Some Unexpected Visitors

On one of our trips back to the truck after a long day at our claim we came across this beautiful Mohave Rattlesnake. Then a Transula had the right of way! We respected their Territory!!
This brings to mind a paper I wrote for my college english 101 class back in 1986.
It was titled:
AN EXAMPLE OF "CLASSICAL CONDITIONING" AND "OPERANT CONDITIONING" by Raymond Pomichter.

One of the best examples of "Classical Conditioning" I can give is an experience in conditioning that I, myself, acquired while living and working in the Arizona desert.
I spent many hours roaming the desert, "prospecting" for precious metals, or working on a mining claim, and I often came upon rattlesnakes. The sight of one would bring me to a halt, and send twinges of fear through me, until I could see for certain that I was in no danger of being bitten. By keeping a safe distance and prodding one of these snakes with a stick to get him to "rattle" so I would know the sound in case I happened upon one, while pushing through bushes and climbing over rocks, I would'nt need to actually see a snake to know that I was to close!
A rattlesnake's "rattle" is'nt the "chicka, chicka, chicka sound you hear in the movies. It's more like the "whirring" sound dried leaves make when they're vibrated together by a gust of wind. Hearing this sound somewhere near the vicinity of where I was standing would cause me to halt just as fast, and twinge in fear, as if I'd actually seen the snake.
My hearing and reaction to this "buzz" became so acute that a sound similar to it would create the same effects on me, even though it had nothing to do with a rattlesnake.
I became so attuned, in fact, that two years after after leaving the desert, I was helping a friend install a pipe in his chimney and had an experience that to him was extremely humorous, but at the time held absolutely no humor to me.
He had stopped at McDonald's to eat when in town to pick up the pipe. He crumpled up his papers and threw them on the floor of the car, and they came to rest in the pipe. When we had returned and pulled into the garage, I reached into the car to retrieve the pipe, the paper trickled down it a little, making a familiar "buzz", and the speed at which I let go of that pipe and excited the garage apparently was very funny to my friend because he laughed for twenty minutes! My heart beat did'nt slow down for that twenty minutes and from my explanation of the situation, he realized that the "buzz" had really frightened me.


DIAGRAM OF "CLASSICAL CONDITIONING"
Neutral Stimulus
NS( "Buzz")
Unconditional Stimulus---Unconditional Response
UCS---------------------UCR
Rattlesnake-----------------Fear
--------------------------------------
Conditioned Stimulus---Conditioned Response
CS--------------------- CR
("Buzz")--------------Fear


In response to a question, "Would a "child" recognize that a rattlesnake was something to be feared?", making the snake the "UCS".

A child the age of Albert, 11, ( J.B. Watson's experiment ) could be conditioned to fear a rattlesnake in the laboratory. He may not no for sure that it was a "rattlesnake", probably any snake would cause him fear, once conditioned.
My own two boys, ages 3 and 4 at the time, played with water snakes from a nearby pond, when we lived in Arizona. We had come across a few "rattlers", and shown the boys the difference in size and appearance between "bad" rattlesnakes, and "good" water or garden snakes.
Apparently this "conditioning" worked because, as I was about to reach for a shovel to do some work one day, my son, Chris, age 4, from about twenty yards behind me, yelled that I was about to step on a rattlesnake! The importance of this is that he said, "rattlesnake", not snake. Sure enough, about 2" from my foot was a foot-long baby "rattler". Had I not froze, and checked the situation out, I might have been bitten. How Chris had seen this small snake from that distance is beyound me, but I'm sure glad our "conditioning" the boys to the reptiles of the desert paid off!


In "OPERANT CONDITIONING", a response is followed by a re-enforcement.
In these first few weeks of school, I have studied and worked hard, the result being that I have recieved an "A" average in my subjects.

RESPONSE--------------RE-ENFORCEMENT
Study and hard work----An "A" in my subjects.
I recieved a +5 WELL DONE from my teacher on this paper. BUDDY.