classical conditioning personal essay

Classical Conditioning Essay

Introduction, describe the theory of classical conditioning, scenario for classical conditioning application, implementation, conditioning chart.

Learning, which is defined as the process of human beings gaining knowledge and expertise is an important aspect of man’s life and continues throughout his existence. Learning theories propose mechanisms that account for the changes that occur as a result of our learning experiences.

Learning theories have resulted in the identification of mechanisms through which experiences in the environment would alter and sustain changes in behavior. These changes are of a relatively permanent nature, and Newman and Philip (2007) affirm that the changes in human behavior are as a result of human beings’ extensive capacity for learning.

Classical conditioning is one of the most popular learning theories developed in the late 1920s. This theory has been reviewed and applied in many areas and has helped in understanding learning. This paper will give a brief description of the theory of classical conditioning and how it works. A scenario whereby this theory could be applied in real life situations will be given and a detailed description of how one would implement classical conditioning demonstrated.

The Russian Scientist, Ivan Pavlov, is hugely credited for coming up with the classical conditioning theory and demonstrating its working. Pavlov’s experimental works led him to discover classical conditioning and its laws which he demonstrated using his famous Pavlov’s dog experiment. By definition, classical conditioning is the “pairing of an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response” (Levin, 1995, p.175).

In classical conditioning, there is already a preexisting bond between the stimulus and some physiological response in the learner. Classical conditioning has since its formulation been overlooked as being fairly simple and easy to understand and only applicable in limited areas. However, there has been a renewed interest in classical conditioning due to the realization that this theory has a much wider application that was previously assumed. ,

In Pavlov’s classic example, when a hungry dog is presented with food, it salivates. If this presentation of food is linked to another unconnected event (ringing of the bell in Pavlov’s case) once conditioned, the dog will automatically salivate even at being presented with the event without food. The food is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) while salivation is an unconditioned response (UCR) since it is a naturally occurring reflex (Gines et al, 2000).

This learned response to a neutral event (since ringing of a bell would previously only have evoked interest from the dog, not salivation) is called the conditioned response. As such, classical conditioning is “a type of learning that occurs when two different events happen at the same time and one of the events takes on the quality of eliciting the other event” (Salkind, 2004. p.165).

The classical conditioning paradigm can be seen to contain two important attributes which are: the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the conditioned response (CR). In Pavlov’s example, after the pairing of the food and the ringing of the bell, a presentation of the bell alone will result in the unconditioned response of salivation from the dog. The bell’s role is that of the conditioned stimulus while salivation is the conditioned response.

Levin (1995) demonstrates that classical conditioning can be used as a form of treatment for alcoholism known as aversive therapy. In this treatment, punishment (such as an electric shock) is paired with drinking whereby the alcohol becomes the conditioned stimulus for the anticipation of pain. This results in a behavioral change in the drinker so long as the association between pain and drinking holds.

Other factors affect the strength of the conditioned reflex created through classical conditioning. These factors are reinforcement and extinction. Reinforcement is whereby the relationship between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response is strengthened through repeated association (Salkind, 2004). Extinction is the process by which a conditioned response is lost due to lack of reinforcement.

As has been illustrated in the above paragraphs, classical conditioning theory can be used to help someone learn or unlearn a habit. In my specific situation, I aim to use classical conditioning to make a friend unlearn a habit I find unacceptable in my house.

My friend always smokes in my living room despite my numerous calls for him to stop this habit. I propose to use classical conditioning theory to train my friend to stop smoking in my house altogether by making him associate smoking to an unpleasant blaring noise.

Before conditioning, the irritating blaring sound is a neutral stimulus. Newman and Philip (2007) note that such a stimulus on its own elicits a response of interest or attention but nothing more. Cigarettes are an unconditioned stimulus that evokes a natural reaction resulting in smoking from my friend.

My classical conditioning implementation will, therefore, involve pairing the irritating blaring music with smoking. As such, cigarettes will become the conditioned stimulus for the anticipation of an irritating noise whenever my friend is in my house. For this to work, I will have to make my friend associate two different events (smoking and the blaring sounds) with each other.

I shall, therefore, ensure that each time my friend starts smoking in my house, I shall turn the irritating blaring sounds on. Once my friend has finished smoking, I shall turn to noises off. Newman and Philip (2007) assert that a conditioned response is only established to the degree that there is a meaningful relationship between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus.

This means that the NS and US must occur together many times before conditioning is established. For this reason, I shall make sure that I continue will this activity (turning on the blaring noise as soon as smoking begins) indefinitely.

With repeated association of the NS (blaring noise) and the US (cigarettes), the blaring noise will become a conditioned stimulus and will be associated with smoking, which will now become the conditioned response.

As such, my friend will relate cigarette smoking in my house to loud irritating noises, and for this reason, he will stop smoking to avoid experiencing the irritating noises which he will have grown to associate with cigarettes. To avoid this conditioning from becoming extinct, I would keep on reinforcing the relationship between the blaring noise and smoking so as to strengthen the association in my friend.

Gines, Et AL. (2000). Educational Psychology. Rex Bookstore.

Levin, D. L. (1995). Introduction to Alcoholism Counseling: a Bio-Psycho-Social Approach. Taylor & Francis.

Newman, B. M. Philip, R. N. (2007). Theories of Human Development. Routledge.

Salkind, J. N. (2004 ). An Introduction to Theories of Human Development. Sage.

• NS = Neutral Stimulus
• UR = Unconditioned Response
• NR = Neutral Response
• CS = Conditioned Stimulus
• US = Unconditioned Stimulus
• CR = Conditioned Response
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, November 1). Classical Conditioning. https://ivypanda.com/essays/classical-conditioning-essay/

"Classical Conditioning." IvyPanda , 1 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/classical-conditioning-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Classical Conditioning'. 1 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Classical Conditioning." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/classical-conditioning-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "Classical Conditioning." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/classical-conditioning-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Classical Conditioning." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/classical-conditioning-essay/.

• Classical Conditioning by Pavlov
• Educational Psychology Essentials: Learning and Behavior
• Classical Conditioning as an Explanation of Human Behavior
• The Procedure for Generating Classical Conditioning
• Conditioned Response and Its Reinstatement
• Classical Conditioning: Prediction of Unconditional Stimulus
• Classical and Operant Conditioning
• Evolution of Predator and Prey Pairings
• Psychophysics: Conditioning and Attentional Process
• Behavioral Theoretical Perspective
• Moral Values in Education
• NC Taxpayers and College Education
• Student Performance: Examination & Other Forms of Assessment
• Dog' Education in "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson
• Handbook 'Good Study' by Neil Burdess

Classical Conditioning: How It Works With Examples

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

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.

If you pair a neutral stimulus (NS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that already triggers an unconditioned response (UR) that neutral stimulus will become a conditioned stimulus (CS), triggering a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original unconditioned response.

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.

How Classical Conditioning Works

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 that is unlearned (i.e., unconditioned) and, therefore, is a natural response that has not been taught. In this respect, no new behavior has been learned yet.

For example, a stomach virus (UCS) would produce a response of nausea (UCR). In another example, a perfume (UCS) could create a response of happiness or desire (UCR).

This stage also involves another stimulus that 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 example, a stomach virus (UCS) might be associated with eating a certain food such as chocolate (CS). Also, perfume (UCS) might be associated with a specific person (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:

The conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned response (CR).

For example, a person (CS) who has been associated with nice perfume (UCS) is now found attractive (CR). Also, chocolate (CS) which was eaten before a person was sick with a virus (UCS) now produces a response of nausea (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 UCS were 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.

Panic Disorder

Classical conditioning is thought to play an important role in the development of Pavlov (Bouton et al., 2002).

Panic disorder often begins after an initial “conditioning episode” involving an early panic attack. The panic attack serves as an unconditioned stimulus (US) that gets paired with neutral stimuli (conditioned stimuli or CS), allowing those stimuli to later trigger anxiety and panic reactions (conditioned responses or CRs).

The panic attack US can become associated with interoceptive cues (like increased heart rate) as well as external situational cues that are present during the attack. This allows those cues to later elicit anxiety and possibly panic (CRs).

Through this conditioning process, anxiety becomes focused on the possibility of having another panic attack. This anticipatory anxiety (a CR) is seen as a key step in the development of panic disorder, as it leads to heightened vigilance and sensitivity to bodily cues that can trigger future attacks.

The presence of conditioned anxiety can serve to potentiate or exacerbate future panic attacks. Anxiety cues essentially lower the threshold for panic. This helps explain how panic disorder can spiral after the initial conditioning episode.

Evidence suggests most patients with panic disorder recall an initial panic attack or conditioning event that preceded the disorder. Prospective studies also show conditioned anxiety and panic reactions can develop after an initial panic episode.

Classical conditioning processes are believed to often occur outside of conscious awareness in panic disorder, reflecting the operation of emotional neural systems separate from declarative knowledge systems.

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 (Carter & Tiffany, 1999).

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 still a 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.

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 paired with food.

Unconditioned Stimulus

Unconditioned response.

In classical conditioning, an unconditioned response is an innate 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

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

The process of pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response.

In the initial learning period, acquisition describes when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.

In psychology, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned response by breaking the association between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimuli.

The weakening of a conditioned response occurs when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

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.

It is the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period when the conditioned stimulus is presented alone.

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 similar (but not identical) to the original 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.

Higher-Order Conditioning

Higher-order conditioning is when a conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus to create a second conditioned stimulus. For example, a bell (CS1) is paired with food (UCS) so that the bell elicits salivation (CR). Then, a light (NS) is paired with the bell.

Eventually, the light alone will elicit salivation, even without the presence of food. This demonstrates higher-order conditioning, where the conditioned stimulus (bell) serves as an unconditioned stimulus to condition a new stimulus (light).

Critical Evaluation

Practical applications.

The principles of classical conditioning have been widely and effectively applied in fields like behavioral therapy, education, and advertising. Therapies like systematic desensitization use classical conditioning to help eliminate phobias and anxiety.

The behaviorist approach has been used in the treatment of phobias, and systematic desensitization . The individual with the phobia is taught relaxation techniques and then makes a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to the most frightening features of the phobic object.

He then is presented with the stimuli in that order and learns to associate (classical conditioning) the stimuli with a relaxation response. This is counter-conditioning.

Explaining involuntary behaviors

Classical conditioning helps explain some reflexive or involuntary behaviors like phobias, emotional reactions, and physiological responses. The model shows how these can be acquired through experience.

The process of classical conditioning can probably account for aspects of certain other mental disorders. For example, in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sufferers tend to show classically conditioned responses to stimuli present at the time of the traumatizing event (Charney et al., 1993).

