What is Classical Conditioning?

Learning by associating two events that occur together in time and space

• We associate LIGHTNING

and THUNDER as being

related events because they

occur together

• After awhile, you will begin

to wince when you see

lightning because you’re

anticipating thunder next

How it All Began

Ivan Pavlov

•Russian Psychologist

•1849-1936 Discovered classical conditioning on accident; he was just measuring how much dogs salivated

Did You Know? Pavlov won the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work with studying

digestive systems…. years before he even worked on classical conditioning!

Pavlov’s Discovery •Pavlov would ring a bell to capture the dog’s attention, present its food, and then collect its saliva

•He began noticing that sometimes the dog would start salivating when it heard the bell or even when it saw Pavlov… before the food was even presented!

•This was classical conditioning! The dog learned to associate the food with the sound of the bell (or Pavlov’s sweet beard)!

Did You Know? Pavlov had five children, including one named Vsevolod!

Consider giving your first child that name as tribute.

A Stimulus elicits a

Response

Unconditioned Stimulus (US): a stimulus that biologically and automatically activates a response

Unconditioned Response (UR): the unlearned, naturally occurring reaction to the US

Classical Conditioning Process

Neutral Stimulus (NS): an independent stimulus that will become the conditioned stimulus (CS)

•This stimulus should mean absolutely nothing to the subject at first

Classical Conditioning Process

Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally unrelated stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to produce a conditioned response

Conditioned Response (CR): the learned response to a previously independent (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

Classical Conditioning Process

Other Examples?

Drug (US) Nausea (UR)

Doctor

(NS) Drug (US) Nausea (UR)

Doctor (CS) Nausea (CR)

Kissing (US) Sexual

Arousal (UR)

Onion

Breath

(NS)

Kissing

(US) Sexual

Arousal (UR)

Onion Breath

(CS)

Sexual

Arousal (CR)

Come up with your own examples of Classical Conditioning! Remember: the US and UR needs to start out as an UNLEARNED, NATURALLY OCCURING, BIOLOGICAL STIMULUS/RESPONSE Write it out (paragraph) AND try to label it in the diagram. I’ll ask you to report out in five minutes.

Other Examples?