little albert experiment ucs ucr cs cr

6.2 Classical Conditioning

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain how classical conditioning occurs
Summarize the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination

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 6.3 ). 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.

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 6.4 ). 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.

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.

Link to Learning

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

Real World Application of Classical Conditioning

How does classical conditioning work in the real world? Consider the case of Moisha, who was diagnosed with cancer. When she received her first chemotherapy treatment, she vomited shortly after the chemicals were injected. In fact, every trip to the doctor for chemotherapy treatment shortly after the drugs were injected, she vomited. Moisha’s treatment was a success and her cancer went into remission. Now, when she visits her oncologist's office every 6 months for a check-up, she becomes nauseous. In this case, the chemotherapy drugs are the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), vomiting is the unconditioned response (UCR), the doctor’s office is the conditioned stimulus (CS) after being paired with the UCS, and nausea is the conditioned response (CR). Let's assume that the chemotherapy drugs that Moisha takes are given through a syringe injection. After entering the doctor's office, Moisha sees a syringe, and then gets her medication. In addition to the doctor's office, Moisha will learn to associate the syringe with the medication and will respond to syringes with nausea. This is an example of higher-order (or second-order) conditioning, when the conditioned stimulus (the doctor's office) serves to condition another stimulus (the syringe). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if someone rang a bell every time Moisha received a syringe injection of chemotherapy drugs in the doctor's office, Moisha likely will never get sick in response to the bell.

Consider another example of classical conditioning. Let’s say you have a cat named Tiger, who is quite spoiled. You keep her food in a separate cabinet, and you also have a special electric can opener that you use only to open cans of cat food. For every meal, Tiger hears the distinctive sound of the electric can opener (“zzhzhz”) and then gets her food. Tiger quickly learns that when she hears “zzhzhz” she is about to get fed. What do you think Tiger does when she hears the electric can opener? She will likely get excited and run to where you are preparing her food. This is an example of classical conditioning. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR?

What if the cabinet holding Tiger’s food becomes squeaky? In that case, Tiger hears “squeak” (the cabinet), “zzhzhz” (the electric can opener), and then she gets her food. Tiger will learn to get excited when she hears the “squeak” of the cabinet. Pairing a new neutral stimulus (“squeak”) with the conditioned stimulus (“zzhzhz”) is called higher-order conditioning , or second-order conditioning . This means you are using the conditioned stimulus of the can opener to condition another stimulus: the squeaky cabinet ( Figure 6.5 ). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if you ring a bell, open the cabinet (“squeak”), use the can opener (“zzhzhz”), and then feed Tiger, Tiger will likely never get excited when hearing the bell alone.

Everyday Connection

Classical conditioning at stingray city.

Kate and her spouse 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, people 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 people 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 they 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 6.6 ). Kate was able to feed, pet, and even kiss (for luck) these amazing creatures. Then all the squid was gone, and so were the stingrays.

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. In this example, the edge of the yard elicits fear and anxiety in the dog. Fear and anxiety are the conditioned response.

Watch this video clip from the television show, The Office , for a humorous look at conditioning in which Jim conditions Dwight to expect a breath mint every time Jim’s computer makes a specific sound.

General Processes in Classical Conditioning

Now that you know how classical conditioning works and have seen several examples, let’s take a look at some of the general processes involved. In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition , when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself. Timing is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Depending on what is being conditioned, sometimes this interval is as little as five seconds (Chance, 2009). However, with other types of conditioning, the interval can be up to several hours.

Taste aversion is a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness). Here’s an example. Harry went to the carnival. He ate a lot of cotton candy and later that night was very sick and threw up. The next day, his friend offered him a piece of candy. He put it into his mouth and started to feel sick and had to spit it out. The unconditioned stimulus is eating too much cotton candy. The unconditioned response is getting sick and throwing up. The conditioned stimulus is the sugary flavor and the conditioned response is Harry feeling nauseous at the taste of sugar.

How does this occur—conditioning based on a single instance and involving an extended time lapse between the event and the negative stimulus? Research into taste aversion suggests that this response may be an evolutionary adaptation designed to help organisms quickly learn to avoid harmful foods (Garcia & Rusiniak, 1980; Garcia & Koelling, 1966). Not only may this contribute to species survival via natural selection, but it may also help us develop strategies for challenges such as helping cancer patients through the nausea induced by certain treatments (Holmes, 1993; Jacobsen et al., 1993; Hutton, Baracos, & Wismer, 2007; Skolin et al., 2006). Garcia and Koelling (1966) showed not only that taste aversions could be conditioned, but also that there were biological constraints to learning. In their study, separate groups of rats were conditioned to associate either a flavor with illness, or lights and sounds with illness. Results showed that all rats exposed to flavor-illness pairings learned to avoid the flavor, but none of the rats exposed to lights and sounds with illness learned to avoid lights or sounds. This added evidence to the idea that classical conditioning could contribute to species survival by helping organisms learn to avoid stimuli that posed real dangers to health and welfare.

Robert Rescorla demonstrated how powerfully an organism can learn to predict the UCS from the CS. Take, for example, the following two situations. Ari’s dad always has dinner on the table every day at 6:00. Soraya’s mom switches it up so that some days they eat dinner at 6:00, some days they eat at 5:00, and other days they eat at 7:00. For Ari, 6:00 reliably and consistently predicts dinner, so Ari will likely start feeling hungry every day right before 6:00, even if he's had a late snack. Soraya, on the other hand, will be less likely to associate 6:00 with dinner, since 6:00 does not always predict that dinner is coming. Rescorla, along with his colleague at Yale University, Allan Wagner, developed a mathematical formula that could be used to calculate the probability that an association would be learned given the ability of a conditioned stimulus to predict the occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus and other factors; today this is known as the Rescorla-Wagner model (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972)

Once we have established the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus, how do we break that connection and get the dog, cat, or child to stop responding? In Tiger’s case, imagine what would happen if you stopped using the electric can opener for her food and began to use it only for human food. Now, Tiger would hear the can opener, but she would not get food. In classical conditioning terms, you would be giving the conditioned stimulus, but not the unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov explored this scenario in his experiments with dogs: sounding the tone without giving the dogs the meat powder. Soon the dogs stopped responding to the tone. Extinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response.

What happens when learning is not used for a while—when what was learned lies dormant? As we just discussed, Pavlov found that when he repeatedly presented the bell (conditioned stimulus) without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus), extinction occurred; the dogs stopped salivating to the bell. However, after a couple of hours of resting from this extinction training, the dogs again began to salivate when Pavlov rang the bell. What do you think would happen with Tiger’s behavior if your electric can opener broke, and you did not use it for several months? When you finally got it fixed and started using it to open Tiger’s food again, Tiger would remember the association between the can opener and her food—she would get excited and run to the kitchen when she heard the sound. The behavior of Pavlov’s dogs and Tiger illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery : the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period ( Figure 6.7 ).