However, since not everyone exposed to the traumatic event develops PTSD, other factors must be involved, such as individual differences in people’s appraisal of events as stressors and the recovery environment, such as family and support groups.

Supported by substantial experimental evidence

There is a wealth of experimental support for basic phenomena like acquisition, extinction, generalization, and discrimination. Pavlov’s original experiments on dogs and subsequent studies have demonstrated classical conditioning in animals and humans.

There have been many laboratory demonstrations of human participants acquiring behavior through classical conditioning. It is relatively easy to classically condition and extinguish conditioned responses, such as the eye-blink and galvanic skin responses.

A strength of classical conditioning theory is that it is scientific . This is because it’s based on empirical evidence carried out by controlled experiments . For example, Pavlov (1902) showed how classical conditioning could be used to make a dog salivate to the sound of a bell.

Supporters of a reductionist approach say that it is scientific. Breaking complicated behaviors down into small parts means that they can be scientifically tested. However, some would argue that the reductionist view lacks validity . Thus, while reductionism is useful, it can lead to incomplete explanations.

Ignores biological predispositions

Organisms are biologically prepared to associate certain stimuli over others. However, classical conditioning does not sufficiently account for innate predispositions and biases.

Classical conditioning emphasizes the importance of learning from the environment, and supports nurture over nature.

However, it is limiting to describe behavior solely in terms of either nature or nurture , and attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of human behavior. It is more likely that behavior is due to an interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment).

Lacks explanatory power

Classical conditioning provides limited insight into the cognitive processes underlying the associations it describes.

However, applying classical conditioning to our understanding of higher mental functions, such as memory, thinking, reasoning, or problem-solving, has proved more problematic.

Even behavior therapy, one of the more successful applications of conditioning principles to human behavior, has given way to cognitive–behavior therapy (Mackintosh, 1995).

Questionable ecological validity

While lab studies support classical conditioning, some question how well it holds up in natural settings. There is debate about how automatic and inevitable classical conditioning is outside the lab.

In normal adults, the conditioning process can be overridden by instructions: simply telling participants that the unconditioned stimulus will not occur causes an instant loss of the conditioned response, which would otherwise extinguish only slowly (Davey, 1983).

Most participants in an experiment are aware of the experimenter’s contingencies (the relationship between stimuli and responses) and, in the absence of such awareness often fail to show evidence of conditioning (Brewer, 1974).

Evidence indicates that for humans to exhibit classical conditioning, they need to be consciously aware of the connection between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US). This contradicts traditional theories that humans have two separate learning systems – one conscious and one unconscious – that allow conditioning to occur without conscious awareness (Lovibond & Shanks, 2002).

There are also important differences between very young children or those with severe learning difficulties and older children and adults regarding their behavior in a variety of operant conditioning and discrimination learning experiments.

These seem largely attributable to language development (Dugdale & Lowe, 1990). This suggests that people have rather more efficient, language-based forms of learning at their disposal than just the laborious formation of associations between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.

Ethical concerns

The principles of classical conditioning raise ethical concerns about manipulating behavior without consent. This is especially true in advertising and politics.

• Manipulation of preferences – Classical conditioning can create positive associations with certain brands, products, or political candidates. This can manipulate preferences outside of a person’s rational thought process.
• Encouraging impulsive behaviors – Conditioning techniques may encourage behaviors like impulsive shopping, unhealthy eating, or risky financial choices by forging positive associations with these behaviors.
• Preying on vulnerabilities – Advertisers or political campaigns may exploit conditioning techniques to target and influence vulnerable demographic groups like youth, seniors, or those with mental health conditions.
• Reduction of human agency – At an extreme, the use of classical conditioning techniques reduces human beings to automata reacting predictably to stimuli. This is ethically problematic.

Deterministic theory

A final criticism of classical conditioning theory is that it is deterministic . This means it does not allow the individual any degree of free will. Accordingly, a person has no control over the reactions they have learned from classical conditioning, such as a phobia.

The deterministic approach also has important implications for psychology as a science. Scientists are interested in discovering laws that can be used to predict events.

However, by creating general laws of behavior, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their destiny.

The Role of Nature in Classical Conditioning

Behaviorists argue all learning is driven by experience, not nature. Classical conditioning exemplifies environmental influence. However, our evolutionary history predisposes us to learn some associations more readily than others. So nature also plays a role.

For example, PTSD develops in part due to strong conditioning during traumatic events. The emotions experienced during trauma lead to neural activity in the amygdala , creating strong associative learning between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli (Milad et al., 2009).

Individuals with PTSD show enhanced fear conditioning, reflected in greater amygdala reactivity to conditioned threat cues compared to trauma-exposed controls. In addition to strong initial conditioning, PTSD patients exhibit slower extinction to conditioned fear stimuli.

During extinction recall tests, PTSD patients fail to show differential skin conductance responses to extinguished versus non-extinguished cues, indicating impaired retention of fear extinction. Deficient extinction retention corresponds to reduced activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus and heightened dorsal anterior cingulate cortex response during extinction recall in PTSD patients.

In influential research on food conditioning, John Garcia found that rats easily learned to associate a taste with nausea from drugs, even if illness occurred hours later.

However, conditioning nausea to a sight or sound was much harder. This showed that conditioning does not occur equally for any stimulus pairing. Rather, evolution prepares organisms to learn some associations that aid survival more easily, like linking smells to illness.

The evolutionary significance of taste and nutrition ensures robust and resilient classical conditioning of flavor preferences, making them difficult to reverse (Hall, 2002).

Forming strong and lasting associations between flavors and nutrition aids survival by promoting the consumption of calorie-rich foods. This makes flavor conditioning very robust.

Repeated flavor-nutrition pairings in these studies lead to overlearning of the association, making it more resistant to extinction.

The learning is overtrained, context-specific, and subject to recovery effects that maintain the conditioned behavior despite extinction training.

Classical vs. operant condioning

In summary, classical conditioning is about passive stimulus-response associations, while operant conditioning is about actively connecting behaviors to consequences. Classical works on reflexes and operant on voluntary actions.

• Stimuli vs consequences : Classical conditioning focuses on associating two stimuli together. For example, pairing a bell (neutral stimulus) with food (reflex-eliciting stimulus) creates a conditioned response of salivation to the bell. Operant conditioning is about connecting behaviors with the consequences that follow. If a behavior is reinforced, it will increase. If it’s punished, it will decrease.
• Passive vs. active : In classical conditioning, the organism is passive and automatically responds to the conditioned stimulus. Operant conditioning requires the organism to perform a behavior that then gets reinforced or punished actively. The organism operates on the environment.
• Involuntary vs. voluntary : Classical conditioning works with involuntary, reflexive responses like salivation, blinking, etc. Operant conditioning shapes voluntary behaviors that are controlled by the organism, like pressing a lever.
• Association vs. reinforcement : Classical conditioning relies on associating stimuli in order to create a conditioned response. Operant conditioning depends on using reinforcement and punishment to increase or decrease voluntary behaviors.

Learning Check

• In Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment, he rang a bell before presenting food powder to dogs. Eventually, the dogs salivated at the mere sound of the bell. Identify the neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response in Pavlov’s experiment.
• A student loves going out for pizza and beer with friends on Fridays after class. Whenever one friend texts the group about Friday plans, the student immediately feels happy and excited. The friend starts texting the group on Thursdays when she wants the student to feel happier. Explain how this is an example of classical conditioning. Identify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.
• A college student is traumatized after a car accident. She now feels fear every time she gets into a car. How could extinction be used to eliminate this acquired fear?
• A professor always slams their book on the lectern right before giving a pop quiz. Students now feel anxiety whenever they hear the book slam. Is this classical conditioning? If so, identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.
• Contrast classical conditioning and operant conditioning. How are they similar and different? Provide an original example of each type of conditioning.
• How could the principles of classical conditioning be applied to help students overcome test anxiety?
• Explain how taste aversion learning is an adaptive form of classical conditioning. Provide an original example.
• What is second-order conditioning? Give an example and identify the stimuli and responses.
• What is the role of extinction in classical conditioning? How could extinction be used in cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders?

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What Is Classical Conditioning in Psychology?

How It Works, Terms to Know, and Examples

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

• Definitions
• How It Works

Key Principles of Classical Conditioning in Psychology

What is the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning, frequently asked questions.

Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov , classical conditioning is a type of unconscious or automatic learning. This learning process creates a conditioned response through associations between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus. In simple terms, classical conditioning involves placing a neutral stimulus before a naturally occurring reflex.

One of the best-known examples of classical conditioning is Pavlov's classic experiments with dogs. In these experiments, the neutral signal was the sound of a tone and the naturally occurring reflex was salivating in response to food. By associating the neutral stimulus (sound) with the unconditioned stimulus (food), the sound of the tone alone could produce a salivation response.

Although classical conditioning was not discovered by a psychologist, it has had a tremendous influence over the school of thought in psychology known as behaviorism . Behaviorism assumes that all learning occurs through interactions with the environment and that environment shapes behavior.

Classical Conditioning Definitions

Classical conditioning—also sometimes referred to as Pavlovian conditioning—uses a few different terms to help explain the learning process. Knowing these basics will help you understand classical conditioning.

Unconditioned Stimulus

An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus or trigger that leads to an automatic response. If a cold breeze makes you shiver, for instance, the cold breeze is an unconditioned stimulus; it produces an involuntary response (the shivering).

Neutral Stimulus

A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that doesn't initially trigger a response on its own. If you hear the sound of a fan but don't feel the breeze, for example, it wouldn't necessarily trigger a response. That would make it a neutral stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus

A conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that was once neutral (didn't trigger a response) but now leads to a response. If you previously didn't pay attention to dogs, but then got bit by one, and now you feel fear every time you see a dog, the dog has become a conditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned Response

An unconditioned response is an automatic response or a response that occurs without thought when an unconditioned stimulus is present. If you smell your favorite food and your mouth starts watering, the watering is an unconditioned response.

Conditioned Response

A conditioned response is a learned response or a response that is created where no response existed before. Going back to the example of being bit by a dog, the fear you experience after the bite is a conditioned response.

Click Play to Learn More About Classical Conditioning

This video has been medically reviewed by Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP .

How Classical Conditioning Works

Classical conditioning involves forming an association between two stimuli, resulting in a learned response. There are three basic phases of this process.

Phase 1: Before Conditioning

The first part of the classical conditioning process requires a naturally occurring stimulus that will automatically elicit a response. Salivating in response to the smell of food is a good example of a naturally occurring stimulus.

During this phase of the process, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) results in an unconditioned response (UCR). Presenting food (the UCS) naturally and automatically triggers a salivation response (the UCR).

