Psych- Classical Conditioning & Nature vs Nurture
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Gen. Psych
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10/14/13
Scrapbook #1- Classical Conditioning
An example of classical conditioning in my life happened about three years ago when I was staying in a hospital. At the time, eating a normal sized meal would cause me to feel very nauseated to the point that even thinking about eating made me feel unwell. Six times a day- three meals and three snacks- the intercom would ding, and a nurse would announce the mealtime. After being in the hospital for a month, I noticed that any other time the intercom went off, I would feel sick even if they weren’t announcing a mealtime.
This illustrates the concept of classical conditioning, where the neutral stimulus, the ding of the intercom, was paired with the anticipatory and actual nausea that surrounded eating, to make me feel sick at the sound of the intercom as opposed to the unconditioned stimulus of eating. The concept of classical conditioning and its four components is something that we discussed in class as a part of the process of learning.
What I found most interesting about this is how powerful a response the new conditioned response had. It continued to have this effect for the next two and a half months I remained in the hospital. In addition, I was surprised by how quickly the effects wore off once I left the hospital. Even when I came back for outpatient appointments, I did not have any reaction to the sound of the intercom.
This week, I found an example of the idea that nature is slightly more important than nurture in the novel Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. In the beginning of the novel, Cadel Piggott is a 7-year-old boy who has a genius I.Q. as well as an obsession with systems and a shaky moral compass. Cadel is the adopted son of a wealthy couple, an interior decorator and a lawyer, who are not particularly intelligent or otherwise talented, but with a much stronger sense of right and wrong. Although Cadel knows he is adopted, he has no idea who his real parents
Gen. Psych
XXXX
10/14/13
Scrapbook #1- Classical Conditioning
An example of classical conditioning in my life happened about three years ago when I was staying in a hospital. At the time, eating a normal sized meal would cause me to feel very nauseated to the point that even thinking about eating made me feel unwell. Six times a day- three meals and three snacks- the intercom would ding, and a nurse would announce the mealtime. After being in the hospital for a month, I noticed that any other time the intercom went off, I would feel sick even if they weren’t announcing a mealtime.
This illustrates the concept of classical conditioning, where the neutral stimulus, the ding of the intercom, was paired with the anticipatory and actual nausea that surrounded eating, to make me feel sick at the sound of the intercom as opposed to the unconditioned stimulus of eating. The concept of classical conditioning and its four components is something that we discussed in class as a part of the process of learning.
What I found most interesting about this is how powerful a response the new conditioned response had. It continued to have this effect for the next two and a half months I remained in the hospital. In addition, I was surprised by how quickly the effects wore off once I left the hospital. Even when I came back for outpatient appointments, I did not have any reaction to the sound of the intercom.
This week, I found an example of the idea that nature is slightly more important than nurture in the novel Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. In the beginning of the novel, Cadel Piggott is a 7-year-old boy who has a genius I.Q. as well as an obsession with systems and a shaky moral compass. Cadel is the adopted son of a wealthy couple, an interior decorator and a lawyer, who are not particularly intelligent or otherwise talented, but with a much stronger sense of right and wrong. Although Cadel knows he is adopted, he has no idea who his real parents