Pavlov Theory - Conditioned Response Essay

Our understanding of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning has allowed us to unlock many of the answers we sought to learn about human behavior. Classical conditioning is a technique of behavioral training, coined by Ivan Pavlov, which basically states that an organism learns through establishing associations between different events and stimuli. This helps us understand human behavior in an assortment of ways. It makes it clear that almost everything we do is based on patterns of stimulus and response. For example, if you were bitten aggressively by a dog as a child, you may be still scared of dogs today. That is because the dog caused you pain, which in turn caused you have anxiety towards dogs.

Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning which occurs when two stimuli are paired together repetitively and therefore become associated with each other eventually producing the same response. Classical conditioning was developed from the findings of Ivan Pavlov to account for associations between neutral stimuli and reflexive behavior such as salivation. Pavlov (1927) accidently discovered that dogs began to salivate before they had tasted their food. To support his theory, he carried out experiments using dogs which involved measuring the amount of saliva they produced. In his experiments, food started off as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produced salivation, an unconditioned response (UCR). They are both unconditioned as they occur naturally without being learned. The dogs were presented with a bell (NS), this provided no salivation. The bell and food were presented together and after many trails an

Reinforcement is the main contributing factor in operant conditioning. There is more than one way to go about establishing reinforcement, if a delay occurs between the response and the reinforcement the response may not become strengthened. It is likely that if the reinforcement occurs immediately after the response that there will be a definite strengthening of the response. Continuous reinforcement is when reinforcement occurs at every instance of the desired response. Intermittent reinforcement occurs when a response is reinforced some of the time. The different schedules of reinforcement influence patterns of response. Intermittent schedules offer greater resistance to extinction than continuous schedules.

Classical conditioning is often associated with physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with the salivating dog (Hutchinson, 2015). This experiment focused on conditioning the dog to associate food with the bell while salivating, and eventually salivates when the bell is rung even without the presence of food. Operant conditioning theory is changed behavior as the result of a reinforcement (Hutchinson, 2015). In our society, we associate positive reinforcements with compliments, smiles, high-fives in order to encourage a behavior more. Negative reinforcement involves jail, detention, and grounding, and this is to stop a behavior from continuing. A cognitive social learning theory states that behavior can be learned through observations, beliefs, expectations, and imitation of others (Hutchinson, 2015). A major difference between cognitive social learning theory and the others, is a lack of manipulation to encourage the individual to follow through with a behavior. Rather, cognitive social learning theories suggest that a change in thinking can ultimately result in a change in behavior (Hutchinson, 2015).

Classical conditioning refers to the learning through association. It involves learning a new behavior through the process of association

Classic Conditioning can also be known as stimulus response, conditioned response, respondent condition as these are the behaviors that take place during the Classical Conditioning. There are two basic forms of associative conditioning, classical and operant. Both Ivan Pavlov and John Watson were the first contributors to these behaviorist theories. Ivan Pavlov’s theory came about by working a dog and John Watson worked his classical conditioning with humans.

The classical conditioning is a condition that focuses on the learning process in which a biological potent stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, a good example is Pavlov dog salivating (Corey, 2016). Operant conditioning focuses on the involvement of learning in which behavioral can be influenced by the consequences. The social learning approach is different from the Classical and Operant condition; its main focus is understanding the behavior of the environmental event that occurs with the individual. This approach is significant in identifying the way the environment can affect a person behavioral

Although classical conditioning is something that most people experience in a daily basis, it may also be the first thing someone remembers in a day. According to Olson and Hergenhahn (2009) classical conditioning is defined as a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response. In this paper the subject is to describe the theory of classical conditioning as well as describing a scenario in which one could apply classical conditioning theory to, and bring forth the scenario by showing illustrations of how this could be used

For the second stage, a white rat was used as Watson’s CS, the CS must be a neutral stimulus that initially has no effect on the UR. Little Albert showed no phobia towards the rat before conditioning occurred. By pairing the US with the CS, the infant learned to associate the loud noise of the hammer and metal bar with the white rat. After strengthening the association between the US and the CS by repetition, Little Albert eventually became fearful and upset when only presented with the once neutral stimulus, the white rat. This response was the CR which marked the completion of step three. Little Albert was now afraid of the white rat because it triggered his fear of the loud noise. Classical conditioning can be used to prove many forms of behavior between subjects when looking at the the right unconditioned/ conditioned stimuli and unconditioned/ conditioned responses. The theory of classical conditioning can be used to explain the development of distrust and trust issues in the relationships between people.

* Ivan Pavlov (behaviorist) – Started the idea of conditioning, where an inherited reflex comes to be triggered by a stimulus that has nothing to do with that reflex. He showed that even inherited reflexes could be influenced dramatically by learning experiences.

Pavlov’s theory is to show that there are some things that a dog does not need to learn. When food is shown to the dog, the dog starts to salivate which shows we have got a response, this is an unconditioned response because when he salivates he cannot control it. He then set up an experiment to find out if the dog could be trained to salivate at other stimuli such as ringing a bell when it is time for the dog to eat. When ringing the bell there was no conditioned response from the dog which then led him to ring the bell with the food to see if the dog would still salivate. When ringing the bell with the food the dog then had an unconditioned response and started salivating again. The fourth time he rang the bell and took the food away, which

The process of classical conditioning follows the procedure from Pavlov’s salivation experiment. Before conditioning, when a bowl of dog food is presented the dog would “naturally” salivate at the mouth “in response to food”. Because this response occurs “automatically” and “prior training” isn’t required for hunger, this reaction is called an unconditioned response (UCR) which “is the response that is naturally elicited by the [UCS]” (Powell et al., 2013, pp. 112-115). When referring to a natural response--one is referring to an elicited reaction that is characterized as “an unlearned or innate reaction to [a] stimulus” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). Furthermore, the dog food is considered an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which “is a stimulus that naturally elicits a response” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). According to Pavlov’s experiment, when a bell chimes without the presentation of dog food, the dog will not instinctually salivate (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). Since the bell didn’t initially “elicit salivation” naturally, it’s called a neutral stimulus (NS) (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). However, through conditioning, as the bell tone pairs with dog food continuously, the dog begins to salivate. Finally, after the conditioning process is completed, the pairing of “food” and the bell “now elicits salivation” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). Since the dog’s salivation required some type of continual prompting or, “prior training”, it’s reaction is considered a conditioned response (CR) “and the [bell]” is the conditioned stimulus (CS). By definition, a conditioned stimulus “is any stimulus that, although initially neutral, comes to elicit a response because it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). Responses triggered by a

Classical conditioning says that we learn behaviours by associating the response to the stimulus. An example of this can be found from the work of Ivan Pavlov. In the 1890s Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, carried out some experiments with a dogs. He noticed that when a dog eats food, they salivate: this is an unconditional response to an

     Classical conditioning is a process of learning associations between stimuli used by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. In

Using examples of both classical and operant conditioning, discuss the contributions and limitations of learning theory for the understanding of behaviour (Schacter et al., 2nd Ed, Chapter 6, also see Chapter 1 for historical context)