1. Applications of Classical Conditioning
In this week’ s Discussion, you examine how classical conditioning influences emotional
responses in humans. You begin to see how classical conditioning applies in everyday
human life. Behavioral psychologists are interested not only in how classical conditioning
affects behavior and emotion. They also are interested in how classical conditioning can be
applied to improve well being. For example, a child with asthma may benefit from
remaining calm during an episode of wheezing. To bring this about, a parent may give the
child a specific stuffed animal to hold at bedtime when the child is sleepy and relaxed. The
child begins to pair the feeling of relaxation with the stuffed animal. Then when the parent
gives the child the stuffed animal to hold during an asthma attack, the child calms down and
the severity of the anxiety is reduced. Chapter 4 in your textbook explains how classical
conditioning can influence health in positive and negative ways. Understanding this
information can help researchers find new ways to treat physical and mental health
issues.To prepare for this assignment:• Review Chapter 4 in the course text, Learning and
Behavior. Pay particular attention to the section on taste aversion and immune
function.• Think about a physical or mental health issue of interest to you (one that is not
in your textbook).• Consider how the issue you selected could be treated with the help of
classical conditioning.The assignment (1 page):• Explain how classical conditioning can
help in the treatment of the physical or mental health that you selected.Support your
Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You
are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning
Resources for this course.Assignment: Part II: Extinction and Spontaneous RecoveryIn
Week 1, you proposed an experiment to simulate the acquisition of a behavior in a rat. You
may be interested in what to do if you no longer want your imagined experimental rat, or a
real animal or human, to continue to produce the acquired behavior. Chapter 3 in your
textbook explains extinction, the phenomenon that Pavlov demonstrated to determine how
to reduce and ultimately extinguish an acquired behavior. Your text also explains how to
bring that behavior back, which is called spontaneous recovery.This week you will explain
how you would design your proposed experiment to elicit both extinction and spontaneous
recovery of the target behavior in your rat.To prepare for this assignment:• Review the
assigned pages in Chapter 3 of the course text, Learning and Behavior. Focus on the section
titled, “ Extinction of Conditional Responses.” • Review the assigned section, Extinction
and Spontaneous Recovery, of Psychology, Core Concepts.• Review the experiments
detailed in the Rescorla article to aid you in considering how you will conduct this part of
2. your experiment.The assignment (1 page):• Explain the steps you would take to exhibit
extinction of the target behavior in your rat. Include how you would know extinction of the
behavior has taken place.• Explain how spontaneous recovery occurs and what it might
look like in your experiment.Support your Application Assignment with specific references
to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for
those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.Submit your
assignments (Parts I and II)Readings Resources:Course Text: Learning and Behavior,
Chance P. (2014). (7th ed.) Belmont,CA: WadsworthChapter 3, “ Pavlovian Conditioning”
(pp. 78– 92 only)Chapter 4, “ Pavlovian Applications” Rescorla, R. A. (2001). Retraining of
extinguished Pavlovian stimuli. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior
Processes.Thanellou, A., & Green, J. T. (2011). Spontaneous recovery but not reinstatement
of the extinguished conditioned eyeblink response in the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience.Book
Excerpt: Zimbardo, P. G., Johnson, R. L., & Weber, A. L. (2005). Learning. In Psychology: Core
concepts (pp. 224– 269). Boston: Pearson. Retrieved from
http://www.ablongman.com/samplechapter/0205424287.pdf (Read only p. 231)Optional
Resources• Sniffy the Virtual Rat Lite Version 3.0o Chapter 3, “ Phenomena of Classical
Conditioning: Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery” (pp. 29– 32 only).
