Question 1

OPTION 1. This option includes a part of Assignment 6 related to Classical Conditioning. You MUST complete the entire assignment, including this portion, but this wiki is intended to help you with this section. Please do not include your name with your responses to this section. I don’t want you to feel bad if your answers in not quite right.

Concept and Goal

This activity demonstrates how a single powerful event can be traumatizing and can lead to a life of conditioned fear; it serves as an example of classical conditioning. This is an individual student activity. Read the passage and complete the activity. We will then discuss the results and discussion questions during class (or via discussion board).

A Case of Physical Violence

A woman who lives in the suburbs goes downtown one night to meet friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant. After the dinner, she and her friends say good-bye. She goes to the parking garage alone. As she turns the key to unlock her car, an intruder with a gun forces himself into the car with her. He forces her to drive to a desolate place downtown near a stadium where he tells her to pull over and let him out. He then steals her money and valuables, ties her up, and leaves her in the car. For many months, the woman has nightmares about the attack, is afraid of the dark, is afraid to go near her car, and is afraid to go downtown. When she passes by an Italian restaurant, a parking garage, or a stadium, her heart pounds and she sweats. She is afraid of strangers, especially men, who resemble the attacker. Ten years later, the woman’s conditioned fears are subsiding. Still, she remains extremely cautious about personal safety and occasionally has nightmares about the experience.

In this scenario, the woman’s fear (conditioned response – CR) is powerfully associated with (and generalized to) several locations and people (conditioned stimuli – CS), associated with the violent attack. For this wiki, LIST ONE conditioned stimuli (CSs) mentioned in the passage. You must list CSs ONLY to document your understanding and ability to distinguish CSs from CRs.

CS1
CS2
CS3
CS4
CS5
CS6
CS7
CS8

EXTINCTION: According to Ivan Pavolv’s principles of classical conditioning, what can be done to extinguish the fear that the woman in the passage is associating and generalizing to the locations and people you have mentioned? (HINT: how did Pavlov arrange extinction of salivating to the tone?) You are welcome to write your response in your own words (being as accurate as possible) and I will review your responses in class and provide feedback.

Question 2

I have chosen an article that pulls together material from the human development material (namely the sections on parenting and children), and learning (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning/modeling). The article is posted at the website of the American Psychological Association (APA.org) and provides evidence-based suggestions for how to correctly apply learning principles in raising children. I think it’s a must-read for all parents and anyone who has contact with children. I hope you agree

Applying Learning Principles to Parenting

Read the article titled, “Parenting that works: Seven research-backed ways to improve parenting”. In a paragraph or so, reflect on how the learning principles of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning/modeling are evident in many of these parenting strategies. The goal is for you to reflect on parenting skills (which relate to our recent coverage of human development) and their connection to the material we are now covering, as well as convince me that you understand this course material. Be sure to change your font color