Of course, these processes also apply in humans. For example, let’s say that every day when you walk to campus, an ice cream truck passes your route. Day after day, you hear the truck’s music (neutral stimulus), so you finally stop and purchase a chocolate ice cream bar. You take a bite (unconditioned stimulus) and then your mouth waters (unconditioned response). This initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when you begin to connect the neutral stimulus (the sound of the truck) and the unconditioned stimulus (the taste of the chocolate ice cream in your mouth). During acquisition, the conditioned response gets stronger and stronger through repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. Several days (and ice cream bars) later, you notice that your mouth begins to water (conditioned response) as soon as you hear the truck’s musical jingle—even before you bite into the ice cream bar. Then one day you head down the street. You hear the truck’s music (conditioned stimulus), and your mouth waters (conditioned response). However, when you get to the truck, you discover that they are all out of ice cream. You leave disappointed. The next few days you pass by the truck and hear the music, but don’t stop to get an ice cream bar because you’re running late for class. You begin to salivate less and less when you hear the music, until by the end of the week, your mouth no longer waters when you hear the tune. This illustrates extinction. The conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus (the sound of the truck) is presented, without being followed by the unconditioned stimulus (chocolate ice cream in the mouth). Then the weekend comes. You don’t have to go to class, so you don’t pass the truck. Monday morning arrives and you take your usual route to campus. You round the corner and hear the truck again. What do you think happens? Your mouth begins to water again. Why? After a break from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears, which indicates spontaneous recovery.

Acquisition and extinction involve the strengthening and weakening, respectively, of a learned association. Two other learning processes—stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization—are involved in determining which stimuli will trigger learned responses. Animals (including humans) need to distinguish between stimuli—for example, between sounds that predict a threatening event and sounds that do not—so that they can respond appropriately (such as running away if the sound is threatening). When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called stimulus discrimination . In classical conditioning terms, the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. Pavlov’s dogs discriminated between the basic tone that sounded before they were fed and other tones (e.g., the doorbell), because the other sounds did not predict the arrival of food. Similarly, Tiger, the cat, discriminated between the sound of the can opener and the sound of the electric mixer. When the electric mixer is going, Tiger is not about to be fed, so she does not come running to the kitchen looking for food. In our other example, Moisha, the cancer patient, discriminated between oncologists and other types of doctors. She learned not to feel ill when visiting doctors for other types of appointments, such as her annual physical.

On the other hand, when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalization , the opposite of stimulus discrimination. The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response. For instance, if the electric mixer sounds very similar to the electric can opener, Tiger may come running after hearing its sound. But if you do not feed her following the electric mixer sound, and you continue to feed her consistently after the electric can opener sound, she will quickly learn to discriminate between the two sounds (provided they are sufficiently dissimilar that she can tell them apart). In our other example, Moisha continued to feel ill whenever visiting other oncologists or other doctors in the same building as her oncologist.

Behaviorism

John B. Watson , shown in Figure 6.8 , is considered the founder of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a school of thought that arose during the first part of the 20th century, which incorporates elements of Pavlov’s classical conditioning (Hunt, 2007). In stark contrast with Freud, who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, Watson championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must focus on outward observable behavior that can be measured.

In 1920, while chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University, Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, conducted research on a baby nicknamed Little Albert. Rayner and Watson’s experiments with Little Albert demonstrated how fears can be conditioned using classical conditioning. Through these experiments, Little Albert was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things. Initially he was presented with various neutral stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks, cotton wool, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of these things. Then Watson, with the help of Rayner, conditioned Little Albert to associate these stimuli with an emotion—fear. For example, Watson handed Little Albert the white rat, and Little Albert enjoyed playing with it. Then Watson made a loud sound, by striking a hammer against a metal bar hanging behind Little Albert’s head, each time Little Albert touched the rat. Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus generalization—he became afraid of other furry things: a rabbit, a furry coat, and even a Santa Claus mask ( Figure 6.9 ). Watson had succeeded in conditioning a fear response in Little Albert, thus demonstrating that emotions could become conditioned responses. It had been Watson’s intention to produce a phobia—a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation— through conditioning alone, thus countering Freud’s view that phobias are caused by deep, hidden conflicts in the mind. However, there is no evidence that Little Albert experienced phobias in later years. While Watson’s research provided new insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by today’s standards.

View scenes from this video on John Watson’s experiment in which Little Albert was conditioned to respond in fear to furry objects to learn more.

Advertising and Associative Learning

Have you ever noticed how quickly advertisers cancel contracts with a famous athlete following a scandal? As far as the advertiser is concerned, that athlete is no longer associated with positive feelings; therefore, the athlete cannot be used as an unconditioned stimulus to condition the public to associate positive feelings (the unconditioned response) with their product (the conditioned stimulus).

Now that you are aware of how associative learning works, see if you can find examples of these types of advertisements on television, in magazines, or on the Internet.

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This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

Authors: Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett
Publisher/website: OpenStax
Book title: Psychology 2e
Publication date: Apr 22, 2020
Location: Houston, Texas
Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction
Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/6-2-classical-conditioning

© Jan 6, 2024 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.

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6.3: Classical and Operant Conditioning

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Learning outcomes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain how classical conditioning occurs
Summarize the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination
Define operant conditioning
Explain the difference between reinforcement and punishment
Distinguish between reinforcement schedules

Classical Conditioning

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 ). 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.

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:

“> Meat powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

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 ). 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:

“> Tone (NS) + Meat Powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

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.

“> Tone (CS) → Salivation (CR)

Two illustrations are labeled “before conditioning” and show a dog salivating over a dish of food, and a dog not salivating while a bell is rung. An illustration labeled “during conditioning” shows a dog salivating over a bowl of food while a bell is rung. An illustration labeled “after conditioning” shows a dog salivating while a bell is rung.

Now that you have learned about the process of classical conditioning, do you think you can condition Pavlov’s dog? Visit this website to play the game.

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

REAL WORLD APPLICATION OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

How does classical conditioning work in the real world? Let’s say you have a cat named Tiger, who is quite spoiled. You keep her food in a separate cabinet, and you also have a special electric can opener that you use only to open cans of cat food. For every meal, Tiger hears the distinctive sound of the electric can opener (“zzhzhz”) and then gets her food. Tiger quickly learns that when she hears “zzhzhz” she is about to get fed. What do you think Tiger does when she hears the electric can opener? She will likely get excited and run to where you are preparing her food. This is an example of classical conditioning. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR?

What if the cabinet holding Tiger’s food becomes squeaky? In that case, Tiger hears “squeak” (the cabinet), “zzhzhz” (the electric can opener), and then she gets her food. Tiger will learn to get excited when she hears the “squeak” of the cabinet. Pairing a new neutral stimulus (“squeak”) with the conditioned stimulus (“zzhzhz”) is called higher-order conditioning, or second-order conditioning. This means you are using the conditioned stimulus of the can opener to condition another stimulus: the squeaky cabinet ( Figure ). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if you ring a bell, open the cabinet (“squeak”), use the can opener (“zzhzhz”), and then feed Tiger, Tiger will likely never get excited when hearing the bell alone.

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 ). 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.

A photograph shows a woman standing in the ocean holding a stingray.

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?

For a humorous look at conditioning, watch this video clip from the television show The Office , where Jim conditions Dwight to expect a breath mint every time Jim’s computer makes a specific sound.

GENERAL PROCESSES IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Now that you know how classical conditioning works and have seen several examples, let’s take a look at some of the general processes involved. In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself. Timing is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Depending on what is being conditioned, sometimes this interval is as little as five seconds (Chance, 2009). However, with other types of conditioning, the interval can be up to several hours.

