The document provides instructions for an assessment on conditioning and behaviorism. Students are asked to: 1) Describe how conditioning explains changes in their own behavior using 2-3 examples from work or home and citing research. 2) Summarize a post-1990 peer-reviewed study on phobia treatment that reflects behaviorist principles. 3) Explain how behaviorism remains relevant today but also its limitations, using language learning as an example.

1. Overview
Write 5–6 pages in which you examine how conditioning
changes some of your own behaviors.
While modern research in psychology is not explicitly
behaviorist in its approach, behaviorism is still relevant in
certain areas today. For example, it is often taken for granted
today that objective, quantitative measures will be used, as
opposed to the introspective reports that were used in many
types of research in the early 1900s.
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By successfully completing this assessment, you will
demonstrate your proficiency in the following course
competencies and assessment criteria:
•
Competency 1: Use information technology and tools to identify
information in the domain of learning and cognition.
▪
Summarize a scholarly research article regarding the treatment
of phobias.
•
Competency 2: Assess the important theories, paradigms,
research findings, and conclusions in human learning and
cognition.
▪
Describe aspects of a scholarly research article that reflects
behaviorist principles.
▪
Analyze how behaviorism is relevant today.

2. •
Competency 5: Apply knowledge of theory and research in
learning and cognition to inform personal behavior, professional
goals, and values in order to understand social policy.
▪
Apply behaviorist theory and research to personal learning
experiences.
•
Competency 6: Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
▪
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA
format with correct grammar, usage, and
mechanics as expected of a psychology professional.
•
Context
•
Stimulus Learning
Psychologists who study learning in humans and other animals
examine an event's relationship (or association) to a stimulus or
stimuli. Some argue that this associative relationship underlies
all instances of learning; others make distinctions between
associative and non-associative, or stimulus, learning. This

3. assessment focuses on the latter—single-event, non-associative
learning and the waxing and waning of habituation.
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The
Assessment 2 Context
document contains additional key information about stimulus
learning, covering the following topics:
• Classical Conditioning.
• Instrumental Conditioning
•
Questions To Consider
•
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider
the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a
work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the
business community.
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•
How do non-associative learning and associative learning
differ? That is, how is each defined, studied, and
exemplified?

4. How has associative learning (that is, stimulus learning),
including habituation and sensitization, been studied?
•
What is the difference between habitual learning and perceptual
learning?
•
Is habituation a form of learning?
•
What is the connection between exposure therapies and
habituation?
•
How is classical conditioning defined, and how is it different
from other forms of conditioning?
•
What are the basic phenomena involved in classical
conditioning?
•
What is learned through classical conditioning?
•
What are some real-world applications of classical
conditioning?
•
How can classical conditioning theory be used to alleviate fears
and phobias?
•
What is instrumental conditioning, and how does it differ from
classical conditioning?
•
What are reinforcers and punishers?
•
What is the connection between instrumental conditioning and
learning?
•
How is instrumental conditioning applied to real-world
settings?
•

5. Has cognitive psychology overthrown behaviorism?
•
What applications are there today for behaviorism?
Resources
Suggested Resources
The following optional resources are provided to support you in
completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For
additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and
Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your
courseroom.
Capella Resources
Click the links provided to view the following resources:
•
Assessment 2 Context
.
•
APA Paper Template
.
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Capella Multimedia
Click the links provided below to view the following
multimedia pieces:
•
Timeline – Stimulus Learning
|
Transcript
.
•
Timeline – Classical Conditioning
|
Transcript
.
•
Classical Conditioning
|
Transcript

6. .
•
Timeline – Instrumental Conditioning
|
Transcript
.
•
Instrumental Conditioning Case Study
|
Transcript
.
FMG Video
Click the link provided below to view the following video:
•
Constant Craving: The Science of Addiction
.
▪
This is a video from Films on Demand. Any distribution of
video content or associated links is prohibited.
▪
To view an accessible version of this presentation, click
Transcript
.
Library Resources
The following e-books or articles from the Capella University
Library are linked directly in this course:
•
Jaycox, L. H., Foa, E. B., & Morral, A. R. (1998).
Influence of emotional engagement and habituation on exposure
therapy for PTSD
. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 66 (1), 185–
192.

