Introduction
Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is learning through association and was discovered by Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. In simple terms, two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal.
John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology.
Everything from speech to emotional responses was simply patterns of stimulus and response. Watson completely denied the existence of the mind or consciousness. Watson believed that all individual differences in behavior were due to different learning experiences.
Watson (1924, p. 104) famously said:
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I”ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors.
Principles Of Classical Conditioning
Neutral Stimulus
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus (NS) is a stimulus that initially does not evoke a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, the bell was the neutral stimulus, and only produced a response when it was paired with food.
Unconditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus is a feature of the environment that causes a natural and automatic unconditioned response. In Pavlov’s study, the unconditioned stimulus was food.
Unconditioned Response
In classical conditioning, an unconditioned response is an unlearned response that occurs automatically when the unconditioned stimulus is presented.
Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and measuring its salivary secretions.
Conditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is a substitute stimulus that triggers the same response in an organism as an unconditioned stimulus.
For example, Pavlov’s dog learned to salivate at the sound of a bell. Simply put, a conditioned stimulus makes an organism react to something because it is associated with something else.
Conditioned Response
In classical conditioning, the conditioned response (CR) is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In Ivan Pavlov’s experiments in classical conditioning, the dog’s salivation was the conditioned response to the sound of a bell.
Acquisition
In the initial learning period, acquisition describes when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.
Extinction
In psychology, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned response by breaking the association between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimuli.
For example, when the bell repeatedly rang and no food was presented, Pavlov’s dog gradually stopped salivating at the sound of the bell.
Spontaneous Recovery
Spontaneous Recovery is a phenomenon of Pavlovian conditioning that refers to the return of a conditioned response (in a weaker form) after a period of time following extinction.
For example, when Pavlov waited a few days after extinguishing the conditioned response, and then rang the bell once more, the dog salivated again.
Generalization
In psychology, generalization is the tendency to respond in the same way to stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus.
For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, if a dog is conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell, it may later salivate to a higher-pitched bell.
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, discrimination is a process through which individuals learn to differentiate among similar stimuli and respond appropriately to each one.
For example, eventually, Pavlov’s dog learns the difference between the sound of the 2 bells and no longer salivates at the sound of the non-food bell.
Working of Classical Conditioning
There are three stages of classical conditioning. At each stage, the stimuli and responses are given special scientific terms:
Stage 1: Before Conditioning:
In this stage, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR) in an organism.
In basic terms, this means that a stimulus in the environment has produced a behavior / response which is unlearned (i.e., unconditioned) and therefore is a natural response which has not been taught. In this respect, no new behavior has been learned yet.
This stage also involves another stimulus which has no effect on a person and is called the neutral stimulus (NS). The NS could be a person, object, place, etc.
The neutral stimulus in classical conditioning does not produce a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
Stage 2: During Conditioning:
During this stage, a stimulus which produces no response (i.e., neutral) is associated with the unconditioned stimulus, at which point it now becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS).
For classical conditioning to be effective, the conditioned stimulus should occur before the unconditioned stimulus, rather than after it, or during the same time. Thus, the conditioned stimulus acts as a type of signal or cue for the unconditioned stimulus.
In some cases, conditioning may take place if the NS occurs after the UCS (backward conditioning), but this normally disappears quite quickly. The most important aspect of the conditioning stimulus is the it helps the organism predict the coming of the unconditional stimulus.
Often during this stage, the UCS must be associated with the CS on a number of occasions, or trials, for learning to take place.
However, one trial learning can happen on certain occasions when it is not necessary for an association to be strengthened over time (such as being sick after food poisoning or drinking too much alcohol).
Stage 3: After Conditioning:
Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned response (CR).
Classical Conditioning Examples
Pavlov’s Dogs
The most famous example of classical conditioning was Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with dogs, who salivated in response to a bell tone. Pavlov showed that when a bell was sounded each time the dog was fed, the dog learned to associate the sound with the presentation of the food.
He first presented the dogs with the sound of a bell; they did not salivate so this was a neutral stimulus. Then he presented them with food, they salivated. The food was an unconditioned stimulus and salivation was an unconditioned (innate) response.
He then repeatedly presented the dogs with the sound of the bell first and then the food (pairing) after a few repetitions the dogs salivated when they heard the sound of the bell. The bell had become the conditioned stimulus and salivation had become the conditioned response.
Fear Response
Watson & Rayner (1920) were the first psychologists to apply the principles of classical conditioning to human behavior by looking at how this learning process may explain the development of phobias.
They did this in what is now considered to be one of the most ethically dubious experiments ever conducted – the case of Little Albert. Albert B.’s mother was a wet nurse in a children’s hospital. Albert was described as ‘healthy from birth’ and ‘on the whole stolid and unemotional’.
When he was about nine months old, his reactions to various stimuli (including a white rat, burning newspapers and a hammer striking a four-foot steel bar just behind his head) were tested.
Only the last of these frightened him, so this was designated the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and fear the unconditioned response (UCR). The other stimuli were neutral because they did not produce fear.
When Albert was just over eleven months old, the rat and the UCSwere presented together: as Albert reached out to stroke the animal, Watson struck the bar behind his head.
This occurred seven times in total over the next seven weeks. By this time the rat, the conditioned stimulus (CS), on its own frightened Albert, and fear was now a conditioned response (CR).
The CR transferred spontaneously to the rabbit, the dog and other stimuli that had been previously neutral. Five days after conditioning, the CR produced by the rat persisted. After ten days it was ‘much less marked’, but it was still evident a month later
Carter and Tiffany, 1999 support the cue reactivity theory, they carried out a meta-analysis reviewing 41 cue-reactivity studies that compared responses of alcoholics, cigarette smokers, cocaine addicts and heroin addicts to drug-related versus neutral stimuli. They found that dependent individuals reacted strongly to the cues presented and reported craving and physiological arousal.
Addiction
Cue reactivity is the theory that people associate situations (e.g. meeting with friends)/ places (e.g. pub) with the rewarding effects of nicotine, and these cues can trigger a feeling of craving.
These factors become smoking-related cues. Prolonged use of nicotine creates an association between these factors and smoking based on classical conditioning.
Nicotine is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), and the pleasure caused by the sudden increase in dopamine levels is the unconditioned response (UCR). Following this increase, the brain tries to lower the dopamine back to a normal level.
The stimuli that have become associated with nicotine were neutral stimuli (NS) before “learning” took place but they became conditioned stimuli (CS), with repeated pairings. They can produce the conditioned response (CR).
However, if the brain has not received nicotine, the levels of dopamine drop, and the individual experiences withdrawal symptoms therefore is more likely to feel the need to smoke in the presence of the cues that have become associated with the use of nicotine.
Classroom Learning
The implications of classical conditioning in the classroom are less important than those of operant conditioning, but there is a still need for teachers to try to make sure that students associate positive emotional experiences with learning.
If a student associates negative emotional experiences with school, then this can obviously have bad results, such as creating a school phobia.
For example, if a student is bullied at school they may learn to associate the school with fear. It could also explain why some students show a particular dislike of certain subjects that continue throughout their academic career. This could happen if a student is humiliated or punished in class by a teacher.