Taste aversion is a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness). Here’s how it works. Between classes, you and a friend grab a quick lunch from a food cart on campus. You share a dish of chicken curry and head off to your next class. A few hours later, you feel nauseous and become ill. Although your friend is fine and you determine that you have intestinal flu (the food is not the culprit), you’ve developed a taste aversion; the next time you are at a restaurant and someone orders curry, you immediately feel ill. While the chicken dish is not what made you sick, you are experiencing taste aversion: you’ve been conditioned to be averse to a food after a single, negative experience.

What happens when learning is not used for a while—when what was learned lies dormant? As we just discussed, Pavlov found that when he repeatedly presented the bell (conditioned stimulus) without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus), extinction occurred; the dogs stopped salivating to the bell. However, after a couple of hours of resting from this extinction training, the dogs again began to salivate when Pavlov rang the bell. What do you think would happen with Tiger’s behavior if your electric can opener broke, and you did not use it for several months? When you finally got it fixed and started using it to open Tiger’s food again, Tiger would remember the association between the can opener and her food—she would get excited and run to the kitchen when she heard the sound. The behavior of Pavlov’s dogs and Tiger illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery: the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period ( Figure ).

A chart has an x-axis labeled “time” and a y-axis labeled “strength of CR;” there are four columns of graphed data. The first column is labeled “acquisition (CS + UCS) and the line rises steeply from the bottom to the top. The second column is labeled “Extinction (CS alone)” and the line drops rapidly from the top to the bottom. The third column is labeled “Pause” and has no line. The fourth column has a line that begins midway and drops sharply to the bottom. At the point where the line begins, it is labeled “Spontaneous recovery of CR”; the halfway point on the line is labeled “Extinction (CS alone).”

Acquisition and extinction involve the strengthening and weakening, respectively, of a learned association. Two other learning processes—stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization—are involved in distinguishing which stimuli will trigger the learned association. Animals (including humans) need to distinguish between stimuli—for example, between sounds that predict a threatening event and sounds that do not—so that they can respond appropriately (such as running away if the sound is threatening). When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called stimulus discrimination. In classical conditioning terms, the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. Pavlov’s dogs discriminated between the basic tone that sounded before they were fed and other tones (e.g., the doorbell), because the other sounds did not predict the arrival of food. Similarly, Tiger, the cat, discriminated between the sound of the can opener and the sound of the electric mixer. When the electric mixer is going, Tiger is not about to be fed, so she does not come running to the kitchen looking for food.

On the other hand, when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalization, the opposite of stimulus discrimination. The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response. For instance, if the electric mixer sounds very similar to the electric can opener, Tiger may come running after hearing its sound. But if you do not feed her following the electric mixer sound, and you continue to feed her consistently after the electric can opener sound, she will quickly learn to discriminate between the two sounds (provided they are sufficiently dissimilar that she can tell them apart).

Sometimes, classical conditioning can lead to habituation. Habituation occurs when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change. As the stimulus occurs over and over, we learn not to focus our attention on it. For example, imagine that your neighbor or roommate constantly has the television blaring. This background noise is distracting and makes it difficult for you to focus when you’re studying. However, over time, you become accustomed to the stimulus of the television noise, and eventually you hardly notice it any longer.

BEHAVIORISM

John B. Watson , shown in Figure , is considered the founder of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a school of thought that arose during the first part of the 20th century, which incorporates elements of Pavlov’s classical conditioning (Hunt, 2007). In stark contrast with Freud, who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, Watson championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must focus on outward observable behavior that can be measured.

Watson’s ideas were influenced by Pavlov’s work. According to Watson, human behavior, just like animal behavior, is primarily the result of conditioned responses. Whereas Pavlov’s work with dogs involved the conditioning of reflexes, Watson believed the same principles could be extended to the conditioning of human emotions (Watson, 1919). Thus began Watson’s work with his graduate student Rosalie Rayner and a baby called Little Albert. Through their experiments with Little Albert, Watson and Rayner (1920) demonstrated how fears can be conditioned.

In 1920, Watson was the chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University. Through his position at the university he came to meet Little Albert’s mother, Arvilla Merritte, who worked at a campus hospital (DeAngelis, 2010). Watson offered her a dollar to allow her son to be the subject of his experiments in classical conditioning. Through these experiments, Little Albert was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things. Initially he was presented with various neutral stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks, cotton wool, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of these things. Then Watson, with the help of Rayner, conditioned Little Albert to associate these stimuli with an emotion—fear. For example, Watson handed Little Albert the white rat, and Little Albert enjoyed playing with it. Then Watson made a loud sound, by striking a hammer against a metal bar hanging behind Little Albert’s head, each time Little Albert touched the rat. Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus generalization—he became afraid of other furry things: a rabbit, a furry coat, and even a Santa Claus mask ( Figure ). Watson had succeeded in conditioning a fear response in Little Albert, thus demonstrating that emotions could become conditioned responses. It had been Watson’s intention to produce a phobia—a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation— through conditioning alone, thus countering Freud’s view that phobias are caused by deep, hidden conflicts in the mind. However, there is no evidence that Little Albert experienced phobias in later years. Little Albert’s mother moved away, ending the experiment, and Little Albert himself died a few years later of unrelated causes. While Watson’s research provided new insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by today’s standards.

A photograph shows a man wearing a mask with a white beard; his face is close to a baby who is crawling away. A caption reads, “Now he fears even Santa Claus.”

View scenes from John Watson’s experiment in which Little Albert was conditioned to respond in fear to furry objects.

Now that you are aware of how associative learning works, see if you can find examples of these types of advertisements on television, in magazines, or on the Internet.

Pavlov’s pioneering work with dogs contributed greatly to what we know about learning. His experiments explored the type of associative learning we now call classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, organisms learn to associate events that repeatedly happen together, and researchers study how a reflexive response to a stimulus can be mapped to a different stimulus—by training an association between the two stimuli. Pavlov’s experiments show how stimulus-response bonds are formed. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, was greatly influenced by Pavlov’s work. He tested humans by conditioning fear in an infant known as Little Albert. His findings suggest that classical conditioning can explain how some fears develop.

Review Questions

A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response in an organism is a(n) ________.

unconditioned stimulus
neutral stimulus
conditioned stimulus
unconditioned response

In Watson and Rayner’s experiments, Little Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat, and then he began to be afraid of other furry white objects. This demonstrates ________.

higher order conditioning
acquisition
stimulus discrimination
stimulus generalization

Extinction occurs when ________.

the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
the unconditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with a conditioned stimulus
the neutral stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
the neutral stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with a conditioned stimulus

In Pavlov’s work with dogs, the psychic secretions were ________.

unconditioned responses
conditioned responses
unconditioned stimuli
conditioned stimuli

Critical Thinking Questions

If the sound of your toaster popping up toast causes your mouth to water, what are the UCS, CS, and CR?

Explain how the processes of stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are considered opposites.

How does a neutral stimulus become a conditioned stimulus?

Personal Application Question

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?

Operant Conditioning

The previous section of this chapter focused on the type of associative learning known as classical conditioning. Remember that in classical conditioning, something in the environment triggers a reflex automatically, and researchers train the organism to react to a different stimulus. Now we turn to the second type of associative learning, operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence ( Table ). A pleasant consequence makes that behavior more likely to be repeated in the future. For example, Spirit, a dolphin at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, does a flip in the air when her trainer blows a whistle. The consequence is that she gets a fish.

