Author: Hannah Lehman

Classical conditioning is a way to produce a learned association between two things in the environment. It first relies on the automatic response to a stimulus, and then presents a new stimulus before the unconditioned stimulus. The point is to condition this new stimulus to produce the same response that the unconditioned stimulus already produces. Classical conditioning includes an unconditioned stimulus which creates an unconditioned response. This is the natural stimulus and natural response. Then to create the desired behavior which is the conditioned response, the conditioned stimulus (the desired stimulus to create the same response as the unconditioned stimulus), is presented before the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus is formerly the neutral stimulus because it does not produce a behavior.

When my dog was a puppy, there was no way to get her to come inside before she knew her name or any commands. Originally, if we would just call her name, there would be no reaction. To train here to come inside, we would yell her name and then shake her treats.  When she came, we would give her a treat. After a while, she would just come inside when her name was called. This helped her learn her name as well. We would still give her treats every now and then to reinforce the behavior and to avoid extinction.

In this case, the unconditioned stimulus would be the treats, and the unconditioned response would be running to them. The conditioned stimulus would be yelling her name, and the conditioned response would be running to the door when her name is called. The neutral stimulus would be calling her name, because it originally did not elicit a response. When using classical conditioning, it is crucial to present the conditioned stimulus before the unconditioned stimulus. This is why we would call her name before shaking the treats.

Source Amnesia

Source Amnesia is attaching an event to the wrong source. It may be something that we experienced, heard, read or imagined, but we are not actually recalling from the event. This is related to the misinformation effect, which incorporates misleading information into one’s memory of an event. Because of this, you may think you are recalling from an event, but you are actually recalling from previous recalls. You never really know where the memory is coming from.

I relate to this because of the amount of home videos my family has. We watch them often because they are all so funny. I always think that I am recalling from an event, but I never actually know if it is from the video or if it is from the vent. I feel as though I have these vivid memories from when I was 5, but am not sure if they are from the event or video. One specific one is a video of my brother and I putting on a “talent show” in our kitchen. At one point, my brother tries to take center-stage, which does not fly with my 5 year old self, and I throw a temper tantrum. I feel as though I can remember the exact feelings from this moment- even though they are completely ridiculous now. In reality, it is most likely that I am just recalling these feelings from the video and what I think I felt. Another example is seeing a video from my brother’s 3rd birthday party when I was 5. I see the entire set up of the backyard and it feels as though I remember it. In reality, I think that these memories are from seeing the video so many times.

This relates to Source Amnesia because I am most likely attributing the event to the wrong source. I believe they are from the event when they are most likely from videos. In reality, I do not know where the event is truly coming from.

Behaviorism in the Classroom 

What is Behaviorism?

Behaviorism emphasizes the objective, scientific analysis of observable behaviors. It states that external stimuli trigger behaviors. Through behaviorism, one can either use operant conditioning or classical conditioning. Classical conditioning was the first named by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov showed it by presenting a dog with food first, and then presenting the food with the sound of a bell. The dog then learned to associate the bell with food and would salivate to the sound of the bell. Operant conditioning was presented by B.F. Skinner. He presented the idea of rewards or reinforcements and response. For example, positive punishment would be adding a stimulus to decrease a behavior. The “positive or negative” means either adding to taking away a stimuli, and the “punishment or reinforcement” means whether you are trying to increase or decrease a behavior. He thought this could be used well for children to make peaceful society.

 In this diagram, just focus on learning through association (classical conditioning) and Rewards and Punishment (Operant conditioning). 

How I have used Behaviorism

In my senior year of high school, I did a student teaching internship through the Teacher Academy. This was run through the community college and I recieved college credit for it. These were actual teaching internships since they were run through the community college, so we were treated like real college students and we would teach the class like a real student teacher. I found that it was hard to get the class to raise their hands for questions. I think it may have had to do with them being in middle school and I really not being that much older than them. Anyway, I had to find a way for them to raise their hands. One day I realized the answer- candy. I would raise my hand and answer a question for a candy reward any day. So, I brought in candy and began to hand it out to those who did raise their hands. Because I was giving a reward for a behavior, this increased the behavior of raising hands. This is considered Positive Reinforcement because I was presenting a positive stimulus to reinforce a behavior. I would consider it a great way to increase a behavior.