Classical conditioning is the conditional programming of an organism to respond to a conditioned stimulus that seeks to enhanced and enforce a certain behavior in an organism. This is achieved through the use of classical conditioned stimulus or object that is presented with an unconditioned stimulus in an organism. Classical conditioning involves the use of a neutral stimulus in order to instil a classically generated behavior or response in an organism. Classical conditioning was first advanced by Ivan Pavlov who was the founding father of behaviorism. Behaviorism was a study in psychology that specially dealt with the study of behavior and behaviorism and how behaviorism is achieved in humans.
The theory of behaviorism was later advanced by JB Watson who argued that any behavior can be instilled in a child. Watson argued that any child can be classically conditioned to become anything or to acquire any behavior. The study off classical conditioning involves presenting to an animal or organism to a conditioned stimulus. There is no connection between the conditioned stimulus and the organism. The organism is then exposed to an unconditional stimulus which is then followed repetitively with the exposition of the conditioned stimulus over a certain number of times until the organism learns to associate the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response even at the absence of an unconditioned response. In the process the organism was found to elicit an unconditional response at the exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
The organism was also found to have associated the conditioning to other related objects. Thus stimulus generalization occurs as a result of exposure to the stimulus genera...
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... behavior in children.
In the case study involving Mavis, who has always enjoyed playing 'catch' with her friend's Great Dane “angus” we see a great example of classical conditioning. Mavis in this case experienced a psychological change of behavior. Her fear of the dog bite which occurred accidentally was generalized to other dogs. Her generalization of dogs as unfriendly and harmful would transcend to other dogs which are indeed not harmful, this is known as stimulus generalization due to classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is the leading behavioral motivator and shaper. Higher order conditioning would lead to classical conditioning where an organism is conditioned to generalize stimulus that is closely related to the conditioned behavior. This will lead to a child say, Marvis to be afraid of all pets and four legged domestic animals of the cat family.
Classical Conditioning was a phenomenon that a man named Ivan Pavlov explored in the twentieth-century. His work laid the foundation for many other psychologists such as John Watson. Pavlov’s idea came when he seized on an incidental observation. He noticed putting food in a dogs mouth caused salvation. However, the dog not only salivated to the food it began to also salivate to mere sight of the food, or the food dish. He began experimenting; first he slid the food presented the food by sliding the food bowl and blowing meat powder into the dogs mouth at the same exact moment. They paired it with a neutral stimuli event the dog could see but did not associate it with food (Myers, 2014, p.256). Food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally triggers the salivary reflex. Pavlov called drooling the unconditioned response and the food the unconditioned stimulus. Salvation in response to a tone is learned, it is conditioned upon the dogs associating the tone with the food it is called conditioned response (Myers, 2014, p.256). The stimulus that used to be neutral is the conditioned stimulus. I found it interesting and relating to everyday life because my dog often does the same. We keep his food in the garage so opening the garage door would be the conditioned stimulus. As soon as the garage door opens my dog begins to salivate which is the conditioned response. Whereas,
Animals can learn interesting and complex behaviors through the means of conditioning and other training methods. The two types of conditioning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Conditioning incorporates both reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement will increase the likelihood or a behavior, where punishment, and extinction will decrease it. Lee and Belfiore stated that “reinforcement is one of the most misused and misunderstood terms in the analysis of behavior” (1997). Along with these types of conditioning are other factors that help one train an organism. Habituation, magazine training, shaping, and different schedules of reinforcement help one reach the desired behavior. All these factors are part of training an organism to reach a desired behavior.
Fear conditioning is a commonly used behavioral paradigm to test an organism’s ability to create associations and learn to avoid aversive stimuli. There are two methodologies: cue and contextual fear conditioning (Kim & Jung, 2006). In cued fear conditioning, a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) which activates a strong unconditioned fear responses (UR). After a continued training period, the neutral CS is now able to activate a conditioned response (CR). Similarly, context conditioning occurs when the background or context cues, during the condition training, is able to predict the US and activate the fear response. For example, a mice can be placed in a novel environment and given an aversive stimulus (e.g. footshock). When the mice is returned to that same environment, it will display a CR (e.g. freezing). The mice’s ability for contextual fear conditioning is dependent on whether it was able to learn and associate its environment with the aversive stimulus. (Curzon, Rustay, and Browman, 2009)
Classical conditioning is a part of everyday life, and it has been around for as long as living organism have been around. Most people have no idea that classical conditioning occurs on a daily basis. It can happen anywhere, our homes simply watching TV, or being outside in the public. Classical conditioning is a way of learning that happens when two stimuli are presented together, which then become associated with each other. Classical conditioning was first discovered by Ivan Pavlov, and it is so closely associated to him that it is sometimes even called Pavlovian Conditioning. Classical conditioning was later reinforced by John Watson with the “Little Albert” experiment, and recently with the Cockroach experiment by Makoto Mizunami and Hidehiro Watanabe . Classical conditioning does not only affects humans, it affects all animals ranging from the smallest bacteria to dogs and cockroaches. This type of conditioning is also used in marketing and even treating phobias.
