The basic
scenario is that an older child has some kind of cancer and a MD
will be doing daily injections to reduce the growth of a
tumor.
Here is the basic sequence. The child is brought into the
exam room by a nurse. It is always the same exam room. The
nurse will record some basic information (weight, blood
pressure, pulse rate) and then leave the room. It is
always the same nurse. Fifteen minutes later, the MD
enters the room. The MD fills the syringe and performs the
injection within two minutes. As the MD bends over while
performing the injection he makes a little grunt sound. At the
end of the injection the MD smiles at the boy and says "very
good."
We will assume that the injection is the UCS. The UCR is
an increase in heart rate.
Now analyze the situation as classical conditioning.
1. Why would
we describe this as a classical conditioning situation?
2. What change
are we looking for to say that classical conditioning has
occurred?
3. Analyze the room as a CS. What is the acquisition
procedure?
4. Analyze the nurse as a CS. What is the acquisition procedure?
5. Analyze the MD as a CS. What is the acquisition procedure?
6. Analyze the grunt sound as a CS. What is the acquisition
procedure?
7. Analyze the
utterance "very good" as a CS. What is the acquisition
procedure?
8. Finally, assume that the MD shows up late (30 minutes--it has
been a busy day). What would we be looking for at the
usual 15 minute mark? How would we label those changes?
|