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Classical conditioning is a type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a behavior. In other words it’s when an organism subconsciously learns to associate the stimuli. This could look like a dog associating his dinner time to a dinner bell or a baby associating a bottle to food. In order to obtain successful classical conditioning the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) must be repeatedly paired together. Also, the CS must come before the US, otherwise the organism will be unable to develop an association otherwise known as acquisition. 

If done correctly, classical conditioning can be an effective tool in influencing feelings and behaviors without the organism realizing they are being conditioned. For example, I have been classically conditioned to fear a certain phrase when in a sports setting. In nearly all sports, conditioning (excessive running or other exercise) is done not only as a form of training but also as a punishment. A famous line that coaches love to use when it’s time for conditioning is “on the line”. As an athlete who’s been playing sports from a young age I quickly learned to hate those three words. In fact, I hated conditioning so much that whenever I heard that phrase an intense feeling of fear and dread would seize my body. The repetition of hearing this phrase and then having to condition is what led to my negative associations to the words, a prime example of acquisition. This reaction to the words would occur regardless of the sport or coach that used them. However, as I grew up the phrase did not always lead to conditioning, sometimes it really meant to just stand on the line, but the damage had already been done. These negative feelings will probably always be linked to the phrase. 

Classical conditioning takes time to unlearn and in most cases the conditioned response can never truly be forgotten. Perhaps with time my reaction could be reduced through a process called extinction, but this is unlikely while I am still actively playing and being coached. The only action I could try to take against my negative associations is to recondition myself into associating positive feelings with the phrase. This would be extremely hard and something that would take a lot of focus to accomplish. Thus showing how influencing and important classical conditioning can be. 

The psychological concept of positive reinforcement from operant conditioning provides an effective framework for gently shaping desired behaviors in kittens. Operant conditioning focuses on using consequences to modify behaviors. Positive reinforcement specifically entails rewarding a subject immediately after a target behavior occurs, which strengthens the tendency to repeat that behavior. For training kittens, offering treats, affection, toys or play as rewards allows caregivers to incrementally shape good manners without force or punishment.

When I adopted Luna, an outgoing 8-week old tabby kitten, I was determined to leverage positive reinforcement to teach appropriate behaviors from the start. One priority was redirecting her natural scratching instincts away from furniture and toward an acceptable scratching post. Whenever I observed Luna scratching her sisal cat scratcher, I immediately provided an enticing treat as a reward while verbalizing enthusiastic praise. Phrases like “Good girl, Luna!” and “Good kitty using your scratcher?” communicated that scratching there was desirable. Over time, Luna learned to associate scratching her post with positive attention and treats. She now instinctively satisfies her scratching urges on the post without damaging furniture.

Another goal was to discourage Luna from biting hands during play. Kittens are innately inclined to explore with their mouths as they investigate their environment. However, those sharp teeth can be unpleasant! To shape this behavior, whenever Luna began nibbling my hand, I firmly stated, “No bite!” before redirecting her to gnaw on a toy instead. After multiple training sessions, Luna understood that human hands were off limits for biting, while toys were appropriate. I also made sure to praise and reward her for gentle mouthing during play. With persistence, Luna learned to play without painfully breaking skin.

While kittens will inevitably get into some mischief, positive reinforcement allows caregivers to patiently shape behaviors by rewarding good choices rather than scolding bad ones. Instead of punishing inappropriate scratching after the fact, I was proactively rewarding appropriate scratching. This built Luna’s confidence while strengthening the bond between us. While training takes time and consistency, operant conditioning provides a humane and effective framework for molding habits.

Beyond scratching and biting, positive reinforcement can be used to teach other behaviors like using a litter box, coming when called, or tolerating being held. Starting training early and establishing house rules with patience and treats leads to fewer bad behaviors needing to be unlearned later. A key is rewarding desired behaviors more often than undesired ones. With creativity and diligence, caregivers can use positive reinforcement to raise a happy, well-mannered kitten.

A topic we discussed during this unit that stuck out to me was taste aversion, as it reminded me of a story a family member had shared with me. Taste aversion occurs when we associate the taste of certain foods with symptoms of an illness. In class we discussed an example of farms that used taste aversion to scare off wolves, from eating chickens. The taste aversion resulted in wolves fearing the chickens, because they associated them with the nauseous feeling and bad taste. This reminded me of a story that my aunt had shared with me a few years ago. During her third pregnancy she experienced nausea almost daily, and she began to associate this nausea with banana pudding. We had a Christmas dinner one year in which my sister made a banana pudding dessert with vanilla wafer cookies and my aunt did not want to eat any. We were all confused at it used to be what she called her “pregnancy craving”.