Classical and Operant Conditioning Compared
	Classical Conditioning	Operant Conditioning
Conditioning approach	An unconditioned stimulus (such as food) is paired with a neutral stimulus (such as a bell). The neutral stimulus eventually becomes the conditioned stimulus, which brings about the conditioned response (salivation).	The target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment to either strengthen or weaken it, so that the learner is more likely to exhibit the desired behavior in the future.
Stimulus timing	The stimulus occurs immediately before the response.	The stimulus (either reinforcement or punishment) occurs soon after the response.

Psychologist B. F. Skinner saw that classical conditioning is limited to existing behaviors that are reflexively elicited, and it doesn’t account for new behaviors such as riding a bike. He proposed a theory about how such behaviors come about. Skinner believed that behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: the reinforcements and punishments. His idea that learning is the result of consequences is based on the law of effect, which was first proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike . According to the law of effect, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated (Thorndike, 1911). Essentially, if an organism does something that brings about a desired result, the organism is more likely to do it again. If an organism does something that does not bring about a desired result, the organism is less likely to do it again. An example of the law of effect is in employment. One of the reasons (and often the main reason) we show up for work is because we get paid to do so. If we stop getting paid, we will likely stop showing up—even if we love our job.

Working with Thorndike’s law of effect as his foundation, Skinner began conducting scientific experiments on animals (mainly rats and pigeons) to determine how organisms learn through operant conditioning (Skinner, 1938). He placed these animals inside an operant conditioning chamber, which has come to be known as a “Skinner box” ( Figure ). A Skinner box contains a lever (for rats) or disk (for pigeons) that the animal can press or peck for a food reward via the dispenser. Speakers and lights can be associated with certain behaviors. A recorder counts the number of responses made by the animal.

A photograph shows B.F. Skinner. An illustration shows a rat in a Skinner box: a chamber with a speaker, lights, a lever, and a food dispenser.

Watch this brief video clip to learn more about operant conditioning: Skinner is interviewed, and operant conditioning of pigeons is demonstrated.

In discussing operant conditioning, we use several everyday words—positive, negative, reinforcement, and punishment—in a specialized manner. In operant conditioning, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means you are adding something, and negative means you are taking something away. Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, and punishment can also be positive or negative. All reinforcers (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behavioral response. All punishers (positive or negative) decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response. Now let’s combine these four terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment ( Table ).

Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment
	Reinforcement	Punishment
Positive	Something is to the likelihood of a behavior.	Something is to the likelihood of a behavior.
Negative	Something is to the likelihood of a behavior.	Something is to the likelihood of a behavior.

REINFORCEMENT

The most effective way to teach a person or animal a new behavior is with positive reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.

For example, you tell your five-year-old son, Jerome, that if he cleans his room, he will get a toy. Jerome quickly cleans his room because he wants a new art set. Let’s pause for a moment. Some people might say, “Why should I reward my child for doing what is expected?” But in fact we are constantly and consistently rewarded in our lives. Our paychecks are rewards, as are high grades and acceptance into our preferred school. Being praised for doing a good job and for passing a driver’s test is also a reward. Positive reinforcement as a learning tool is extremely effective. It has been found that one of the most effective ways to increase achievement in school districts with below-average reading scores was to pay the children to read. Specifically, second-grade students in Dallas were paid $2 each time they read a book and passed a short quiz about the book. The result was a significant increase in reading comprehension (Fryer, 2010). What do you think about this program? If Skinner were alive today, he would probably think this was a great idea. He was a strong proponent of using operant conditioning principles to influence students’ behavior at school. In fact, in addition to the Skinner box, he also invented what he called a teaching machine that was designed to reward small steps in learning (Skinner, 1961)—an early forerunner of computer-assisted learning. His teaching machine tested students’ knowledge as they worked through various school subjects. If students answered questions correctly, they received immediate positive reinforcement and could continue; if they answered incorrectly, they did not receive any reinforcement. The idea was that students would spend additional time studying the material to increase their chance of being reinforced the next time (Skinner, 1961).

In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior. For example, car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt systems, which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound stops when you exhibit the desired behavior, increasing the likelihood that you will buckle up in the future. Negative reinforcement is also used frequently in horse training. Riders apply pressure—by pulling the reins or squeezing their legs—and then remove the pressure when the horse performs the desired behavior, such as turning or speeding up. The pressure is the negative stimulus that the horse wants to remove.

Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment in operant conditioning, but they are two very different mechanisms. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is negative, always increases a behavior. In contrast, punishment always decreases a behavior. In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior. An example of positive punishment is scolding a student to get the student to stop texting in class. In this case, a stimulus (the reprimand) is added in order to decrease the behavior (texting in class). In negative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior. For example, a driver might blast her horn when a light turns green, and continue blasting the horn until the car in front moves.

Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is one way to decrease undesirable behavior. For example, imagine your four-year-old son, Brandon, runs into the busy street to get his ball. You give him a time-out (positive punishment) and tell him never to go into the street again. Chances are he won’t repeat this behavior. While strategies like time-outs are common today, in the past children were often subject to physical punishment, such as spanking. It’s important to be aware of some of the drawbacks in using physical punishment on children. First, punishment may teach fear. Brandon may become fearful of the street, but he also may become fearful of the person who delivered the punishment—you, his parent. Similarly, children who are punished by teachers may come to fear the teacher and try to avoid school (Gershoff et al., 2010). Consequently, most schools in the United States have banned corporal punishment. Second, punishment may cause children to become more aggressive and prone to antisocial behavior and delinquency (Gershoff, 2002). They see their parents resort to spanking when they become angry and frustrated, so, in turn, they may act out this same behavior when they become angry and frustrated. For example, because you spank Brenda when you are angry with her for her misbehavior, she might start hitting her friends when they won’t share their toys.

While positive punishment can be effective in some cases, Skinner suggested that the use of punishment should be weighed against the possible negative effects. Today’s psychologists and parenting experts favor reinforcement over punishment—they recommend that you catch your child doing something good and reward her for it.

In his operant conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shaping, we reward successive approximations of a target behavior. Why is shaping needed? Remember that in order for reinforcement to work, the organism must first display the behavior. Shaping is needed because it is extremely unlikely that an organism will display anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small, achievable steps. The specific steps used in the process are the following:

Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior.
Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response.
Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior.
Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.

Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. Skinner used shaping to teach pigeons not only such relatively simple behaviors as pecking a disk in a Skinner box, but also many unusual and entertaining behaviors, such as turning in circles, walking in figure eights, and even playing ping pong; the technique is commonly used by animal trainers today. An important part of shaping is stimulus discrimination. Recall Pavlov’s dogs—he trained them to respond to the tone of a bell, and not to similar tones or sounds. This discrimination is also important in operant conditioning and in shaping behavior.

Here is a brief video of Skinner’s pigeons playing ping pong.

