and male bias

Transactional def of stress =Stress is a condition that results when the person/environment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy between the demands of the situation and the coping resources available

Problem-focused vs emotion focused coping

Problem focused coping: efforts directed at changing the environment or changing one’s own actions or attitudes

Increasing predictability:Johnson – effect of information demonstrated sensory info (about the sensations that may be experienced) more effective at lowering distress than procedural info (about the procedure to be undertaken). Dual process hypothesis = procedural and sensory info work in different ways – procedural allows patients to match ongoing events with their expectations in non-emotional manner; sensory maps a non-threatening interpretation on to these expectations. Auerbach – amount of info and distress found people who preferred less info had lower distress when less info was given; people who preferred more detailed info had lower distress with more specific info. Distress levels were higher when preferences were not matched.
Increasing control: If people feel they have more control there is less distress. Langer and Rodin Nursing home study (flower power study) showed those given more control had better health and well-being. Trash – traffic light study asked patients to signal discomfort during procedure by pressing buttons – felt they had control so less pain was felt.

Emotion focused: efforts designed to manage the stress-related emotional physical responses e.g. meditation, relaxation techniques, deep-breathing, praying

Martelli – problem focussed vs emotion focussed showed people who preferred less info did better with emotion focussed coping, people who preferred more info did better with problem based coping.

Optimal coping strategy depends on individual’s own copy style and the situation

Effect of social support on coping i.e. stress buffering (e.g. time with post-op patient vs pre-op on recovery)

Helping children to cope with treatment:

Children’s distress during routine immunisation correlated with distress shown by parents
Video explaining procedure reduced distress; Children <7 benefit more from info presented shortly before a procedure; Older children benefit most from info presented 4-7 days before a procedure.
Tell (simple language, matter-of-fact, what will happen); Show (demonstrate on inanimate object); Do (when child understands what is going to be done)

Freud’s psychodynamic theory of personality: personality is energy system

Id (uncoordinated instinctual trends; exists totally in unconscious mind; pleasure principle)
Ego (organised realistic part of psyche; conscious level primarily; reality principle – tests reality and decides when Id can satisfy needs)
Superego (critical and moralising function; morality principle)

Five factor model of personality (OCEAN – big 5 supertraits)

Openness (appreciation of art, emotion, adventure, imagination)
Conscientiousness (tendency to show self-discipline)
Extraversion (energy, positive emotions, tendency to seek stimulation and company)
Agreeableness (tendency to be compassionate and co-operative)
Neuroticism (tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily)

Attachment theory as result of early experiences with caregivers

Locus of control = an expectancy concerning the degree of personal control we have in our lives: internal (life outcomes are under personal control) or external (outcomes have less to do with own efforts than with influence of external factors)

IQ = intelligence quotient: 100 is average; normally distributed; ((mental age/chronological age) x 100); may be culturally biased; gender differences in performance on certain intellectual tasks – not general intelligence e.g. M>F on spatial tasks; F>M on perceptual tasks and verbal fluency

Twin studies show genetic factors (1/2 to 2/3 of IQ variation);environmental factors (1/3 to ½)

Crystallised and fluid intelligence (breakdown of Spearman’s g factor – i.e. belief that intelligence is general)

Crystallised intelligence improves with age = ability to apply previously acquired knowledge to current problems
Fluid intelligence declines with age = ability to deal with novel problem-solving situations for which personal experience does not provide a solution

Empathising and systematising theory (Baron-Cohen) – divides ppl into 2 groups

Empathisers – able to identify and approp respond to emotions and thoughts of others; tend to be adept at reading non-verbal communication and judging character
Systemisers – those comfortable analysing how systems work and behave, final goal of predicting and controlling system behaviour or building a new system
3 basic brain types: E-type is predominantly female; S-type is pred male; B-type is balanced
Hence autism/Asperger’s more common in males (extreme male brain – lack E, very S)

Kubler-Ross’ stage model of adjustment to dying – 5 reactions

Denial  Anger  Bargaining  Depression  Acceptance

Lack of evidence for stages

5 Myths of coping with loss (Wortman and Silver) – why Kubler-Ross model is not perfect

Distress or depression is inevitable
Distress is necessary and failure to experience distress is indicative of pathology
The importance of ‘working through’ the loss
Expectations of recovery (Pollard and Kennedy – long term follow up in SC injury shows may not be realistic as no decline in depression over 10 years)
Reaching a state of resolution

Moos’ Crisis Theory of coping with serious illness – factors affecting adjustment

Illness related factors: pain, disability, uncertaintly/progressiveness, disfigurement/visibility (stigma)
Background/personal factors: age of onset, pre-existing personality, gender, religious views, attribution of blameBulman and Wortman – attribution of blame and adjustment to SCI found patients who blamed themselves for injury rated as coping better, pre-existing health beliefs
Physical and social env: accommodation, physical aids/adaptations, social support, stigma

The above all affect coping process (coping appraisal – primary = threat/demand; secondary = coping resources adaptive tasks (coping with symptoms/disability; controlling negative feelings)coping skills (seeking info; denying seriousness; seeking emotional support)outcome of crisis)

WHO model of disability: psych factors can be integrated to increase predictive validity; model includes body functions and structures (impairment); activities (limitation); participation (restriction) and environmental and personal factors  health condition (disorder/disease)

Attitudes and prejudice; Self-fulfilling prophesy

Attitude = positive or negative evaluative reaction to a stimulus; stronger influence on behaviour when contradictory situation factors are weak
Prejudice = a negative prejudgement of a group or its individual members; Stereotype = schemas about characteristics ascribed to a group of people based on qualities e.g. race, gender, ethnicity; Discrimination = behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups
Self-fulfilling prophesy – when told something about someone we’re more likely to view them in that way (the prophesy/prediction directly/indirectly causes itself to be true)

Social loafing = tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone.

More likely to occur when:

Person believes individual performance is not being monitored
Task (goal) or group has less value or meaning to the person
The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
The person expects that other group members will display high effort

Depends on gender & culture: occurs more strongly in all-male groups and in individualistic cultures
May disappear if individual performance is measured or if members value highly their group of the task goal

Ringelman – tug of war study shows in collective tasks people only put forth as much effort as they expect is necessary to reach their goal – more pullers = proportionally less added weight pulled (hyperbolic curve)