At this point, there is also a neutral stimulus that produces no effect—yet. It isn't until the neutral stimulus is paired with the UCS that it will come to evoke a response.

Let's take a closer look at the two critical components of this phase of classical conditioning:

• The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus.
• The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In our example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response.

In the before conditioning phase, an unconditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned response. A neutral stimulus is then introduced.

Phase 2: During Conditioning

During the second phase of the classical conditioning process, the previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus. As a result of this pairing, an association between the previously neutral stimulus and the UCS is formed.

At this point, the once neutral stimulus becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS). The subject has now been conditioned to respond to this stimulus. The conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.

In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the smell, the whistle sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned stimulus.

The during conditioning phase involves repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus.

Phase 3: After Conditioning

Once the association has been made between the UCS and the CS, presenting the conditioned stimulus alone will come to evoke a response—even without the unconditioned stimulus. The resulting response is known as the conditioned response (CR).

The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.

In the after conditioning phase, the conditioned stimulus alone triggers the conditioned response.

Behaviorists have described a number of different phenomena associated with classical conditioning. Some of these elements involve the initial establishment of the response while others describe the disappearance of a response. Here is a closer look at five key principles of classical conditioning.

Acquisition

Acquisition is the initial stage of learning, when a response is first established and gradually strengthened. During the acquisition phase of classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

As you may recall, an unconditioned stimulus is something that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning. After an association is made, the subject will begin to emit a behavior in response to the previously neutral stimulus, which is now known as a conditioned stimulus. It is at this point that we can say that the response has been acquired.

Once the response has been established, you can gradually reinforce the response to make sure the behavior is well learned.

Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), the sound of the whistle would eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of hunger.

However, if the smell of food were no longer paired with the whistle, eventually the conditioned response (hunger) would disappear.

Spontaneous Recovery

Sometimes a learned response can suddenly reemerge, even after a period of extinction. This is called spontaneous recovery.

For example, imagine that after training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell, you stop reinforcing the behavior and the response becomes extinct. After a rest period during which the conditioned stimulus is not presented, you ring the bell and the animal spontaneously recovers the previously learned response.

If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will return very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery.

Generalization

Stimulus generalization is the tendency for a conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. For example, if a dog has been conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, the animal may also exhibit the same response to a sound that's similar to the bell.

In John B. Watson's famous  Little Albert Experiment , for example, a small child was conditioned to fear a white rat. The child demonstrated stimulus generalization by also exhibiting fear in response to other fuzzy white objects, including stuffed toys and Watson's own hair.

Discrimination

Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.  

For example, if a bell tone were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the difference between the bell tone and other similar sounds. Because the subject is able to distinguish between these stimuli, they will only respond when the conditioned stimulus is presented.

What Are Examples of Classical Conditioning?

It can be helpful to look at a few examples of how the classical conditioning process operates both in experimental and real-world settings.

Fear Response

John B. Watson's experiment with Little Albert is an example of the fear response. The child initially showed no fear of a white rat, but after the rat was paired repeatedly with loud, scary sounds, the child began to cry when the rat was present.

Prior to the conditioning, the white rat was a neutral stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus was the loud, clanging sounds, and the unconditioned response was the fear response created by the noise.

By repeatedly pairing the rat with the unconditioned stimulus, the white rat (now the conditioned stimulus) came to evoke the fear response (now the conditioned response).

This experiment illustrates how phobias can form through classical conditioning. In many cases, a single pairing of a neutral stimulus (a dog, for example) and a frightening experience (being bitten by the dog) can lead to a lasting phobia (being afraid of dogs).

Taste Aversions

Another example of classical conditioning is the development of conditioned taste aversions . Researchers John Garcia and Bob Koelling first noticed this phenomenon when they observed how rats that had been exposed to nausea-causing radiation developed an aversion to flavored water after the radiation and water were presented together.

In this example, the radiation represents the unconditioned stimulus and nausea represents the unconditioned response. After the pairing of the two, the flavored water is the conditioned stimulus, while nausea that formed when exposed to the water alone is the conditioned response.

Later research demonstrated that such classically conditioned aversions could be produced through a single pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus.

Researchers also found that such aversions can even develop if the conditioned stimulus (the taste of the food) is presented several hours before the unconditioned stimulus (the nausea-causing stimulus).

Why do such associations develop so quickly? Forming such associations can have survival benefits. If an animal eats something that makes it ill, it needs to avoid eating the same food in the future to avoid sickness or even death.

This is an example of biological preparedness . Some associations form more readily because they aid in survival.

In one famous field study, researchers injected sheep carcasses with a poison that would make coyotes sick but not kill them. The goal was to help sheep ranchers reduce the number of sheep lost to coyote killings.

Not only did the experiment work by lowering the number of sheep killed, it also caused some of the coyotes to develop such a strong aversion to sheep that they would actually run away at the scent or sight of a sheep.

Organizational Behavior

Classical conditioning can also have applications in business and marketing. For example, it can be used to help people form favorable attitudes toward products, businesses, or brands.

While there may not be a direct link between the item and the consumer response, creating this association may help motivate people to purchase certain products because they have developed a favorable opinion of them due to classical conditioning.

Operant conditioning is a learning method in which a specific behavior is associated with either a positive or negative consequence. This form of learning links voluntary actions with receiving either a reward or punishment, often to strengthen or weaken those voluntary behaviors.

Classical conditioning is a learning process focused more on involuntary behaviors, using associations with neutral stimuli to evoke a specific involuntary response.

Criticisms of Classical Conditioning

Some psychologists maintain that classical conditioning represents a reductive, mechanical explanation for some behaviors. Some other criticisms of classical conditioning center on the fact that:

• Classical conditioning does not take human individuality and free will into account
• It generally does not predict human behavior; people can form associations but still not act upon them
• Many different factors can impact the associations and outcomes
• People can choose to not act on the associations they have made through classical conditioning

However, the approach still holds great fascination for researchers and relevance in modern psychology.

In reality, people do not respond exactly like Pavlov's dogs . There are, however, numerous real-world applications for classical conditioning. For example, many dog trainers use classical conditioning techniques to help people train their pets.

These techniques are also useful for helping people cope with phobias or anxiety problems . Therapists might, for example, repeatedly pair something that provokes anxiety with relaxation techniques in order to create an association.

Teachers can apply classical conditioning in the class by creating a positive classroom environment to help students overcome anxiety or fear. Pairing an anxiety-provoking situation, such as performing in front of a group, with pleasant surroundings helps the student learn new associations. Instead of feeling anxious and tense in these situations, the child will learn to stay relaxed and calm.

Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning. Pavlov was passionate about physiology, even earning gold medals for his work in this field. It was in his position as director of a physiological laboratory that he began to connect physiological research with reflex response and regulation.

Implicit memory is a memory that you can recall effortlessly or without thought. Classical conditioning uses this automatic memory to create associations with a neutral stimulus. The association is learned without conscious awareness.

Behavioral therapies use the principles of classical conditioning to help people change negative behaviors. The thought behind these therapies is that we learn from our environment. Cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy are two types of behavioral therapy.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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6 Examples of Classical Conditioning

• Pavlov’s Theory
• Common Terms
• How It Works

Classical conditioning examples like Pavlov’s dogs are well-known psychological experiments, but you may not realize how they are part of your everyday life.

You can learn in both conscious and unconscious ways. Your behaviors, attitudes, ideas, and the absorption of new information can all be learned with or without your knowledge.

Classical conditioning is unconscious learning that is attributed to a Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov. Today, classical conditioning is used in therapy to help people change negative behaviors, including substance use . You can also make use of the technique on your own or even with your pet.

Read on to find out more about classical conditioning, including how it works and examples of classical conditioning in your life.

Katarzyna Bialasiewicz / Getty Images

What Is Classical Conditioning and Pavlov’s Theory?

Pavlov discovered classical conditioning by accident while he was researching dog digestion. He noticed the dogs’ reactions to being fed evolved based on stimuli in the test environment that weren’t related to the food.

Classical conditioning is also called Pavlovian conditioning.

At the beginning of the experiment, the dogs would salivate only when presented with food. Later, neutral noises, such as the food cart entering the testing area, made them salivate. Since the sounds always occurred before the dogs were fed, Pavlov wondered if the dogs were linking the sound to their food.

He set up an experiment where a bell would ring right before giving food to the dogs. The dogs soon started salivating after hearing the bell without seeing or hearing the food cart coming into the room. This discovery led Pavlov to develop the theory that behavior could be learned simply by introducing consistent stimuli.

The Pavlovian Impact

Classical conditioning is often considered the most important discovery in the history of psychology because it forms the basis of behavioral psychology. Classical conditioning can be used in different ways and in many industries—from helping people with mental health disorders to keeping domestic livestock safe from hungry coyotes.

Classical Conditioning Terms to Know 

To fully understand classical conditioning, there are several terms to understand:

• Unconditioned stimulus : A stimulus that prompts a response in a natural, unlearned way. For example, your eyes automatically tear up when you cut into an onion. The onion is an unconditioned stimulus because the response it causes is not learned.
• Neutral stimulus: A stimulus in the environment that does not evoke any response by itself. However, it can be used later to trigger a response.
• Conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that used to be neutral. It became associated with a response because it was connected to a stimulus that evoked that response.
• Unconditioned response: An automatic response because it just happens naturally. For example, if you smell a food you like, your mouth may automatically start to water in anticipation of the meal.
• Conditioned response: A response that is learned based on a neutral-to-conditioned stimulus.

Key Principles

There are five key principles of classical conditioning:

• Acquisition: The initial stage of learning during which a response to a conditioned stimulus is established
• Extinction: The process in which a conditioned response is slowly unlearned because it’s no longer being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
• Spontaneous Recovery: The return of a conditioned response after a period without being exposed to the conditioned stimulus
• Generalization: The phenomenon of a stimulus that’s similar to the conditioned stimulus prompting a similar response
• Discrimination: The ability to tell the difference between the conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli

What Is the Classical Conditioning Process?

If the classical conditioning process is successful, a learned response will form based on unconscious associations between two different stimuli. There are three steps in this process: before conditioning, during conditioning, and after conditioning.

Before Conditioning

A naturally occurring unconditioned stimulus must be present before the conditioning occurs.

In the case of Pavlov’s research, the unconditioned stimulus was just presenting the dogs with food. The food being presented to the dogs led to an unconditioned response—the dogs began to salivate. The response was automatic, not learned.

A neutral stimulus is also present but has not yet evoked any response. The neutral stimulus needs to be paired with the unconditioned stimulus for it to lead to a response.

How Is Classical Conditioning Different From Operant Learning?