It’s easy to see how shaping is effective in teaching behaviors to animals, but how does shaping work with humans? Let’s consider parents whose goal is to have their child learn to clean his room. They use shaping to help him master steps toward the goal. Instead of performing the entire task, they set up these steps and reinforce each step. First, he cleans up one toy. Second, he cleans up five toys. Third, he chooses whether to pick up ten toys or put his books and clothes away. Fourth, he cleans up everything except two toys. Finally, he cleans his entire room.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY REINFORCERS

Rewards such as stickers, praise, money, toys, and more can be used to reinforce learning. Let’s go back to Skinner’s rats again. How did the rats learn to press the lever in the Skinner box? They were rewarded with food each time they pressed the lever. For animals, food would be an obvious reinforcer.

What would be a good reinforce for humans? For your daughter Sydney, it was the promise of a toy if she cleaned her room. How about Joaquin, the soccer player? If you gave Joaquin a piece of candy every time he made a goal, you would be using a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are primary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things. For most people, jumping in a cool lake on a very hot day would be reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person off (a physical need), as well as provide pleasure.

A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer. Praise, linked to affection, is one example of a secondary reinforcer, as when you called out “Great shot!” every time Joaquin made a goal. Another example, money, is only worth something when you can use it to buy other things—either things that satisfy basic needs (food, water, shelter—all primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers. If you were on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it. What about the stickers on the behavior chart? They also are secondary reinforcers.

Sometimes, instead of stickers on a sticker chart, a token is used. Tokens, which are also secondary reinforcers, can then be traded in for rewards and prizes. Entire behavior management systems, known as token economies, are built around the use of these kinds of token reinforcers. Token economies have been found to be very effective at modifying behavior in a variety of settings such as schools, prisons, and mental hospitals. For example, a study by Cangi and Daly (2013) found that use of a token economy increased appropriate social behaviors and reduced inappropriate behaviors in a group of autistic school children. Autistic children tend to exhibit disruptive behaviors such as pinching and hitting. When the children in the study exhibited appropriate behavior (not hitting or pinching), they received a “quiet hands” token. When they hit or pinched, they lost a token. The children could then exchange specified amounts of tokens for minutes of playtime.

Parents and teachers often use behavior modification to change a child’s behavior. Behavior modification uses the principles of operant conditioning to accomplish behavior change so that undesirable behaviors are switched for more socially acceptable ones. Some teachers and parents create a sticker chart, in which several behaviors are listed ( Figure ). Sticker charts are a form of token economies, as described in the text. Each time children perform the behavior, they get a sticker, and after a certain number of stickers, they get a prize, or reinforcer. The goal is to increase acceptable behaviors and decrease misbehavior. Remember, it is best to reinforce desired behaviors, rather than to use punishment. In the classroom, the teacher can reinforce a wide range of behaviors, from students raising their hands, to walking quietly in the hall, to turning in their homework. At home, parents might create a behavior chart that rewards children for things such as putting away toys, brushing their teeth, and helping with dinner. In order for behavior modification to be effective, the reinforcement needs to be connected with the behavior; the reinforcement must matter to the child and be done consistently.

A photograph shows a child placing stickers on a chart hanging on the wall.

Time-out is another popular technique used in behavior modification with children. It operates on the principle of negative punishment. When a child demonstrates an undesirable behavior, she is removed from the desirable activity at hand ( Figure ). For example, say that Sophia and her brother Mario are playing with building blocks. Sophia throws some blocks at her brother, so you give her a warning that she will go to time-out if she does it again. A few minutes later, she throws more blocks at Mario. You remove Sophia from the room for a few minutes. When she comes back, she doesn’t throw blocks.

There are several important points that you should know if you plan to implement time-out as a behavior modification technique. First, make sure the child is being removed from a desirable activity and placed in a less desirable location. If the activity is something undesirable for the child, this technique will backfire because it is more enjoyable for the child to be removed from the activity. Second, the length of the time-out is important. The general rule of thumb is one minute for each year of the child’s age. Sophia is five; therefore, she sits in a time-out for five minutes. Setting a timer helps children know how long they have to sit in time-out. Finally, as a caregiver, keep several guidelines in mind over the course of a time-out: remain calm when directing your child to time-out; ignore your child during time-out (because caregiver attention may reinforce misbehavior); and give the child a hug or a kind word when time-out is over.

Photograph A shows several children climbing on playground equipment. Photograph B shows a child sitting alone at a table looking at the playground.

REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES

Remember, the best way to teach a person or animal a behavior is to use positive reinforcement. For example, Skinner used positive reinforcement to teach rats to press a lever in a Skinner box. At first, the rat might randomly hit the lever while exploring the box, and out would come a pellet of food. After eating the pellet, what do you think the hungry rat did next? It hit the lever again, and received another pellet of food. Each time the rat hit the lever, a pellet of food came out. When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcement. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior. Let’s look back at the dog that was learning to sit earlier in the chapter. Now, each time he sits, you give him a treat. Timing is important here: you will be most successful if you present the reinforcer immediately after he sits, so that he can make an association between the target behavior (sitting) and the consequence (getting a treat).

Watch this video clip where veterinarian Dr. Sophia Yin shapes a dog’s behavior using the steps outlined above.

Once a behavior is trained, researchers and trainers often turn to another type of reinforcement schedule—partial reinforcement. In partial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior. There are several different types of partial reinforcement schedules ( Table ). These schedules are described as either fixed or variable, and as either interval or ratio. Fixed refers to the number of responses between reinforcements, or the amount of time between reinforcements, which is set and unchanging. Variable refers to the number of responses or amount of time between reinforcements, which varies or changes. Interval means the schedule is based on the time between reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements.

Reinforcement Schedules
Reinforcement Schedule	Description	Result	Example
Fixed interval	Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes).	Moderate response rate with significant pauses after reinforcement	Hospital patient uses patient-controlled, doctor-timed pain relief
Variable interval	Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 7, 10, and 20 minutes).	Moderate yet steady response rate	Checking Facebook
Fixed ratio	Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses (e.g., after 2, 4, 6, and 8 responses).	High response rate with pauses after reinforcement	Piecework—factory worker getting paid for every x number of items manufactured
Variable ratio	Reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses (e.g., after 1, 4, 5, and 9 responses).	High and steady response rate	Gambling

Now let’s combine these four terms. A fixed interval reinforcement schedule is when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time. For example, June undergoes major surgery in a hospital. During recovery, she is expected to experience pain and will require prescription medications for pain relief. June is given an IV drip with a patient-controlled painkiller. Her doctor sets a limit: one dose per hour. June pushes a button when pain becomes difficult, and she receives a dose of medication. Since the reward (pain relief) only occurs on a fixed interval, there is no point in exhibiting the behavior when it will not be rewarded.

With a variable interval reinforcement schedule, the person or animal gets the reinforcement based on varying amounts of time, which are unpredictable. Say that Manuel is the manager at a fast-food restaurant. Every once in a while someone from the quality control division comes to Manuel’s restaurant. If the restaurant is clean and the service is fast, everyone on that shift earns a $20 bonus. Manuel never knows when the quality control person will show up, so he always tries to keep the restaurant clean and ensures that his employees provide prompt and courteous service. His productivity regarding prompt service and keeping a clean restaurant are steady because he wants his crew to earn the bonus.