My aunt shared that although she used to love the dessert, one day she ate it and began feeling extremely nauseous and this resulted in her vomiting. She claimed that since that experience she feels extremely nauseous even just at the thought of the dessert. Although we all joked around after hearing this story, after learning about taste aversion in class it all made sense to me. She had begun associating banana pudding with the feeling of nausea, hence why she can no longer eat it because she fears she will become ill.

This experience reminds me of an experience I had as a child, and the reason that I can no longer eat rocky-road ice cream. Growing up my sister was obsessed with rocky-road ice cream and one day she had a bowl and walked away for a little bit. As a small child I decided to eat her bowl of ice cream as fast as I could before she got back. As you can probably imagine it made me feel extremely nauseous and still to this day I never choose rocky road for this reason.

Depression is one of the biggest mental illnesses in the world. So many individuals have been affected by depression and it can have a huge impact on an individual’s way of living. I chose depression because I feel it is an important topic to be learned about and something to recognize.

Depression is a common yet serious mood disorder that can cause all different kinds of symptoms. It is the most common mood disorder among all the rest. Depression can elicit symptoms such as tiredness, feelings of worthlessness, and even a loss of appetite. This mood disorder is also often associated with a loss of interest in family, friends, and activities. Depression can lead to being extremely unproductive and unmotivated and it is a very real and very serious illness that can be hard to treat depending on how serious it might be affecting an individual. Although it might not be easy for some to overcome depression there are definitely some good things that you can try.

As for my personal connection to depression, I went through an extreme depressive state when my grandmother passed away. She lived with us and was a huge part of our family. She had always been there for us and tried to be there for anything important we did. She passed away and I couldn’t process it right away and it affected me heavily when it came to my mental state. Eventually I learned to start to talk with family about how I felt and I also tried to fight my depression by being active. I got heavily involved in working out and now it is something I do all the time. There are many ways to combat a disorder like depression and it can be hard to do so sometimes but finding something that works and sticking to it is what helped me and maybe it can help you too.

Owen Joachim

Josh Wede 

Psychology 100

11/13/2023

 

For my second blog post, I chose to write about Phobias. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder characterized by an intense and irrational fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. These fears can be so overwhelming that they lead to significant distress and impairment in a person’s daily life. Phobias often result in avoidance behavior, where individuals go to great lengths to avoid encountering the thing or situation that triggers their fear. There are over 500 named phobias, most are extremely rare. People can develop phobias from past incidents or trauma. Although almost all phobias can be cured. Treating simple phobias involves gradually becoming exposed to the animal, object, place, or situation that causes fear. Phobias can also be resolved as children grow older. 

 

When I was little I suffered from Nyctophobia. Nyctophobia can be defined as an extreme fear of the dark. It is a specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear or anxiety related to situations involving darkness, nighttime, or low-light conditions. Nyctophobia is very common in children. It was often very hard to fall asleep on my own at an early age. I remember in elementary school sleeping with my door wide open with the hallway light on. One experience I believed caused this fear was an early childhood traumatic experience. One night I had a horrible nightmare and woke up in the pitch black. I ran to my parent’s room with tears in my eyes and demanded to sleep in their bed. After that experience, every time I would wake up in the middle of the night I always went to my parents’ bed. Over time as I got older, I eventually stopped sleeping with a night light. Then by middle school, I was sleeping with my door closed. 

 

Ever wondered how dogs learn things? Well, it turns out they’re like us, they pick up stuff through experience. Learning is more flexible than what is in our genes, and it happens by connecting events that go down one after another. That’s where the idea of classical conditioning comes in, and little did I know, it would become the key to getting my dog to do something quite entertaining.

So, learning is like a permanent change in behavior because of experiences. It’s the way we adapt and deal with the world around us. Classical conditioning is all about associating a stimulus to make a learned response happen. Think of it like when you hear thunder after seeing lightning. We have associated a flash of lightning to be followed by thunder.  This is the same idea.

Inspired by the famous Pavlov and his experiments with dogs, I decided to try this classical conditioning thing on my Maltese poodle mix. The goal was to link a cool cue with an equally cool response. The cue? A funny “boing” sound, like the kind you hear in cartoons. The twist? My dog jumping on my lap with excitement. And it worked!

Before our little experiment, the “boing” sound meant nothing to my dog. However, treats already had an association with my dog for getting excited. These treats were the unconditioned stimulus (US), and the excitement they caused was the unconditioned response (UR). Now, my mission was to connect the “boing” sound (the neutral stimulus) with the treat excitement.

During our training sessions, I played the “boing” sound right before handing out a treat. I repeated this several times over a couple of days. The neutral “boing” sound became the conditioned stimulus (CS), and finally, it triggered a conditioned response (CR)—my dog jumping on my lap in anticipation of a treat.