Classical and operant conditioning are not the same. Classical conditioning uses stimuli to help evoke an involuntary response. Operant conditioning uses behavior and consequences as a way of conditioning. Operant conditioning involves rewards for good behaviors and punishment for bad behaviors.

During Conditioning

The second phase of classical conditioning is the pairing of an unconditioned and neutral stimulus to drive a response.

In Pavlov’s experiment, he used a bell as a neutral stimulus. Presenting the food to the dogs was the unconditioned stimulus.

When the dogs heard the bell and were then presented with food, they unconsciously formed a connection between the two stimuli. The neutral stimulus—the bell—evolved into a conditioned stimulus. The dogs then began to respond to the bell in the same way that they had when given food because they viewed the bell as part of the process.

After Conditioning

Once conditioning has occurred and an association is made between the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus can be removed from the equation, and the response will be the same. The response is now triggered by using the conditioned stimulus alone.

For example, the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment began to salivate when the bell rang because they had started associating the sound with getting fed.

Joshua Seong / Verywell

Real-World Examples of Classical Conditioning

There are many areas in which classical conditioning is used today, including mental health treatment, education, and pet training.

Mental Health 

Classical conditioning has many applications in mental health because it can help understand the development of certain disorders and more effectively treat them.

For example, classical conditioning may help with:

• Panic disorder
• Substance use disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Some therapies, like exposure  and  aversion  therapy, work by counter-conditioning responses.

For example, in exposure therapy, a person with a phobia is exposed to what they fear in a safe environment. They repeat exposures to the subject of their phobia until they are no longer afraid of it.

In aversion therapy, a person learns to associate something negative with a behavior they want to stop. For example, if a person misuses alcohol, they could be given a medication that causes them to get sick every time they drink it. The goal is for the negative response (getting sick from the medication) to condition them to no longer want alcohol.

In school systems, classical conditioning can help students develop positive associations with their learning experiences.

For example, if a student needs to give a presentation in front of the class but has anxiety about it, a teacher can create positive stimuli associated with public speaking. In time, the student may come to associate public speaking with a positive environment rather than one that makes them anxious. 

Taste Aversions

Animal studies have shown that taste aversions improve the survival of a species. In one study, rats were exposed to radiation that caused them to feel nauseated. Following the exposure, the rats no longer liked flavored water when it was presented to them at the same time as the radiation.

The radiation acted like an unconditioned stimulus because it triggered feelings of automatic  nausea in the rats. The flavored water was a conditioned stimulus because when the rats were exposed to only the flavored water without the radiation, they still felt nausea as they did when the radiation was present.

Advertising

Advertisers often use classical conditioning to encourage consumers to buy their products.

For example, a commercial may show a product that people seem to enjoy using. Eventually, consumers come to associate happiness and fun with the product. The association of good feelings may alter a consumer’s perspective of the company and lead them to buy the product.

Advertising can also use music as a form of classical conditioning. Upbeat and joyful music will come to be associated with feelings of joy for the people who see the ad. Then, people will associate that company or product with positive emotions.

Placebo Effect

Classical conditioning has also been researched as a part of the  placebo effect . One study looked at classical conditioning, the placebo effect, and pain modulation. It showed that a person can reduce their pain level when they’re given cues that are associated with lower levels of pain.

Pet Training

Classical conditioning is a highly popular tool used to train pets to be more obedient. For example, it can help your dog unconsciously engage in more desirable behaviors.

Classical conditioning in pets can also happen by accident. For example, if you pick up your keys before taking your dog for a walk one day, they may not initially react. If you start picking up your keys before every walk, though, the sound of keys jingling will trigger your dog to believe that they are going for a walk, which will cause a response (like getting excited and heading for the door).

Pavlov’s classical conditioning is very much a part of our lives today. The techniques are used in mental health, education, advertising, and pet training. Research has also looked at classical conditioning in taste aversions and the placebo effect.

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Osei F, Adjabeng FN, Owusu-Mensah S, Atakora A. Does advertising help improve consumer purchasing behavior toward insurance products? . Open J Soc Sci . 2022;10(12):39-59. doi:10.4236/jss.2022.1012004

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By Angelica Bottaro Angelica Bottaro is a professional freelance writer with over 5 years of experience. She has been educated in both psychology and journalism, and her dual education has given her the research and writing skills needed to deliver sound and engaging content in the health space.

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7.1 Learning by Association: Classical Conditioning

Learning objectives.

• Describe how Pavlov’s early work in classical conditioning influenced the understanding of learning.
• Review the concepts of classical conditioning, including unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR), and conditioned response (CR).
• Explain the roles that extinction, generalization, and discrimination play in conditioned learning.

Pavlov Demonstrates Conditioning in Dogs

In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) was studying the digestive system of dogs when he noticed an interesting behavioral phenomenon: The dogs began to salivate when the lab technicians who normally fed them entered the room, even though the dogs had not yet received any food. Pavlov realized that the dogs were salivating because they knew that they were about to be fed; the dogs had begun to associate the arrival of the technicians with the food that soon followed their appearance in the room.

Figure 7.2 Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov’s research made substantial contributions to our understanding of learning.

LIFE Photo Archive – Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

With his team of researchers, Pavlov began studying this process in more detail. He conducted a series of experiments in which, over a number of trials, dogs were exposed to a sound immediately before receiving food. He systematically controlled the onset of the sound and the timing of the delivery of the food, and recorded the amount of the dogs’ salivation. Initially the dogs salivated only when they saw or smelled the food, but after several pairings of the sound and the food, the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the sound. The animals had learned to associate the sound with the food that followed.

Pavlov had identified a fundamental associative learning process called classical conditioning . Classical conditioning refers to learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behavior . After the association is learned, the previously neutral stimulus is sufficient to produce the behavior.

As you can see in Figure 7.3 “4-Panel Image of Whistle and Dog” , psychologists use specific terms to identify the stimuli and the responses in classical conditioning. The unconditioned stimulus (US) is something (such as food) that triggers a natural occurring response , and the unconditioned response (UR) is the naturally occurring response (such as salivation) that follows the unconditioned stimulus . The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly presented prior to the unconditioned stimulus, evokes a similar response as the unconditioned stimulus . In Pavlov’s experiment, the sound of the tone served as the conditioned stimulus that, after learning, produced the conditioned response (CR) , which is the acquired response to the formerly neutral stimulus . Note that the UR and the CR are the same behavior—in this case salivation—but they are given different names because they are produced by different stimuli (the US and the CS, respectively).

Figure 7.3 4-Panel Image of Whistle and Dog

Top left: Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (US) naturally produces the unconditioned response (UR). Top right: Before conditioning, the neutral stimulus (the whistle) does not produce the salivation response. Bottom left: The unconditioned stimulus (US), in this case the food, is repeatedly presented immediately after the neutral stimulus. Bottom right: After learning, the neutral stimulus (now known as the conditioned stimulus or CS), is sufficient to produce the conditioned responses (CR).

Conditioning is evolutionarily beneficial because it allows organisms to develop expectations that help them prepare for both good and bad events. Imagine, for instance, that an animal first smells a new food, eats it, and then gets sick. If the animal can learn to associate the smell (CS) with the food (US), then it will quickly learn that the food creates the negative outcome, and not eat it the next time.

The Persistence and Extinction of Conditioning

After he had demonstrated that learning could occur through association, Pavlov moved on to study the variables that influenced the strength and the persistence of conditioning. In some studies, after the conditioning had taken place, Pavlov presented the sound repeatedly but without presenting the food afterward. Figure 7.4 “Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery” shows what happened. As you can see, after the intial acquisition (learning) phase in which the conditioning occurred, when the CS was then presented alone, the behavior rapidly decreased—the dogs salivated less and less to the sound, and eventually the sound did not elicit salivation at all. Extinction refers to the reduction in responding that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus .

Figure 7.4 Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

Acquisition: The CS and the US are repeatedly paired together and behavior increases. Extinction: The CS is repeatedly presented alone, and the behavior slowly decreases. Spontaneous recovery: After a pause, when the CS is again presented alone, the behavior may again occur and then again show extinction.

Although at the end of the first extinction period the CS was no longer producing salivation, the effects of conditioning had not entirely disappeared. Pavlov found that, after a pause, sounding the tone again elicited salivation, although to a lesser extent than before extinction took place. The increase in responding to the CS following a pause after extinction is known as spontaneous recovery . When Pavlov again presented the CS alone, the behavior again showed extinction until it disappeared again.

Although the behavior has disappeared, extinction is never complete. If conditioning is again attempted, the animal will learn the new associations much faster than it did the first time.

Pavlov also experimented with presenting new stimuli that were similar, but not identical to, the original conditioned stimulus. For instance, if the dog had been conditioned to being scratched before the food arrived, the stimulus would be changed to being rubbed rather than scratched. He found that the dogs also salivated upon experiencing the similar stimulus, a process known as generalization . Generalization refers to the tendency to respond to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus . The ability to generalize has important evolutionary significance. If we eat some red berries and they make us sick, it would be a good idea to think twice before we eat some purple berries. Although the berries are not exactly the same, they nevertheless are similar and may have the same negative properties.

Lewicki (1985) conducted research that demonstrated the influence of stimulus generalization and how quickly and easily it can happen. In his experiment, high school students first had a brief interaction with a female experimenter who had short hair and glasses. The study was set up so that the students had to ask the experimenter a question, and (according to random assignment) the experimenter responded either in a negative way or a neutral way toward the students. Then the students were told to go into a second room in which two experimenters were present, and to approach either one of them. However, the researchers arranged it so that one of the two experimenters looked a lot like the original experimenter, while the other one did not (she had longer hair and no glasses). The students were significantly more likely to avoid the experimenter who looked like the earlier experimenter when that experimenter had been negative to them than when she had treated them more neutrally. The participants showed stimulus generalization such that the new, similar-looking experimenter created the same negative response in the participants as had the experimenter in the prior session.

The flip side of generalization is discrimination — the tendency to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical . Pavlov’s dogs quickly learned, for example, to salivate when they heard the specific tone that had preceded food, but not upon hearing similar tones that had never been associated with food. Discrimination is also useful—if we do try the purple berries, and if they do not make us sick, we will be able to make the distinction in the future. And we can learn that although the two people in our class, Courtney and Sarah, may look a lot alike, they are nevertheless different people with different personalities.