With a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded. Carla sells glasses at an eyeglass store, and she earns a commission every time she sells a pair of glasses. She always tries to sell people more pairs of glasses, including prescription sunglasses or a backup pair, so she can increase her commission. She does not care if the person really needs the prescription sunglasses, Carla just wants her bonus. The quality of what Carla sells does not matter because her commission is not based on quality; it’s only based on the number of pairs sold. This distinction in the quality of performance can help determine which reinforcement method is most appropriate for a particular situation. Fixed ratios are better suited to optimize the quantity of output, whereas a fixed interval, in which the reward is not quantity based, can lead to a higher quality of output.

In a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, the number of responses needed for a reward varies. This is the most powerful partial reinforcement schedule. An example of the variable ratio reinforcement schedule is gambling. Imagine that Sarah—generally a smart, thrifty woman—visits Las Vegas for the first time. She is not a gambler, but out of curiosity she puts a quarter into the slot machine, and then another, and another. Nothing happens. Two dollars in quarters later, her curiosity is fading, and she is just about to quit. But then, the machine lights up, bells go off, and Sarah gets 50 quarters back. That’s more like it! Sarah gets back to inserting quarters with renewed interest, and a few minutes later she has used up all her gains and is $10 in the hole. Now might be a sensible time to quit. And yet, she keeps putting money into the slot machine because she never knows when the next reinforcement is coming. She keeps thinking that with the next quarter she could win $50, or $100, or even more. Because the reinforcement schedule in most types of gambling has a variable ratio schedule, people keep trying and hoping that the next time they will win big. This is one of the reasons that gambling is so addictive—and so resistant to extinction.

In operant conditioning, extinction of a reinforced behavior occurs at some point after reinforcement stops, and the speed at which this happens depends on the reinforcement schedule. In a variable ratio schedule, the point of extinction comes very slowly, as described above. But in the other reinforcement schedules, extinction may come quickly. For example, if June presses the button for the pain relief medication before the allotted time her doctor has approved, no medication is administered. She is on a fixed interval reinforcement schedule (dosed hourly), so extinction occurs quickly when reinforcement doesn’t come at the expected time. Among the reinforcement schedules, variable ratio is the most productive and the most resistant to extinction. Fixed interval is the least productive and the easiest to extinguish ( Figure ).

A graph has an x-axis labeled “Time” and a y-axis labeled “Cumulative number of responses.” Two lines labeled “Variable Ratio” and “Fixed Ratio” have similar, steep slopes. The variable ratio line remains straight and is marked in random points where reinforcement occurs. The fixed ratio line has consistently spaced marks indicating where reinforcement has occurred, but after each reinforcement, there is a small drop in the line before it resumes its overall slope. Two lines labeled “Variable Interval” and “Fixed Interval” have similar slopes at roughly a 45-degree angle. The variable interval line remains straight and is marked in random points where reinforcement occurs. The fixed interval line has consistently spaced marks indicating where reinforcement has occurred, but after each reinforcement, there is a drop in the line.

Skinner (1953) stated, “If the gambling establishment cannot persuade a patron to turn over money with no return, it may achieve the same effect by returning part of the patron’s money on a variable-ratio schedule” (p. 397).

Skinner uses gambling as an example of the power and effectiveness of conditioning behavior based on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule. In fact, Skinner was so confident in his knowledge of gambling addiction that he even claimed he could turn a pigeon into a pathological gambler (“Skinner’s Utopia,” 1971). Beyond the power of variable ratio reinforcement, gambling seems to work on the brain in the same way as some addictive drugs. The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery (n.d.) reports evidence suggesting that pathological gambling is an addiction similar to a chemical addiction ( Figure ). Specifically, gambling may activate the reward centers of the brain, much like cocaine does. Research has shown that some pathological gamblers have lower levels of the neurotransmitter (brain chemical) known as norepinephrine than do normal gamblers (Roy, et al., 1988). According to a study conducted by Alec Roy and colleagues, norepinephrine is secreted when a person feels stress, arousal, or thrill; pathological gamblers use gambling to increase their levels of this neurotransmitter. Another researcher, neuroscientist Hans Breiter, has done extensive research on gambling and its effects on the brain. Breiter (as cited in Franzen, 2001) reports that “Monetary reward in a gambling-like experiment produces brain activation very similar to that observed in a cocaine addict receiving an infusion of cocaine” (para. 1). Deficiencies in serotonin (another neurotransmitter) might also contribute to compulsive behavior, including a gambling addiction.

It may be that pathological gamblers’ brains are different than those of other people, and perhaps this difference may somehow have led to their gambling addiction, as these studies seem to suggest. However, it is very difficult to ascertain the cause because it is impossible to conduct a true experiment (it would be unethical to try to turn randomly assigned participants into problem gamblers). Therefore, it may be that causation actually moves in the opposite direction—perhaps the act of gambling somehow changes neurotransmitter levels in some gamblers’ brains. It also is possible that some overlooked factor, or confounding variable, played a role in both the gambling addiction and the differences in brain chemistry.

A photograph shows four digital gaming machines.

COGNITION AND LATENT LEARNING

Although strict behaviorists such as Skinner and Watson refused to believe that cognition (such as thoughts and expectations) plays a role in learning, another behaviorist, Edward C. Tolman , had a different opinion. Tolman’s experiments with rats demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement (Tolman & Honzik, 1930; Tolman, Ritchie, & Kalish, 1946). This finding was in conflict with the prevailing idea at the time that reinforcement must be immediate in order for learning to occur, thus suggesting a cognitive aspect to learning.

In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze ( Figure ). After 10 sessions in the maze without reinforcement, food was placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through the maze quickly, just as quickly as the comparison group, which had been rewarded with food all along. This is known as latent learning: learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it.

An illustration shows three rats in a maze, with a starting point and food at the end.

Latent learning also occurs in humans. Children may learn by watching the actions of their parents but only demonstrate it at a later date, when the learned material is needed. For example, suppose that Ravi’s dad drives him to school every day. In this way, Ravi learns the route from his house to his school, but he’s never driven there himself, so he has not had a chance to demonstrate that he’s learned the way. One morning Ravi’s dad has to leave early for a meeting, so he can’t drive Ravi to school. Instead, Ravi follows the same route on his bike that his dad would have taken in the car. This demonstrates latent learning. Ravi had learned the route to school, but had no need to demonstrate this knowledge earlier.

Have you ever gotten lost in a building and couldn’t find your way back out? While that can be frustrating, you’re not alone. At one time or another we’ve all gotten lost in places like a museum, hospital, or university library. Whenever we go someplace new, we build a mental representation—or cognitive map—of the location, as Tolman’s rats built a cognitive map of their maze. However, some buildings are confusing because they include many areas that look alike or have short lines of sight. Because of this, it’s often difficult to predict what’s around a corner or decide whether to turn left or right to get out of a building. Psychologist Laura Carlson (2010) suggests that what we place in our cognitive map can impact our success in navigating through the environment. She suggests that paying attention to specific features upon entering a building, such as a picture on the wall, a fountain, a statue, or an escalator, adds information to our cognitive map that can be used later to help find our way out of the building.

Watch this video to learn more about Carlson’s studies on cognitive maps and navigation in buildings.