My dog learned to associate the “boing” with treats and couldn’t contain his joy, leaping onto my lap. Terms like unconditioned stimulus (US), unconditioned response (UR), conditioned stimulus (CS), and conditioned response (CR) all played a role in training my dog.

Looking back on this silly experiment, I realized that classical conditioning isn’t confined to labs and textbooks. It’s a tool that can change our lives, making connections and building stronger bonds. Every time my dog springs onto my lap with that “boing,” I’m reminded that learning isn’t just about facts, but that it’s also an ever-changing force that shapes our experiences.

 

Works Cited

https://www.verywellmind.com/thmb/dgzB6UDDAsX35m8fL2nJGqOJEXQ=/1500×1000/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/2794859-article-classical-conditioning-5ac50cc9c5542e0037d54692.png

In this past unit, we have been learning about classical and operant conditioning. One of those terms is taste aversion. A taste aversion is something that develops when a certain food is associated with the symptoms of an illness. There are many causes for taste aversions, but the main ones are becoming sick after eating that certain food, and pregnancy. This occurrence is an adaptive trait and its purpose is to avoid eating harmful organisms like bacteria and fungi. The most common symptoms that can be associated with a taste aversion are nausea and vomiting. You can get rid of a taste aversion by slowing increasing exposure to the food until the aversion is completely gone.

In my life, I have had many experiences with developing a taste aversion. One instance that I remember the most clearly is with hamburgers. I have had a very strong taste aversion to both hamburgers and cheeseburgers for many years. When I was in elementary school, my family went on a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. One night, we went to a restaurant where I had a hamburger for dinner. After dinner, I felt sick and threw up. I avoided hamburgers for a few years after this incident. Then, in middle school, I went over to my friends house for dinner where we had cheeseburgers. That same night after dinner, I threw up. Ever since that moment, I have avoided eating burgers at all costs.

This experience in my life is related to the term taste aversion because getting sick from eating burgers both times caused me to develop a severe taste aversion to burgers. Since I got sick from eating the burgers multiple times, my taste aversion was reinforced and the behavior increased. My brain associates throwing up and eating cheeseburgers and hamburgers. One day, if I slowly expose myself to them more and more, I could possibly get rid of the taste aversion.

Do you deal with anxiety often? Anxiety is the feelings of excessive fearfulness, dread, or uneasiness. When dealing with this disorder people can feel restless, tense, or deal with a rapid heartbeat. although it can be very overwhelming, the fear isn’t temporary. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities, relationships, and even school work . This disorder is among the most common mental illnesses, affecting roughly 40 millions Americans each year. There are multiple types of Anxiety including: generalized anxiety, panic disorder, or phobias

People with anxiety sometimes have trouble explaining what it feels like because sometimes you just don’t know. For example, I wake up some mornings and I can’t really describe how I feel. I lay in bed and my chest may feel really heavy or uncomfortable. Sometimes, I feel very anxious because of stressful situations from past events or just thinking about the future. However, there are many ways to help with these kinds of situations. Doing things that help calm your mind and body, can definitely help with anxiety.

overall, anxiety doesn’t really have a cause but can be suggested based on biological factors. These factors include, genetics, brain biology and chemistry, or even stress. This isn’t something to be afraid of because most people can be very denying. Although this feeling can be very scary and isolating, it can help you show your body what you need.

There are two types of reinforcers (Positive and Negative). They can be a bit confusing at times. Let’s start with what reinforcement is. Reinforcement increases behavior. It does this by adding something you like or taking away something you don’t.

I would like to use a real-world example. When I was younger if I ate my vegetables during dinner my parents would reward me with dessert. This was great! It made me eat my vegetables a lot more knowing I would be rewarded with a nice piece of cake or ice cream. This is an example of Positive Reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves rewarding or praising a behavior to increase the likelihood of it being repeated. Pretty simple. Now here’s where it can get tricky. Let’s talk about Negative Reinforcement.

positive reinforcement ^

So, Negative Reinforcement. Let’s make this very clear. Don’t let the word negative fool you… we are still increasing behavior. How this differs from its counterpart is that we are increasing behavior by taking something away. I remember when I was a young fella, around maybe 8 years of age, I was doing very well in my classes. My teacher decided to give me a homework pass to reward me. Looking at the bigger picture here the homework pass removed my work for the night. This motivated me to keep doing well in hopes this would happen again. You may ask, isn’t this positive reinforcement? She gave you something. Not exactly, what she gave me took something away.

When you think about it reinforcement is so important to our world. Why do you go to work? To earn money I’m guessing. Positive reinforcement. Think about how different the world would be if this didn’t exist. It’s so strange. How would that even work? Why would anybody ever do anything? I hope that you all learned something from this. I learned quite a bit myself throughout the creation of this post!