In some cases, an existing conditioned stimulus can serve as an unconditioned stimulus for a pairing with a new conditioned stimulus —a process known as second-order conditioning . In one of Pavlov’s studies, for instance, he first conditioned the dogs to salivate to a sound, and then repeatedly paired a new CS, a black square, with the sound. Eventually he found that the dogs would salivate at the sight of the black square alone, even though it had never been directly associated with the food. Secondary conditioners in everyday life include our attractions to things that stand for or remind us of something else, such as when we feel good on a Friday because it has become associated with the paycheck that we receive on that day, which itself is a conditioned stimulus for the pleasures that the paycheck buys us.

The Role of Nature in Classical Conditioning

As we have seen in Chapter 1 “Introducing Psychology” , scientists associated with the behavioralist school argued that all learning is driven by experience, and that nature plays no role. Classical conditioning, which is based on learning through experience, represents an example of the importance of the environment. But classical conditioning cannot be understood entirely in terms of experience. Nature also plays a part, as our evolutionary history has made us better able to learn some associations than others.

Clinical psychologists make use of classical conditioning to explain the learning of a phobia — a strong and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation . For example, driving a car is a neutral event that would not normally elicit a fear response in most people. But if a person were to experience a panic attack in which he suddenly experienced strong negative emotions while driving, he may learn to associate driving with the panic response. The driving has become the CS that now creates the fear response.

Psychologists have also discovered that people do not develop phobias to just anything. Although people may in some cases develop a driving phobia, they are more likely to develop phobias toward objects (such as snakes, spiders, heights, and open spaces) that have been dangerous to people in the past. In modern life, it is rare for humans to be bitten by spiders or snakes, to fall from trees or buildings, or to be attacked by a predator in an open area. Being injured while riding in a car or being cut by a knife are much more likely. But in our evolutionary past, the potential of being bitten by snakes or spiders, falling out of a tree, or being trapped in an open space were important evolutionary concerns, and therefore humans are still evolutionarily prepared to learn these associations over others (Öhman & Mineka, 2001; LoBue & DeLoache, 2010).

Another evolutionarily important type of conditioning is conditioning related to food. In his important research on food conditioning, John Garcia and his colleagues (Garcia, Kimeldorf, & Koelling, 1955; Garcia, Ervin, & Koelling, 1966) attempted to condition rats by presenting either a taste, a sight, or a sound as a neutral stimulus before the rats were given drugs (the US) that made them nauseous. Garcia discovered that taste conditioning was extremely powerful—the rat learned to avoid the taste associated with illness, even if the illness occurred several hours later. But conditioning the behavioral response of nausea to a sight or a sound was much more difficult. These results contradicted the idea that conditioning occurs entirely as a result of environmental events, such that it would occur equally for any kind of unconditioned stimulus that followed any kind of conditioned stimulus. Rather, Garcia’s research showed that genetics matters—organisms are evolutionarily prepared to learn some associations more easily than others. You can see that the ability to associate smells with illness is an important survival mechanism, allowing the organism to quickly learn to avoid foods that are poisonous.

Classical conditioning has also been used to help explain the experience of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as in the case of P. K. Philips described in the chapter opener. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful event, such as the threat of death (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). PTSD occurs when the individual develops a strong association between the situational factors that surrounded the traumatic event (e.g., military uniforms or the sounds or smells of war) and the US (the fearful trauma itself). As a result of the conditioning, being exposed to, or even thinking about the situation in which the trauma occurred (the CS), becomes sufficient to produce the CR of severe anxiety (Keane, Zimering, & Caddell, 1985).

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents a case of classical conditioning to a severe trauma that does not easily become extinct. In this case the original fear response, experienced during combat, has become conditioned to a loud noise. When the person with PTSD hears a loud noise, she experiences a fear response even though she is now far from the site of the original trauma.

Marc Wathieu – Luigi Coppola – CC BY-NC 2.0.

PTSD develops because the emotions experienced during the event have produced neural activity in the amygdala and created strong conditioned learning. In addition to the strong conditioning that people with PTSD experience, they also show slower extinction in classical conditioning tasks (Milad et al., 2009). In short, people with PTSD have developed very strong associations with the events surrounding the trauma and are also slow to show extinction to the conditioned stimulus.

Key Takeaways

• In classical conditioning, a person or animal learns to associate a neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus, or CS) with a stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus, or US) that naturally produces a behavior (the unconditioned response, or UR). As a result of this association, the previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit the same response (the conditioned response, or CR).
• Extinction occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, and the CR eventually disappears, although it may reappear later in a process known as spontaneous recovery.
• Stimulus generalization occurs when a stimulus that is similar to an already-conditioned stimulus begins to produce the same response as the original stimulus does.
• Stimulus discrimination occurs when the organism learns to differentiate between the CS and other similar stimuli.
• In second-order conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes a CS after being paired with a previously established CS.
• Some stimuli—response pairs, such as those between smell and food—are more easily conditioned than others because they have been particularly important in our evolutionary past.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

• A teacher places gold stars on the chalkboard when the students are quiet and attentive. Eventually, the students start becoming quiet and attentive whenever the teacher approaches the chalkboard. Can you explain the students’ behavior in terms of classical conditioning?
• Recall a time in your life, perhaps when you were a child, when your behaviors were influenced by classical conditioning. Describe in detail the nature of the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and the response, using the appropriate psychological terms.
• If posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of classical conditioning, how might psychologists use the principles of classical conditioning to treat the disorder?

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Garcia, J., Ervin, F. R., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Learning with prolonged delay of reinforcement. Psychonomic Science, 5 (3), 121–122.

Garcia, J., Kimeldorf, D. J., & Koelling, R. A. (1955). Conditioned aversion to saccharin resulting from exposure to gamma radiation. Science, 122 , 157–158.

Keane, T. M., Zimering, R. T., & Caddell, J. M. (1985). A behavioral formulation of posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. The Behavior Therapist, 8 (1), 9–12.

Lewicki, P. (1985). Nonconscious biasing effects of single instances on subsequent judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48 , 563–574.

LoBue, V., & DeLoache, J. S. (2010). Superior detection of threat-relevant stimuli in infancy. Developmental Science, 13 (1), 221–228.

Milad, M. R., Pitman, R. K., Ellis, C. B., Gold, A. L., Shin, L. M., Lasko, N. B.,…Rauch, S. L. (2009). Neurobiological basis of failure to recall extinction memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 66 (12), 1075–82.

Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001). Fears, phobias, and preparedness: Toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychological Review, 108 (3), 483–522.

Introduction to Psychology Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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Classical conditioning.

Ibraheem Rehman ; Navid Mahabadi ; Terrence Sanvictores ; Chaudhry I. Rehman .

Affiliations

Last Update: August 14, 2023 .

• Introduction

Learning is the process by which new knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and ideas are acquired. Learning can occur through both unconscious and conscious pathways. Classical conditioning is one of those unconscious learning methods and is the most straightforward way in which humans can learn. Classical conditioning is the process in which an automatic, conditioned response is paired with specific stimuli. Although Edwin Twitmyer published findings pertaining to classical conditioning one year earlier, the best-known and most thorough work on classical conditioning is accredited to Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist born in the mid-1800s. Pavlov had such a great impact on the study of classical conditioning that it is often referred to as Pavlovian conditioning. [1] [2] [3]

Pavlov’s Experiment

Classical conditioning was stumbled upon by accident. Pavlov was conducting research on the digestion of dogs when he noticed that the dogs’ physical reactions to food subtly changed over time. At first, the dogs would only salivate when the food was placed in front of them. However, later they salivated slightly before their food arrived. Pavlov realized that they were salivating at the noises that were consistently present before the food arrived; for example, the sound of a food cart is approaching.

To test his theory, Pavlov set up an experiment in which he rang a bell shortly before presenting food to the dogs. At first, the dogs elicited no response to the bells. However, eventually, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone.

To understand classical conditioning, it is essential to be familiar with the following terms. A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that at first elicits no response. Pavlov introduced the ringing of the bell as a neutral stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that leads to an automatic response. In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned response is an automatic response to a stimulus. The dogs salivating for food is the unconditioned response in Pavlov’s experiment. A conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response. In the described experiment, the conditioned stimulus was the ringing of the bell, and the conditioned response was salivation.

It is important to note that the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. Furthermore, it is important to realize that the unconditioned response and the conditioned response are the same except for which stimulus they are elicited by. In this case, salivation was the response, but the unconditioned response was triggered by food, whereas the conditioned response was triggered by the bell which indicated the coming of food.

Pavlov recorded several phenomena associated with classical conditioning. He found that the rate of acquisition, the initial stages of learning, depended on the noticeability of the stimulus and the time in between the introduction of the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, this would translate to the time in between the bell ringing and the presentation of food. Second, Pavlov observed that the conditioned response was vulnerable to extinction. If the conditioned stimulus is continuously supplied in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus, then the conditioned response becomes weaker and weaker until it disappears. In Pavlov’s experiment, this would translate to Pavlov ringing the bell without giving food to the dogs. Eventually, the dogs would stop salivating at the sound of the bell. However, spontaneous recovery was also observed. Even if a substantial amount of time had passed, the conditioned response would easily recover if the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus were paired again. Lastly, he found that stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination can occur. Stimulus generalization occurs when the dog can respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus. For example, if Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of another ringing sound such as a cell phone ringing, that would be stimulus generalization. Stimulus discrimination, on the other hand, is being able to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond only to the correct stimuli. [4] [5] [6] [7]

• Issues of Concern

People can use classical conditioning to exploit others for their gain. A prominent example of this occurs in advertising. The advertiser generally attempts to get consumers to associate their product with a particular response or feeling so they are more likely to buy the product. Advertisers can use music or mouth-watering food in their ads to create an association with their product. These types of associations can lead to increased spending as well as poor eating habits especially if the product is unhealthy food. 

• Clinical Significance

Most psychologists now agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning. Furthermore, it is well-known that Pavlovian principles can influence human health, emotion, motivation, and therapy of psychological disorders. There are many clinically related uses of classical conditioning. For example, former drug users often have a craving when they are in a drug-related environment or around people that they associate with previous highs. Drug counselors often advise these people to stay away from settings that could trigger a desire to take drugs again. Also, it has been proven that classical conditioning can even affect the human immune system. When a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences an immune response, sometimes the taste itself can induce the immune response at a later time. Another example can be found in the overcoming of phobias. One patient, who had feared getting into an elevator for 30 years, forced herself to enter 20 elevators a day. After 10 days, her fear had almost completely vanished.

O.H Mowrer discovered that certain behaviors can be reconditioned when he successfully developed a therapy for bed-wetters. In his therapy, the child would sleep on a liquid-sensitive pad connected to an alarm. Once moisture was detected, the alarm would go off. After repetition, bladder relaxation became associated with waking up and 75% of the time, frequent bed-wetters were healed and longer wet the bed while they slept.

