Classical Conditioning

Stimulus/Response

• Stimulus is the thing that elicits a response
• The response is the end result

Unconditioned Stimulus/Response

• An unconditioned stimulus and response have a naturally occurring relationship
• This means that they had a connection before the response was made
• This is known as an unconditioned response

Pavlov's Dog

Pavlov

• Russian theorist known for his discovery of classical conditioning
• He realized there was a an unconditioned response to food (unconditioned stimulus) and salivating (unconditioned response) when his dog saw food.

Conditioning

• He then realized he could elicit a conditioned response by introducing a neutral stimulus before the unconditioned stimulus.
• This introduction resulted in the neutral stimulus becoming the conditioned stimulus and leading to a conditioned response

Conditioning

• Food=unconditioned stimulus
• Salivation=unconditioned response
• Bell=neutral stimulus

Conditioning

• Introduce neutral stimulus: Bell
• Show unconditioned stimulus: food
• Elicit unconditioned response: salivation
• Repeat this a few times, and then eliminate the unconditioned stimulus (food) to elicit a response (salivation)
• The neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and results in a conditioned response

Classical conditioning

• First type of learning discovered and studied within behaviorism
• No new behaviors are learned during classical conditioning
• Instead, an association is developed b/w neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus so that individual responds to both events. Need an unconditioned stimulus that will elicit response. Then introduce neutral stimulus before unconditioned stimulus so the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus.