Ivan Pavlov

Mandy Teoh Yee LengPEC 110009Yee Yeong ChienPEC 110038

Chapter 1 – Introduction What is Classical Conditioning? According to Oxford Dictionary of

Psychology (2009), classical conditioning is one of the two major forms of conditioning, being the process of learning through which an initially neutral stimulus, such as the ticking of a metronome, comes to elicit a particular response, such as salivation, as a consequence of being paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus, such as food

Terms to be understood: Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) -a stimulus that can elicit the

response without any learning or easier to understand, the respond to an unconditioned stimulus is inborn

Unconditioned respond (UCR) -is an unlearned, innate, involuntary physiological reflex that is elicited by the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus (CS)- stimulus that comes to elicit responses as a result of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned response (CR) - which is elicited by the conditioned stimulus, is similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the unconditioned response

Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus (CS) is followed by a stimulus (UCS) that elicits an unlearned response (UCR)

As a result of these pairings of the CS and UCS, the CS comes to elicit a respond (CR) that, in most cases, is identical or very similar to the UCR

Procedure of Classical Conditioning

Stage 1 – before classical conditioning

Stage 2 – During conditioning

Stage 3 – After conditioning

Technique in Counselling 1. Relaxation training • method of deeply relaxing the muscles of the body and

as well as mental relaxation• this technique is easily learned• a set of instruction that teaches them to relax• After clients learn the basics of relaxation procedures,

it is essential that they practice these exercises daily to obtain maximum results and also as a well-learned response (habitual pattern)

• Relaxation training can be apply to variety of clinical problems, either as a separate technique (example: stress and anxiety, manifested in psychosomatic symptoms) or in conjunction with related methods (such as systematic desensitization)

2. Systematic desensitization Systematic desensitization is an appropriate

technique for treating phobias, anxiety, anger, insomnia, asthmatic attacks, motion sickness, nightmares and sleep-walking

It is a step-by-step process of breaking a client’s conditioned associations with a feared objects or experience

Desensitization occurs through relaxing while simultaneously imagining the feared stimuli

There are steps to conduct systematic desensitization that are:

i. relaxation training as have explained in the aboveii. stimulus hierarchyiii. Exposure3. In Vivo Exposure involves client exposure to the actual anxiety-

evoking events rather than simply imagining these situations

3. Flooding either in vivo or imaginal exposure to anxiety-

evoking stimuli for a prolonged period of time

Case studyNADD Bulletin Volume IX Number 3 Article 2Robert Howenstine, Ph.D.

K.R. , 21 yrs old, Down Syndrome, lived with parents

Limited speech that hard to understand, understand simple speech fairly well

Happy, enrgetic, cooperative & helpful Active in lots of community activity: Special

Olympics Great interst in cars and trucks Like to help father work on his pickup truck Well liked and made steady in school

New teacher pressured to perform on post school life, emphasize on vocational training

Difficult &stressful Began resist assignment, refuse all tasks Teachers talk to parents to continue persue More upset Mother surgery, stay with grandparents for 2

days, experienced significant difficulties Never went to sleep, began acting bizarrely Eg: forgot to take pants down when sat on the

toilet, get into everything, intimated her grandfather’s swearing

Refused to go to schol or regular activities

Put her on Trazadone for sleep, Depakote for mood stabilization

2 months later, was home all the time, refuse to go school, spending most of time on bed

Weekly session Teach K.R to tae deep breath, having difficulty Was told to do things which she felt comfortable,

asked to stand and take deep breath and then sit again

After became comfortable, gradually asked to take steps toward front door, open the door, go out the car, open the car door, get inside the car

Each steps repeated 5 times before going to next steps,

Mother thought to do procedure with her

Course for 2 months, K.R overcame anxiety, returned to active & happy life in community

*only take her to places she liked such as Starbucks or favourite restaurant

New social activities for her to fit in well Did not return to school & graduated No recurrence over 4 years

Discussion

• Systematic desensitization can treat phobias in individual with developmental disabilities

• Did not develop a relaxing response, making a response that required some effort and concentration was sufficient to compete with anxiety

• Taking medication and providing praise and positive reinforcement is helping the use of desensitization