Another example of an effective therapy that is used to cure phobias is counterconditioning, which pairs the trigger stimulus with a response that is contrary to fear. Two counterconditioning techniques that have been proven to be effective are exposure therapy and aversive therapy. In general, exposure therapies are therapies that expose people to what scares them. Two types of exposure therapies are systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy. In systematic desensitization, a pleasant, relaxed state is associated with increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. This therapy is common in the treatment of phobias. Virtual reality exposure follows the same concept as general exposure therapy but uses virtual reality to do instead of real-life situations. Aversive conditioning has the goal of substituting a negative response for a positive response to a harmful stimulus. This is essentially the reverse of systematic desensitization in which a positive response is replaced with a negative response to a harmless stimulus. One common example of aversive conditioning is mixing alcohol with an extremely bitter taste or lacing fingernails with something that causes severe nausea. The problem with this therapy is that patients can differentiate between situations inside and outside of the psychiatrist’s office. An alcoholic understands that if he drinks alcohol, it will normally not have that bitter taste. For this reason, a combination of conditioning therapies is the best approach to treat certain issues. [8] [9]

• Other Issues

A combination of both behavior modification therapy with medications can lead to better clinical outcomes than if either option is used alone. Some studies show enhanced outcomes when certain drugs are used in the psychological treatment of anxiety disorders and even post-traumatic stress disorders. Despite the clinical efficacy of these studies, it should be noted that each individual can have a different treatment plan that is optimal to only them. Some people might respond better to only therapy or medications rather than a combination of both. Furthermore, combination treatments can be more of a "mix and match" treatment where two patients can have similar amounts of treatment success but use different medications and therapy options. [10] [11] [12]

• Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

Classical conditioning concepts are integrated into the design of health-related interventions (i.e. modeling, reinforcement, expectancies, and cues to action). Cohesiveness and consistency of the patient/ interprofessional team implementing these types of interventions are important factors for success. The interprofessional healthcare team consists of diagnosticians, medication experts, prescribers, and other members who tend to the everyday needs of the patient. Cohesiveness and communication become especially important for the extinguishing of addictive behaviors such as drug use, smoking, or drinking alcohol. Since relapse is always a possibility, proper protocols should be in place to help re-extinguish the behavior if necessary. However, these protocols mainly depend on the patient's honesty and willingness to seek out help. Additionally, the interprofessional team can increase conditioning success by involving the patient's friends and family. They not only provide emotional support for the patient but can also provide updates to the interprofessional team when needed. [13] [14]

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Disclosure: Ibraheem Rehman declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Navid Mahabadi declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Terrence Sanvictores declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Chaudhry Rehman declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

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Classical Conditioning

Learning objectives.

• Explain how classical conditioning occurs
• Identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in classical conditioning situations

Does the name Ivan Pavlov ring a bell? Even if you are new to the study of psychology, chances are that you have heard of Pavlov and his famous dogs.

Pavlov (1849–1936), a Russian scientist, performed extensive research on dogs and is best known for his experiments in classical conditioning (Figure 1). As we discussed briefly in the previous section, classical conditioning  is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events.

Pavlov came to his conclusions about how learning occurs completely by accident. Pavlov was a physiologist, not a psychologist. Physiologists study the life processes of organisms, from the molecular level to the level of cells, organ systems, and entire organisms. Pavlov’s area of interest was the digestive system (Hunt, 2007). In his studies with dogs, Pavlov surgically implanted tubes inside dogs’ cheeks to collect saliva. He then measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various foods. Over time, Pavlov (1927) observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of food, but also at the sight of food, at the sight of an empty food bowl, and even at the sound of the laboratory assistants’ footsteps. Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive, so no learning is involved. However, dogs don’t naturally salivate at the sight of an empty bowl or the sound of footsteps.

These unusual responses intrigued Pavlov, and he wondered what accounted for what he called the dogs’ “psychic secretions” (Pavlov, 1927). To explore this phenomenon in an objective manner, Pavlov designed a series of carefully controlled experiments to see which stimuli would cause the dogs to salivate. He was able to train the dogs to salivate in response to stimuli that clearly had nothing to do with food, such as the sound of a bell, a light, and a touch on the leg. Through his experiments, Pavlov realized that an organism has two types of responses to its environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses.

In Pavlov’s experiments, the dogs salivated each time meat powder was presented to them. The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) : a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism. The dogs’ salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR) : a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus. Before conditioning, think of the dogs’ stimulus and response like this:

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is presented immediately before an unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov would sound a tone (like ringing a bell) and then give the dogs the meat powder (Figure 2). The tone was the neutral stimulus (NS), which is a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response. Prior to conditioning, the dogs did not salivate when they just heard the tone because the tone had no association for the dogs. Quite simply this pairing means:

When Pavlov paired the tone with the meat powder over and over again, the previously neutral stimulus (the tone) also began to elicit salivation from the dogs. Thus, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus (CS) , which is a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus. Eventually, the dogs began to salivate to the tone alone, just as they previously had salivated at the sound of the assistants’ footsteps. The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response (CR) . In the case of Pavlov’s dogs, they had learned to associate the tone (CS) with being fed, and they began to salivate (CR) in anticipation of food.

See if you can identify all of the “parts” of a classical conditioning situation in the following questions.

View the following video to learn more about Pavlov and his dogs:

You can view the transcript for “Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov” here (opens in new window) .

Real World Application of Classical Conditioning

Everyday Connection: Classical Conditioning at Stingray City

Kate and her husband Scott recently vacationed in the Cayman Islands, and booked a boat tour to Stingray City, where they could feed and swim with the southern stingrays. The boat captain explained how the normally solitary stingrays have become accustomed to interacting with humans. About 40 years ago, fishermen began to clean fish and conch (unconditioned stimulus) at a particular sandbar near a barrier reef, and large numbers of stingrays would swim in to eat (unconditioned response) what the fishermen threw into the water; this continued for years. By the late 1980s, word of the large group of stingrays spread among scuba divers, who then started feeding them by hand. Over time, the southern stingrays in the area were classically conditioned much like Pavlov’s dogs. When they hear the sound of a boat engine (neutral stimulus that becomes a conditioned stimulus), they know that they will get to eat (conditioned response).

As soon as Kate and Scott reached Stingray City, over two dozen stingrays surrounded their tour boat. The couple slipped into the water with bags of squid, the stingrays’ favorite treat. The swarm of stingrays bumped and rubbed up against their legs like hungry cats (Figure 4). Kate and Scott were able to feed, pet, and even kiss (for luck) these amazing creatures. Then all the squid was gone, and so were the stingrays.

Classical conditioning also applies to humans, even babies. For example, Sara buys formula in blue canisters for her six-month-old daughter, Angelina. Whenever Sara takes out a formula container, Angelina gets excited, tries to reach toward the food, and most likely salivates. Why does Angelina get excited when she sees the formula canister? What are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR here?

So far, all of the examples have involved food, but classical conditioning extends beyond the basic need to be fed. Consider our earlier example of a dog whose owners install an invisible electric dog fence. A small electrical shock (unconditioned stimulus) elicits discomfort (unconditioned response). When the unconditioned stimulus (shock) is paired with a neutral stimulus (the edge of a yard), the dog associates the discomfort (unconditioned response) with the edge of the yard (conditioned stimulus) and stays within the set boundaries.

Think It Over

Can you think of an example in your life of how classical conditioning has produced a positive emotional response, such as happiness or excitement? How about a negative emotional response, such as fear, anxiety, or anger?

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Classical conditioning interactive. Authored by : Jessica Traylor for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Classical Conditioning . Authored by : OpenStax College. License : CC BY: Attribution .

Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov . Authored by : BullyingNewsVideos. License Terms : Standard YouTube License

learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired or associated with the behavior

stimulus that elicits a reflexive response

natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus

stimulus that does not initially elicit a response

stimulus that elicits a response due to its being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

response caused by the conditioned stimulus

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Chapter 6. Learning

6.2. Classical Conditioning

Pavlov (1849–1936) was one of the first scientists to demonstrate how animals learn through classical conditioning. Pavlov was a Russian physiologist, not a psychologist, who was studying the digestive system in dogs (Hunt, 2007). He accidentally discovered how animals learn . Pavlov was measuring the amount of saliva that dogs produced in response to various foods. However, over time, he also noticed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of the food, but also at the sight of food or the food bowl, and even at the sound of the laboratory assistants’ footsteps (Pavlov, 1927). Salivating to food in the mouth is a reflex, so no learning is involved. However, dogs do not naturally salivate at the sight of an empty bowl or the sound of footsteps—they had learned to make the associations.

These unusual responses intrigued Pavlov, and he wondered what accounted for the behavior (Pavlov, 1927). He designed a series of carefully controlled experiments to see what other stimuli could cause the dogs to salivate. He was able to train the dogs to associate food with other unrelated (neutral) stimuli, such as the sound of a bell, a light, and a touch on the leg. Pavlov proposed that the dogs had two types of responses to their environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses, which they learned through experience.

In Pavlov’s experiments, the dogs always salivated (response) when given some meat (stimulus). Thus, the meat is an example of an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the dogs’ salivation is an unconditioned response (UCR). In his classical conditioning experiments, to teach the dog a new association, Pavlov presented a neutral stimulus (NS) immediately before an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), and repeated the pairings many times. For example, Pavlov would ring a bell and then give the dogs the meat (Figure 6.3). The bell is a neutral stimulus (NS), because it does not naturally elicit a salivation response. Prior to conditioning, the dogs did not salivate when they just heard the bell.

By pairing the bell sound with giving the dog some meat many times, eventually, the previously neutral stimulus (the bell ringing) also began to elicit salivation. Thus, the neutral stimulus had become the conditioned stimulus (CS). The dogs began to salivate to the bell alone. The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response (CR). Pavlov’s dogs had learned to associate the bell (CS) with being fed, and they began to salivate (CR) in anticipation of food.

Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

Pavlov conducted many experiments to try better understand the constraints under which the dogs could be conditioned to associate a neutral stimulus with food. For example, how long did the learning last for? He found that during the acquisition (learning) phase of the studies, when he always paired the neutral stimulus with food—the dogs always salivated. But, what if he played the bell many times but never followed up with any food? As you might have guessed, over time, the dogs began to produce less and less saliva, until the conditioned response disappeared—this is called extinction. On the following day, Pavlov was quite surprised to find that when he rang the bell, but did not give any meat—the dog started to salivate again. The CR had returned—this is called spontaneous recovery. Acquisition and extinction involve the strengthening and weakening, respectively, of a learned association. Pavlov found that the CR seems to persist for a long time. He also discovered that the CR could be quickly returned to previous levels simply by reminding the dog of the association by presenting a few bell—meat pairings.

