Classical Conditioning
...s a possible injury or threat. People who had been in war could also be conditioned to react in a certain way to certain stimuli, like loud noises. They may, for example, dive for cover, in the conditioned reaction to a bomb explosion.” (Petty, R., & Cacioppo, J. (1981)) In the 1920’s Pavlov conducted more experiments with dogs. He then trained the dogs to associate a tone with a food reward. “The experiments showed that the dogs would show little or no response to the tone by itself (a conditioned stimulus). But when combined with the food (an unconditioned stimulus), a measurable unconditional response (saliva production) would result.” (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (1997)When the tone and the food were repeatedly presented together, the dogs formed an association between the two (between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus.) This conditioning is known as “Pavlovian” or Classical Conditioning and became a basis for the developing field of behavioral science. Classical conditioning works like this: You start with two things that are already connected to each other (food and salivation). Then you add a third thing (bell) for several trials. Eventually, this third thing may become so strongly associated that it has the power to produce the old behavior. The term “conditioning does have a purpose in this term. Because: · Food = salivation · Unconditioned Stimulus = Unconditioned Response “Unconditioned” means that the stimulus and the response are naturally connected. Unconditioned things just happen that way naturally, no teaching necessary, the basic needs and responses to these needs are unconditioned. “Stimulus” means the thing that starts the “response,” which is the thing that ends it, or a result to the stimulus. A stimulus is put out there and a response is made. We know that “unconditioned” means unlearned or untaught, well, “conditioning” means just the opposite. It means that we are trying to connect or link, or bond something new with the old relationship. So we try to: · Ring bell (conditioning stimulus) when food is presented = salivation · Unconditioned Stimulus = Unconditioned Response We will keep up the trials of ringing the bell along with the presentation of food until we get: · Bell = Salivation · Conditioned Stimulus = Conditioned Response 1. Unconditioned Stimulus: a thing that already outs out a response 2. Unconditioned Response: a thing that is already made by a stimulus 3. Unconditioned Relationship: an existing stimulus-response connection. 4. Conditioning Stimulus: a new stimulus we deliver the same time we give the old stimulus. 5. Conditioned Relationship: the new stimulus-response relationship we created by associating a new stimulus with an old response. Classical Conditioning can also be used in everyday life. Classical conditioning can be used to train animals. Classical conditioning is used by trainers for two purposes: To condition (train) autonomic responses (automatic responses or reflexes), such as drooling, producing adrenaline, or reducing adrenaline (calming) without using something that would naturally create such a response. It is also used to create an association between a stimulus that normally would not have any effect on the animal and on that would. Animals do not “learn” how to respond naturally to their wants or needs, so those things can be used to your advantage when training your pet. You can make your pet do things (tricks, or just behaving) by using their natural responses. This theory is also good for training because it is not built on rewards or punishments. So you don’t have to worry about supplying it with rewards at the exact right time because it is difficult to supply an animal with one of the things it naturally likes (or dislikes) in time for it to be an important consequence of the behavior. In other words, it's hard to toss a fish to a dolphin while it's in the middle of a jump or when its finding a piece of equipment on the ocean floor a hundred meters below. So trainers will associate something that's easier to "deliver" with something the animal wants through classical conditioning. Some trainers call this a bridge (because it bridges the time between when the animal performs a desired behavior and when it gets its reward). Marine mammal trainers use a whistle. Many other trainers use a clicker, a cricket-like box with a metal tongue that makes a “click-click” sound when you press it. Classical conditioning works on people as well. For example: Go to k-Mart and watch what happens when the blue light turns on. Cost conscious shoppers will move directly to that table because they associate a good sale with the blue light. Research also proves that people are more likely to buy a sale item under the blue light even if the item isn’t a good value. Probably, the strongest application of classical conditioning is emotion. From experience and careful research, it has been concluded that human emotion conditions very rapidly and easily. Particularly when the emotion intensely felt or negative in direction, it will condition quickly. Mary Cover Jones was a person who branched off of Classical conditioning and dealing with peoples emotions. Mary Cover was born on September 1, 1897, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She pursued her love of psychology of learning at Vassar College, where she enrolled as an undergraduate in 1915. At Vassar she took “every psychology course offered.” Mary Cover began graduate work at Columbia University in 1919, and completed her Master’s degree by the summer of 1920. That same summer she married fellow graduate student, Harold Jones. In 1923, she was appointed Associate in Psychological Research at the Institute of Educational Research, Columbia University Teachers’ College. During this time, Jones conducted her study of “Peter.” Briefly, Jones treated Peter’s fear of a white rabbit with different fear-reducing procedures. The most successful procedure was that used a branch off of Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning, in which a pleasant stimulus (food) was presented simultaneously with the rabbit. As the rabbit was gradually brought closer to him in the presence of his favorite food, Peter grew more tolerant, and was able to touch it without fear. This was just one of the many examples that showed that classical conditioning was import, useful, and could be put to use in daily life. “There are also many different ways to end an unconditioned response that you do not want.(cf. Guthrie's work on...