The two main forms of conditioning, are classical conditioning (learning by association), and operant condition (learning from consequences).Classical conditioning, is the learning process in which one is conditioned (learns) to respond to a neutral stimulus as if it were a meaningful stimulus. In operant conditioning, learning occurs through associations made between a behavior and the consequence that follows.
Classical conditioning refers to a type of learning in which a previously neutral stimuli took on the ability to stimulate a conditioned response in an individual (Gormezano & Moore, 1966). To prove that environment was more impactful than genetics, Watson conducted an experiment on an infant, little Albert. Initially, Albert showed little fear towards rats. When Watson repeatedly exposed Albert to the rat accompanied by a loud noise, the latter began to develop fear towards not just the rat but also other furry animals. Watson successfully showed that the acquisition of a phobia can be explained by classical conditioning (Watson & Watson, 1921). Regardless of their genes, the associations of the right stimuli can result in the development of a new behaviour in any individual.
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
Pavlov’s theory is known has classical conditioning ‘He is remembered for the salivating dogs which illustrates very usefully the central behaviourist idea that behaviour can be predicted, measured and controlled, and that learning a matter of stimulus and response (Wallace 2007:97).’
Classical conditioning is a technique of learning that occurs when an unconditional stimulus is paired with a conditional stimulus. The unconditional stimulus is biologically potent, the conditional stimulus is neutral (Kalat, 2011). Example of each is taste of food and sound of tuning fork respectively. After repeated pairing, the organism exhibits a conditional response to the conditional stimulus. The conditional response is similar to the unconditioned response though it is relatively impermanent and is acquired through experience (Kalat, 2011).
I. Introduction of classical conditioning Classical conditioning also called as Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning. It is a kind of learning a new behavior through association that when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) and evokes a conditioned response (CR). It also is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus (Cherry, 2014). Classical conditioning has much strength such as can help to explain all aspects of human behavior and many of advertisers will use classical conditioning to advertise their produces, however it also have some weaknesses such as all classical conditioning responses must involve a reflex and classical conditioning is a completely physical process, learning is not important as reflected in scenario. This paper will talk about the strengths and the weaknesses of classical conditioning theory followed by a brief description of the scenario and the strengths and weaknesses of applying classical conditioning on it.
What is Watson’s Classical Conditioning? Classical Conditioning was found by Dr. Ivan Pavlov. Watson’s research was influenced by Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Theory. Watson made a research on children’s emotions using the Classical Conditioning model. According to Watson, love, fear, and anger are the three kinds of emotions inherited by humans (Hall 1988). He believed these emotions could be learned through conditioning. He formed his hypothesis and carried out an experiment. John B. Watson’s classical condition experiment was on a child named Little Albert. This experiment was while a child was playing with a rabbit, smashing two bars to make a loud noise behind the child’s head. After hearing the loud noise the child became terrified of the rabbit (Hall 1988).
B. F. Skinner, the most well-known American Psychologist who was the top exponent of the school of psychology that was known as behaviorism, preserved the impression that learning is an end result of change in evident behavior. The changes in behavior are determined by the way individuals reply to stimuli (events) in the environment. B.F. Skinner defined this phenomenon as operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response (McLeod, 2007). This
The first core concept suggested by the web article depicts human development forming from the interplay of an individual’s biology and experience. Early scientists in this particular field created testable hypotheses to understand the dynamic interaction between the nature-nurture phenomenon. Nobel Prize winner Ivan Pavlov’s and North American scientist B.F. Skinner’s research in behaviorism contain principles in classical and operant conditioning which can help further explain this occurrence.
Behaviorism is the point of view where learning and behavior are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships. Behaviorists agree that an individual’s behaviors is a result of their interaction with the environment. Feedback, praise and rewards are all ways people can respond to becoming conditioned. The focus is on observable events instead of events that happen in one’s head. The belief that learning has not happened unless there is an observable change in behavior. “The earliest and most Ardent of behaviourists was Watson (1931; Medcof and Roth, 1991; Hill 1997). His fundamental conclusion from many experimental observations of animal and childhood learning was that stimulus-response (S-R) connections are more likely to be established the more frequently or recently an S-R bond occurs. A child solving a number problem might have to make many unsuccessful trials before arriving at the correct solution” (Childs, 2004).
From the time humans are born, they begin the process of learning and trying to understand the world. Conditioning is one way of learning in which a response becomes more frequent as a result of reinforcement. We can also learn through associations and punishments. There are two types of conditioning that will be discussed within this paper, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I will further discuss how both classical and operant conditioning are prevalent within my article claims and then explain why both conditioning methods are important in everyday life.