Link to Learning

View this video about Pavlov and his dogs to learn more.

Little Albert, Fear Conditioning, and Phobias

You might be wondering whether people also learn through classical conditioning? The answer is yes, they do. Before we go into several real-life applications of classical conditioning in people, we will describe a historical study with a human infant. The study was conducted by John B. Watson and his research assistant, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore at the beginning of the 20 th century. Watson was one of a group of psychologists in the United States who felt that the methods of introspection and psychoanalysis that were popular in Europe, were too subjective to be considered scientific. Watson believed that psychology should focus on behaviorism—that is, studies that depended on measuring outward observable behaviors (Hunt, 2007). Building on the work of Pavlov, Watson and Rayner conducted a series of studies designed to try and evoke learned fears in an 9-month-old boy, whom they referred to as Albert B. This study has been cited many times—especially as an example of an unethical study in Psychology. There has also been much speculation about the fate of “Little Albert” as the study participant came to be known.

Initially, Little Albert was shown and touched various stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, some masks, some cotton, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of them, and so they can be considered neutral stimuli. In one study, Watson and Rayner conditioned Little Albert to associate a white rat with feeling scared. Every time they handed Albert the rat, Watson would make a loud clanging sound by hitting a hammer on a metal bar behind the little boy. The sound was very loud and scary and made Little Albert cry. Watson repeated the rat-clanging sound pairings seven times until Albert became frightened of the sight of the rat, even before the noise began. Can you figure out the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR in this study? This highly distressing study (which would not be permitted today) showed that emotions could become conditioned responses. According to Watson, Albert exhibited another phenomenon of classical conditioning—stimulus generalization. He was also scared by a somewhat similar stimulus—a Santa Claus mask with a white beard, even though he was not directly conditioned to fear it. Stimulus generalization is quite common in classical conditioning. For example, Pavlov found that once trained with the bell—meat pairings, dogs would also salivate to other similar sounds, such as a musical note on a piano. However, Pavlov then taught the dogs to recognize the difference between the two stimuli, by playing the piano note—without any meat repeatedly, and consistently ringing the bell before the meat all the other times. Thus, over time the dogs learned that the piano note was not associated with meat, but the bell was. This is called stimulus discrimination.

View scenes from this video on John Watson’s experiment in which Little Albert was conditioned to respond in fear to various furry objects. At first, you will see Albert’s initial reactions to a rat, dog and a monkey. The acquisition phase is not shown in the video. But, you will then see Albert’s reactions to the animals after conditioning, in addition to his reaction to a Santa Claus mask and a fur coat.

As you watch the video, look closely at Little Albert’s reactions and the manner in which Watson and Rayner present the stimuli before and after conditioning. Based on what you see, would you come to the same conclusions as the researchers? Why is this study considered to be unethical? What safeguards are there today to protect research participants who are babies, like Little Albert, and who are not able to give their consent to participate in a study?

According to Watson, Little Albert was also conditioned to fear a rabbit (Figure 6.5) and a dog. We do not know whether these fears persisted through his life or how strongly he feared the animals. Albert B apparently left the hospital soon after the study and was not traceable. However, there have been many inaccurate portrayals of these studies in the literature, including embellishments by Watson himself (Harris, 1979).

Some clinical psychologists have suggested that phobias— a strong and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation can arise though classical conditioning. For example, a child who is bitten or extremely frightened by a barking dog may learn to fear other dogs too (Oar et al., 2019). Somewhat relatedly, classical conditioning has also been used to help explain the experiences of people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a severe trauma and stressor-related disorder that can develop after exposure to a serious, often life-threatening traumatic event, (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). PTSD occurs when the individual develops a strong association between the situational factors surrounding the traumatic event (e.g., sounds or smells associated with guns, bombs, etc.) and the trauma itself. The trauma is a UCS because it automatically produces a fear response (UCR). Loud noises, flashing lights, or thinking about the situation in which the trauma occurred can become conditioned stimuli (CS) and so will produce a conditioned response (CR) of feeling extremely scared (Keane, Zimering, & Caddell, 1985). Thus some of the symptoms of PTSD may be explained by classical conditioning.

Taste Aversion

In general, learning often takes a lot of practice. For example, we saw that Pavlov’s dogs needed many repetitions of the CS-UCS pairings to learn the association. However, conditioned fears can develop after a single CS-UCS pairing, if the response that is evoked is especially intense. Taste-aversion, is another example of classical conditioning that can occur after one single CS-UCS pairing. You probably have had the experience of being ill after eating something and never wanting to eat it again. Even looking at the food or thinking about it makes you feel nauseous. Typically, we only learn to associate events that are close together in time. However, with taste aversion, several hours can pass between the CS (something eaten) and the UCR (nausea, vomiting etc.) caused by something like bacteria in the food (UCS). Garcia and Koelling (1966) showed that there are some biological constraints when learning to avoid specific foods. The conditioned stimulus has to be food-related, e.g., taste or smell; other non-food stimuli (like flashing lights) will not work. They discovered this by conducting a study investigating how rats learn to avoid poisons. They put a bottle of water containing a chemical that made rats sick, in each test cage. For one group of rats, they had sweetened the water so it had a distinctive taste, and for the other group, they flashed lights and played sounds whenever the rats drank from the water bottle. They found that rats that drank the sweet water learned to avoid the flavor, but none of the rats exposed to lights and sounds learned to avoid the bottle when the lights or sounds were presented.

Taste aversion and fear conditioning are two ways in which classical conditioning can contribute to a species’ survival by helping organisms learn to avoid stimuli that pose real dangers to health and welfare (Garcia & Rusiniak, 1980; Garcia & Koelling, 1966). However, cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy also often develop taste aversions, but these are not helpful. These aversions can occur when a healthy food is eaten just prior to a chemotherapy session, and then the patient gets sick to their stomach after the session (Holmes, 1993; Jacobsen et al., 1993; Hutton et al., 2007; Skolin et al., 2006). Chemotherapy drugs often make people sick, but one way to avoid developing taste aversions to healthy foods during treatment is to ensure that the patient eats something with relatively low nutritional value just before a session. Broberg and Bernstein (1987) used this approach by having children undergoing chemotherapy eat a strongly flavored candy just before a session. The children developed an aversion to the candy flavor, but not to the nutrition-rich food they ate before the candy.

Everyday Connection

Advertising and Associative Learning Advertising executives often apply the principles of classical conditioning in commercials and advertisements. Many of these revolve around the use of images that are overtly sexual (especially images of women). The idea is that the sexual images will act as unconditioned stimuli in that they often elicit feelings of sexual arousal. Therefore, if a product like a cologne, beer, or car is shown at the same time (or just afterwards), then the product will also become associated with feeling aroused. Of course, advertising executives understand that learning this association depends on repetition, which is why marketing campaigns often saturate us with their advertisements on television, magazines, Internet webpages, billboards, and public transport (Reichert, 2002).

What examples of these types of advertisements can you find on television, in magazines, or on the Internet? How do these advertisements make you feel about the product(s)?

Introduction to Psychology (A critical approach) Copyright © 2021 by Jill Grose-Fifer; Rose M. Spielman; Kathryn Dumper; William Jenkins; Arlene Lacombe; Marilyn Lovett; and Marion Perlmutter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Classical Conditioning Learning Theory: 4 Classroom Examples

Would you enjoy the opportunity to have students quietly transition between activities with little disruption?

For any teacher, these scenarios sound like a dream. With classical conditioning, we can make them a reality.

Pavlov and the salivating dogs is the notorious classical conditioning experiment. Although it seems primitive, this research has practical applications in the classroom. Read on to hear how an old theory has the potential to breed new tricks in the classroom.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology, including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

Learning theory and classical conditioning explained, conditioning in the classroom: 4 examples, how to apply classical conditioning in the classroom, 8 worksheets and games for teachers, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message.

“Every existing organism must in some way or another be sensitive to both meaningful as well as more coincidental relations between events in the environment.”

Eelen, 2018, p. 197

To understand this concept is to understand the premise of classical conditioning.

As learning can be described as an adaptive change in an individual’s behavior, learning theory is the approach, either physical or mental, responsible for changing the behavior (McLean & Christensen, 2017).

Learning theory includes both non-associative and associative learning. Classical conditioning is considered associative learning, as there is an association between two stimuli or events that cause the change in behavior.

To gain a better understanding of learning theory and classical conditioning, let’s explore the infamous experiment involving the salivation of dogs. Pavlov (1927) noticed that his research dogs began salivating around mealtimes, which is a natural response to eating; however, the salivation began even before the dogs ate.

Observing this phenomenon, Pavlov theorized he could elicit the salivation of dogs by presenting another stimulus to produce the same response. Pavlov introduced a bell tone before the dogs were given their food, and the dogs salivated at the tone of the bell.

Watson’s controversial experiment involving Little Albert is also an example of classical conditioning (Powell, Digdon, Harris, & Smithson, 2014). Little Albert was a young boy who was introduced to a white rat. At first, he enjoyed playing with and petting the rat; however, Watson began pairing the furry rat with a loud sound. Soon, Little Albert associated the rat with the loud noise, which made him cry.

Watson could eventually present the white rat without the loud noise and elicit a cry from Little Albert. It was theorized that Little Albert would develop a phobia of furry animals.

Simply put, classical conditioning is learning associations between two events (Eelen, 2018). To change a behavior using classical conditioning, you must pair the conditional stimulus (CS) with an unconditional stimulus (US), and then the conditioned response (CR) now comes to be elicited by the CS, with many opportunities for practice of course (Bouton & Moody, 2004). This process may be better understood with a few examples.

Perhaps students have music class before lunch every day. Halfway through music class, their stomachs may begin to rumble, similar to the salivation of the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment. The children may actually start to associate music class with hunger.

• Neutral stimulus (NS): After music class
• Unconditional stimulus (US): Eating lunch
• Unconditional response (UR): Feeling hungry
• Conditional stimulus (CS): Music class
• Conditional response (CR): Feeling hungry

As a child, perhaps you were given a special treat or privilege upon earning good grades on report cards or progress reports. You may have begun to associate good grades with a special treat.

Research has shown that parents’ perceptions have a stronger influence over children’s sense of self and task perceptions, even more so than their own grades (Frome & Eccles, 1998). Let’s break it down in the following example:

• NS: Good report card grades
• US: Going for ice cream
• UR: Feeling excited
• CS: Good report card grades
• CR: Feeling excited

It comes as no surprise that mistreatment, which can include public humiliation, may lead to student burnout and poor mental health (Markman, Soeprono, Combs, & Cosgrove, 2019).