7. •
Epstein, L. H., Temple, J. L., Rhombic, J. N., & Button, M. E.
(2009).
Habituation as a determinant of human food intake
. Psychological Review , 116 (2), 384–407.
•
Mitchell, C., Kodiak, R., Nash, S., Lavas, Y., & Hall, G.
(2008).
Analysis of the role of associative inhibition in perceptual
learning by means of the same-different task
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior
Processes , 34 (4), 475–485.
•
Beck, H. P., Levinson, S., & Irons, G. (2009).
Finding Little Albert: A journey to John B. Watson's infant
laboratory
. American Psychologist , 64 (7), 605–614.
•
Galef, B. G. (1998).
Edward Thorndike: Revolutionary psychologist, ambiguous
biologist
. American
•
Pavlov, I. P.
Excerpts from The work of the digestive glands
. American Psychologist , 52 (9), 936–940.
•
Woods, P. J. (1974).

8. A taxonomy of instrumental conditioning
. American Psychologist , 29 (8), 584–597.
•
Watson, J. B. (1913).
Psychology as the behaviorist views it
. Psychological Review , 20 , 158–177.
•
Skinner, B. F. (1989).
The origins of cognitive thought
. American Psychologist , 44 (1), 13–18.
Course Library Guide
A Capella University library guide has been created specifically
for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the
resources in the
PSYC-FP3500 – Learning and Cognition Library Guide
to help direct your research.
Internet Resources
Access the following resources by clicking the links provided.
Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the
following links have either been granted or deemed appropriate
for educational use at the time of course publication.
•
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983).
A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform
. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html
Bookstore Resources
The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and
assessments in this course and are not required. Unless noted
otherwise, these materials are available for purchase from the
Capella University Bookstore
. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course
ID with the specific – FP (FlexPath) course designation.
•
Terry, W. S. (2009). Learning and memory: Basic principles,
processes, and procedures (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and
Bacon.

9. ▪
You may find Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 particularly relevant to the
topics in this assessment.
Assessment Instructions
Think about examples of how your own behavior can change
due to conditioning effects—how rewards and punishments have
shaped your own behavior over the years. What role have
rewards and punishments played in your life? For example, how
did your parents encourage you to learn multiplication tables or
drive a car? Even job incentives can be framed in terms of
rewards and punishments to improve employee performance.
In preparation for this assignment, research behaviorism and
some of the classic studies conducted by John Watson and B. F.
Skinner. It is important to understand the basic principles of
behaviorism and how behaviorism fits into psychology research
today.
Directions
For this assessment, complete the following:
•
Describe how conditioning explains changes in your own
behavior that you have observed, either at work or at home.
Provide two or three examples. Be sure to relate theory and
research to your examples. Cite textbooks or articles to support
your conclusions.
•
Find a peer-reviewed research study that addresses the theory or
treatment of phobias that was published after 1990. Summarize
the methods used and the conclusions made, and describe the
key aspects of the research that reflect behaviorist principles.
•

10. Explain how behaviorism can still be relevant today. What are
the limits of behaviorism? Are there processes that it does not
explain well? For example, behaviorists believed that babies
and children learned language through rewards and
punishments, but today we know that language learning is a
much more complex process. The behaviorist approach was not
sufficient to explain the totality of language learning.
Strive to be as concise as possible and limit the length of your
completed assessment to no more than 5–6 pages, excluding the
title page and reference page. Support your statements and
analyses with references and citations from at least three
resources.
Additional Requirements
•
Include a title page and a reference page.
•
Use at least three resources.