Operant conditioning is based on the work of B. F. Skinner. Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which the motivation for a behavior happens after the behavior is demonstrated. An animal or a human receives a consequence after performing a specific behavior. The consequence is either a reinforcer or a punisher. All reinforcement (positive or negative) increases the likelihood of a behavioral response. All punishment (positive or negative) decreases the likelihood of a behavioral response. Several types of reinforcement schedules are used to reward behavior depending on either a set or variable period of time.

________ is when you take away a pleasant stimulus to stop a behavior.

positive reinforcement
negative reinforcement
positive punishment
negative punishment

Which of the following is not an example of a primary reinforcer?

Rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior is ________.

Slot machines reward gamblers with money according to which reinforcement schedule?

fixed ratio
variable ratio
fixed interval
variable interval

What is a Skinner box and what is its purpose?

What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?

What is shaping and how would you use shaping to teach a dog to roll over?

Personal Application Questions

Explain the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment, and provide several examples of each based on your own experiences.

Think of a behavior that you have that you would like to change. How could you use behavior modification, specifically positive reinforcement, to change your behavior? What is your positive reinforcer?

[glossary-page] [glossary-term]acquisition:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]classical conditioning:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired or associated with the behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]cognitive map:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]mental picture of the layout of the environment[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]conditioned response (CR):[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]response caused by the conditioned stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]conditioned stimulus (CS):[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]stimulus that elicits a response due to its being paired with an unconditioned stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]continuous reinforcement:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]rewarding a behavior every time it occurs[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]extinction:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]fixed interval reinforcement schedule:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]fixed ratio reinforcement schedule:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]set number of responses must occur before a behavior is rewarded[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]habituation:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]higher-order conditioning:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition](also, second-order conditioning) using a conditioned stimulus to condition a neutral stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]latent learning:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]learning that occurs, but it may not be evident until there is a reason to demonstrate it[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]law of effect:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]behavior that is followed by consequences satisfying to the organism will be repeated and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences will be discouraged[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]negative punishment:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]negative reinforcement:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]neutral stimulus (NS):[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]stimulus that does not initially elicit a response[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]operant conditioning:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]partial reinforcement:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]rewarding behavior only some of the time[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]positive punishment:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]positive reinforcement:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]adding a desirable stimulus to increase a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]primary reinforcer:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]has innate reinforcing qualities (e.g., food, water, shelter, sex)[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]punishment:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]implementation of a consequence in order to decrease a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]reinforcement:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]implementation of a consequence in order to increase a behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]secondary reinforcer:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]has no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]shaping:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]spontaneous recovery:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]return of a previously extinguished conditioned response[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]stimulus discrimination:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]ability to respond differently to similar stimuli[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]stimulus generalization:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]demonstrating the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]unconditioned response (UCR):[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]unconditioned stimulus (UCS):[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]stimulus that elicits a reflexive response[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]variable interval reinforcement schedule:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]behavior is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time have passed[/glossary-definition]

[glossary-term]variable ratio reinforcement schedule:[/glossary-term] [glossary-definition]number of responses differ before a behavior is rewarded[/glossary-definition] [/glossary-page]

Classical Conditioning. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:hSW_wIIP@3/Classical-Conditioning . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Operant Conditioning. Provided by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:r470BCFb@3/Operant-Conditioning . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

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.

Figure 1 . Ivan Pavlov’s research on the digestive system of dogs unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning process now known as classical conditioning.

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:

Figure 2 . Before conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (salivation), and a neutral stimulus (bell) does not produce a response. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.

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

How does classical conditioning work in the real world? Consider the case of Moisha, who was diagnosed with cancer. When she received her first chemotherapy treatment, she vomited shortly after the chemicals were injected. In fact, every trip to the doctor for chemotherapy treatment shortly after the drugs were injected, she vomited. Moisha’s treatment was a success and her cancer went into remission. Now, when she visits her oncologist’s office every 6 months for a check-up, she becomes nauseous. In this case, the chemotherapy drugs are the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), vomiting is the unconditioned response (UCR), the doctor’s office is the conditioned stimulus (CS) after being paired with the UCS, and nausea is the conditioned response (CR). Let’s assume that the chemotherapy drugs that Moisha takes are given through a syringe injection. After entering the doctor’s office, Moisha sees a syringe, and then gets her medication. In addition to the doctor’s office, Moisha will learn to associate the syringe with the medication and will respond to syringes with nausea. This is an example of higher-order (or second-order) conditioning, when the conditioned stimulus (the doctor’s office) serves to condition another stimulus (the syringe). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if someone rang a bell every time Moisha received a syringe injection of chemotherapy drugs in the doctor’s office, Moisha likely will never get sick in response to the bell.

What if the cabinet holding Tiger’s food becomes squeaky? In that case, Tiger hears “squeak” (the cabinet), “zzhzhz” (the electric can opener), and then she gets her food. Tiger will learn to get excited when she hears the “squeak” of the cabinet. Pairing a new neutral stimulus (“squeak”) with the conditioned stimulus (“zzhzhz”) is called higher-order conditioning, or second-order conditioning. This means you are using the conditioned stimulus of the can opener to condition another stimulus: the squeaky cabinet (Figure 3). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if you ring a bell, open the cabinet (“squeak”), use the can opener (“zzhzhz”), and then feed Tiger, Tiger will likely never get excited when hearing the bell alone.

A diagram is labeled “Higher-Order / Second-Order Conditioning” and has three rows. The first row shows an electric can opener labeled “conditioned stimulus (CS)” followed by a plus sign and then a dish of food labeled “unconditioned stimulus (UCS)” followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled “unconditioned response (UCR).” The second row shows a squeaky cabinet door labeled “second-order stimulus” followed by a plus sign and then an electric can opener labeled “conditioned stimulus (CS)” followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled “conditioned response (CR).” The third row shows a squeaky cabinet door labeled “second-order stimulus” followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled “conditioned response (CR).”

Figure 3 . In higher-order conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus), so that eventually the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response, without the initial conditioned stimulus being presented.

Everyday Connection: Classical Conditioning at Stingray City

Figure 4 . Kate holds a southern stingray at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands. These stingrays have been classically conditioned to associate the sound of a boat motor with food provided by tourists. (credit: Kathryn Dumper)

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.

For a humorous look at conditioning, you can watch an example from the television show The Office . Jim conducts an experiment in which he offers Dwight a breath mint every time Jim’s computer makes a specific sound. After repeating this several times, he eventually conditions Dwight to automatically expect a breath mint upon hearing that sound. See if you can identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.

Review the classical conditioning concepts yet again by walking through Pavlov’s research in the following interactive:

Think It Over

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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.

Picture of Little Albert crying with rabbit in front of him. Experimenters (Watson and Lee) are in background of picture observing.

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: 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.

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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?

Bouton, M. E., Mineka, S., & Barlow, D. H. (2001). A modern learning theory perspective on the etiology of panic disorder . Psychological Review , 108 (1), 4.

Bremner, J. D., Southwick, S. M., Johnson, D. R., Yehuda, R., & Charney, D. S. (1993). Childhood physical abuse and combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. The American journal of psychiatry .

Brewer, W. F. (1974). There is no convincing evidence for operant or classical conditioning in adult humans.

Carter, B. L., & Tiffany, S. T. (1999). Meta‐analysis of cue‐reactivity in addiction research. Addiction, 94 (3), 327-340.