Being humiliated by a teacher could still be haunting you today. Let’s say that a math teacher embarrassed a student. That student may develop a dislike for the subject that follows them even into adulthood.

• NS: Student performs poorly in math class
• US: Getting lectured by the math teacher
• UR: Feeling embarrassed
• CR: Feeling embarrassed

Classical conditioning can also be exhibited in forms of technology. Computer games that play different sounds when you get the correct or incorrect answer are prime examples. Baccus, Baldwin, and Packer (2004) designed a study that demonstrated that implicit self-esteem can be increased using a computer game that repeatedly pairs self-relevant information with smiling faces.

• NS: Getting the correct answer
• US: Hearing a high-pitched “ding!”
• UR: Feeling pleased with yourself
• CS: The high-pitched “ding!”
• CR: Feeling pleased with yourself

Classical conditioning examples – Kimberly Henderson

There are several excellent ways to apply classical conditioning in school, and we review a few of the options.

Attention-getters

Attention-getters such as turning off the lights, rhyming, student callbacks, hand signals, a bell, music, or when the teacher simply stops talking could be used to obtain students’ attention.

For example, a teacher may say, “Class, class!” and the class is expected to call back, “Yes, yes!” and then wait for the teacher’s next direction. Modeling this behavior will be crucial to beginning the conditioning process.

Transition notifications

Transition notifications such as a bell, gong, chimes, music, or a clap may sometimes be used to notify students of a transition. As an example, a teacher may strike a gong to alert students it is time to switch centers and move on to the next activity.

Creating a procedure for quick transitions will grant the teacher additional instructional time. Just as with the attention-getter, the teacher will want to explicitly model the expected behavior and review the expectations often. Please see how to play a transition game below.

Positive feedback

Positive feedback is an easy way to keep the students who are doing the right thing on track while motivating students who are off-track to switch courses.

The students who receive the positive feedback will associate the activity they are being praised for with a good feeling. Most students will continue to demonstrate the behavior.

The students who may not be showing the desired behavior may hear the positive feedback toward the other students and wish to receive the positive feedback as well. They will then, most likely, exhibit the desired behavior. Of course, there are always exceptions. This concept borders operant conditioning with positive reinforcement .

Answer cueing

Answer cueing may be used to provide students a procedure for answering questions, as well as grant students additional “think time.” This technique prevents fast-paced students from shouting out the answers to questions before the other students can process the question and formulate an answer.

For example, a teacher may raise their hands up while asking the question, keep the hands up an extra few seconds, and then bring the hands down with palms facing upward, signaling students they are now permitted to answer the question.

While this “think time” typically lasts only 1.5 seconds, research has shown that waiting three seconds or more will benefit the students (Stahl, 1994). This additional processing time can encourage more students to contribute to the lesson and answer the question presented by the teacher.

Unfortunately, classical conditioning can also hinder learning. As demonstrated, a bad experience in a certain class or with a specific teacher may cause a student to dislike that particular subject in general.

To make classical conditioning more concrete for students or support the learning even more, classical conditioning can be paired with operant conditioning. The pairing of classical conditioning and operant conditioning would involve the use of reinforcements.

Behavior management is a particularly troublesome skill for many new and veteran teachers.

Classical Conditioning & Your Classroom

This Classical Conditioning & Your Classroom worksheet can help condition students to perform the desired action after you present them with a stimulus of your choosing.

Classical Conditioning Graphic Organizer

The Classical Conditioning Graphic Organizer is available on Teachers Pay Teachers for free. This is a helpful resource to understand Pavlov’s dog salivation experiment and record other conditioning examples you would like to try in the classroom.

Classical conditioning balloon pop game

This balloon pop game from Teachers Pay Teachers is an activity to demonstrate and help teach older students what classical conditioning is all about.

In this activity, the teacher walks around the room and randomly pops balloons. Then the teacher walks around the room without popping the balloons, noting to the class that students continue to flinch.

The students are conditioned to flinch as the teacher walks around the classroom popping the balloons; however, they continue to flinch even when the teacher does not pop the balloons.

Matching activities

Matching activities , such as Memory, are an excellent way to build focus, memory, and matching skills, while using classical conditioning to motivate the players.

In a matching game, the player chooses a card to turn over. The player then chooses another card to turn over, and if the card matches the first, the player keeps the cards. Discovering that the pictures or items on the card match, the player is conditioned to be more mindful of other cards’ locations as they are being turned over.

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Pulse conditioning game

Pulse conditioning involves two students taking each other’s pulse. One student takes the other student’s pulse after they have been relaxing for two minutes. Then the pulse recorder taps their pencil five times, and the relaxing student must stand up and hop on one foot for 30 seconds. The pulse is taken again, and this act is repeated five times.

After the fifth time, the recorder taps the pencil five times and the other student does not get up. The recorder takes the student’s pulse, and the pulse should be as high as it was after the student was hopping (Leonard, 2018).

Cue-set activity

The c ue-set activity requires the teacher to tap a desk three times with a yardstick and then tap the student’s head once. This is repeated three times. The fourth time, the teacher taps the desk four times, and the class should be able to witness the student’s anticipation of the tap on the head (Leonard, 2018).

Conditioned response buzzer

In the conditioned response buzzer activity, the teacher provides a text with some words that are in bold font. The teacher instructs students to tap their pencil every time the word “the” is read.

While students are reading, the teacher rings a bell when every bold word is read. Soon students will begin to tap their pencil whenever a bold word is read, in addition to all the instances of “the.” This activity shows how quickly classical conditioning can take effect (Leonard, 2018).

Timely Transitions Game

The Timely Transitions Game offers students a class-wide reward for completing appropriate transitions (Yarbrough, Skinner, Lee, & Lemmons, 2004).

This activity allows teachers to consider several types of criteria, which may include the duration of the transition or the noise level of the students. The teacher discusses the expectations and posts them in the front of the room.

Demonstration and modeling of an appropriate transition are critical for student understanding. As the transitions occur, the teacher times the students using a stopwatch and writes the time on chart paper that is visible to the class. This strategy alone decreased the transition times (Yarbrough et al., 2004).

At the end of the day, the teacher randomly chooses a transition criteria (time or noise level), and if the students achieved this time or goal, a letter is written on the board.

The letters in this particular study spelled out P-A-R-T-Y, and once the students earned these letters, they received their group reinforcer: a party.

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For more information on classical conditioning, check out What Is the Classical Conditioning Theory? 6 Real-Life Examples .

To learn more about the social learning theory specifically, please refer to What Is Bandura’s Social Learning Theory? 3 Examples .

Although somewhat different, if you are interested in learning more about operant conditioning, you may want to reference our article on Operant Conditioning Theory .

To dive deeper into classical conditioning studies, especially if you are interested in learning more about the specific types of stimuli and responses involved in the classical conditioning process, check out 4 Fascinating Classical Conditioning & Behaviorism Studies .

What Is the Classical Conditioning Theory? 6 Real-Life Examples includes a helpful diagram for understanding the conditioning process and may even help you develop your own classical conditioning exercises in your classroom.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others enhance their wellbeing, check out this signature collection of 17 validated positive psychology tools for practitioners. Use them to help others flourish and thrive.

Like Pavlov’s dogs and Watson’s Little Albert experiments, children can be conditioned in the classroom. An educator can use this learning theory to improve classroom instruction and behavior management. Likewise, a school staff member will also need to be mindful not to condition children negatively, as it could lead to long-term effects.

It is important for educators to know that children’s self-esteem can also be altered by conditioning. In the study by Baccus et al. (2004), the participants who were exposed to combinations of self-relevant information and smiling faces showed increased implicit self-esteem compared to control subjects.

We gather from this research that self-esteem is malleable, and teachers have the potential to elevate students’ self-esteem through classical conditioning. Likewise, teachers have the power to apply extinction practices so that students no longer associate certain events with negative thoughts of themselves. Praising a student for even the slightest act cannot be emphasized enough for having a monumental impact on students’ lives.

We can observe classical conditioning through classroom behavior management, class routines, or even the educational games that students play. It is an excellent tool to reinforce learning, and learning can be delivered to an entire class. May this old learning theory bring a new light to providing instruction and managing your classroom.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

• Baccus, J. R., Baldwin, M. W., & Packer, D. J. (2004). Increasing implicit self-esteem through classical conditioning. Psychological Science , 15 (7), 498–502.
• Bouton, M. E., & Moody, E. W. (2004). Memory processes in classical conditioning. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews , 28 (7), 663–674.
• Eelen, P. (2018). Classical conditioning: Classical yet modern. Psychologica Belgica , 58 (1), 196–211.
• Frome, P. M., & Eccles, J. S. (1998). Parents’ influence on children’s achievement-related perceptions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 74 (2), 435–452.
• Leonard, K. (2018). Classical conditioning classroom examples . Hello Motherhood. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.hellomotherhood.com/physical-education-games-for-elementary-children-6662731.html
• Markman, J. D., Soeprono, T. M., Combs, H. L., & Cosgrove, E. M. (2019). Medical student mistreatment: Understanding ‘public humiliation’. Medical Education Online , 24 (1), 1615367.
• McLean, A. N., & Christensen, J. W. (2017). The application of learning theory in horse training. Applied Animal Behaviour Science , 190 , 18–27.
• Nilsen, M., Lundin, M., Wallerstedt, C., & Pramling, N. (2021). Evolving and re-mediated activities when preschool children play analogue and digital memory games. Early Years , 41 (2–3), 232–247.
• Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex . Oxford University Press.
• Powell, R. A., Digdon, N., Harris, B., & Smithson, C. (2014). Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner, and Little Albert: Albert Barger as “Psychology’s lost boy”. American Psychologist , 69 (6), 600–611.
• Stahl, R. J. (1994). Using” think-time” and” wait-time” skillfully in the classroom . ERIC Clearinghouse.
• Yarbrough, J. L., Skinner, C. H., Lee, Y. J., & Lemmons, C. (2004). Decreasing transition times in a second grade classroom: Scientific support for the timely transitions game. Journal of Applied School Psychology , 20 (2), 85–107.

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Operant Conditioning — The Connection Between Classical And Operant Conditioning

The Connection Between Classical and Operant Conditioning

• Categories: Operant Conditioning

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Published: Jun 9, 2021

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• Last Updated November 30th, 2018 07:12 pm. (n.d.). Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner). Retrieved from https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/operant-conditioning/.
• Mcleod, S. (2018, August 21). Classical Conditioning. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html.
• Bouton, M. E. (2019). Conditioning and learning. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/ajxhcqdr
• King, L.A. (2016). The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View. McGraw-Hill Education.

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