Davey, B. (1983). Think aloud: Modeling the cognitive processes of reading comprehension. Journal of Reading, 27 (1), 44-47.

Dugdale, N., & Lowe, C. F. (1990). Naming and stimulus equivalence.

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.

Hall, G. (2022). Extinction of conditioned flavor preferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition .

Logan, C. A. (2002). When scientific knowledge becomes scientific discovery: The disappearance of classical conditioning before Pavlov . Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences , 38 (4), 393-403.

Lovibond, P. F., & Shanks, D. R. (2002). The role of awareness in Pavlovian conditioning: empirical evidence and theoretical implications. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes , 28 (1), 3.

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.

Pavlov, I. P. (1897/1902). The work of the digestive glands . London: Griffin.

Thanellou, A., & Green, J. T. (2011). Spontaneous recovery but not reinstatement of the extinguished conditioned eyeblink response in the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience , 125 (4), 613.

Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it . Psychological Review, 20 , 158–177.

Watson, J.B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist Views It. Psychological Review, 20 , 158-177.

Watson, J. B. (1924). Behaviorism . New York: People’s Institute Publishing Company.

Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions . Journal of experimental psychology, 3 (1), 1.

Soft Determinism In Psychology

Branches of Psychology

Social Action Theory (Weber): Definition & Examples

Adult Attachment , Personality , Psychology , Relationships

Attachment Styles and How They Affect Adult Relationships

Personality , Psychology

Big Five Personality Traits: The 5-Factor Model of Personality

Learning Theories , Psychology

Behaviorism In Psychology

20 Unconditioned Stimulus Examples

An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) naturally elicits an automatic, reflexive response without the need for prior learning, serving as a primary reinforcer for behaviors like reflexes which are inherent biological reactions beyond voluntary control. This concept was first illustrated by Ivan Pavlov through classical conditioning experiments with dogs, where a bell, initially a neutral stimulus (NS), became a conditioned stimulus (CS) signaling food, an unconditioned stimulus (UCR), causing the dogs to salivate in anticipation (CR), demonstrating learned associations between stimuli.

The Little Albert Experiment demonstrated fear conditioning, where a loud noise (UCS) was paired with a white rat (NS) until the rat alone elicited fear in the infant (CR). Stimulus generalization occurs when the CR is triggered by stimuli similar to the original CS, such as Little Albert's fear response to a white feather.

In parenting, positive touch and comfort (UCS) can condition a child to feel calm and secure (UCR), leading to secure attachment. Conversely, abusive parenting (UCS) can condition a child to respond with fear and anxiety (UCR) to benign situations, potentially causing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The parent's presence or certain situations can become conditioned stimuli (CS) that trigger these learned emotional responses (CR).

Table of Contents

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

An unconditioned stimulus (UCS or US) can naturally elicit an automatic response without prior conditioning or learning. It is also called the primary reinforcer. The involuntary response, also known as the unconditioned response, is a reflex triggered by the unconditioned stimulus.

A UCS can trigger a response naturally. This response is a biological reaction. A person (or animal) usually does not have control over this behavior because these are natural reactions of our bodies 1 .

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov first discovered the classical conditioning process, also known as Pavlovian conditioning, when he was studying the digestive system of dogs.

Pavlov noticed that the dogs would automatically salivate when they smelled the food. This natural response did not require any prior learning.

He then conducted a series of experiments to study the salivary response. In Pavlov's experiment, he sounded a bell whenever he brought food to his dogs.

After multiple repetitions, Pavlov's dogs started salivating when they heard the sound of a bell, even before they got the sight or smell of the food.

In Pavlov's example, the bell's tone was a neutral stimulus. After being paired with the presentation of the food, an unconditioned stimulus 2 , repeatedly, this initially neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus.

What are unconditioned stimulus examples?

Here are some examples of unconditioned stimuli in everyday life.

Hot iron : Touching a hot iron makes you withdraw your hand right away.
Food : When you see or smell food, it causes your mouth to water.
Rock hitting : Dropping a rock on your foot makes you scream in pain.
Dust : Dust entering your nose causes you to sneeze.
Loud Noise : A sudden loud noise can cause a startled response, making you jump or feel alarmed.
Bright Light : Shining a bright light suddenly in someone's eyes can cause them to squint or close their eyes.
Extreme Temperatures : Touching something extremely hot or cold can cause an immediate reflex to pull away.
Pain : If you step on something sharp, the immediate pain can cause a reflexive withdrawal of the foot.
Tickling : The sensation of being tickled can cause immediate laughter or squirming.
Suffocating Atmosphere : An environment with little to no oxygen can trigger an immediate sensation of suffocation and a desire to escape to a breathable atmosphere.
Stomach Upset : Consuming spoiled food or something you're allergic to can lead to nausea or vomiting.
Sweet Taste : Tasting something sweet can cause salivation and a desire to consume more.
Falling : The sensation of suddenly falling, like when you miss a step, can cause an immediate jolt of fear and a reflexive action to grab onto something.
Baby's Cry : A baby crying can trigger concern or a desire for comfort, especially in parents or caregivers.
Pungent Odors : The smell of strong odors, like ammonia or rotten eggs, can cause an immediate reaction to cover one's nose or move away from the source.
Physical Balance Disruption : If someone pushes you unexpectedly, the sudden loss of balance can trigger an immediate reflex to stabilize yourself.
Choking : Getting something stuck in your throat can trigger immediate coughing to clear the airway.
Insect Bite or Sting : The sensation of being bitten or stung by an insect can cause an immediate reflex to swat or brush away the insect, followed by a sensation of pain or itching.
Sudden Darkness : If you're in a well-lit room and the lights suddenly go out, it can cause a momentary sense of disorientation or surprise.
Air Puff to the Eye : A sudden puff of air directed towards the eye can cause an immediate blink reflex.

What is the the difference between unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus

The main difference between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus is that an unconditional stimulus (UCS) elicits a natural, reflexive response, called the unconditioned response (UCR), while a neutral stimulus (NS) doesn't naturally elicit the same response.

For example, food was a UCS for Pavlov's dogs, and the salivation response was a UCR .

Before conditioning, ringing a bell alone didn't have any effect on the dog. The bell's sound was hence an NS.

What is the difference between unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus?

The key difference between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus is that an unconditioned stimulus causes a reflexive, automatic response, while a conditioned stimulus can only trigger a response after an association is formed through conditioning.

An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) can naturally trigger an unconditioned response (UCR).

A conditioned stimulus was originally a neutral stimulus (NS) that does not trigger a response.

The classical conditioning theory suggests that a neutral stimulus can be paired with an unconditioned stimulus repeatedly to form associative learning. The previously neutral stimulus then becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that can trigger the same response as the unconditioned stimulus. This response is called a conditioned response (CR) or learned response .

What is the Little Albert Experiment?

The infamous "Little Albert Experiment" is another example of classical conditioning 3 .

In this research, psychologist John B. Watson exposed an infant, Little Albert, to a white rat. When the infant attempted to touch the rat, Watson would make a loud bang to scare him. Several repetitions later, the child cried upon seeing the rat alone without the noise.

In this case, the loud noise was an unconditioned stimulus that could trigger the unconditioned reflexes of crying. The rat was initially a neutral stimulus that did not scare the child. But after conditioning, the rat became a conditioned stimulus that elicited a conditioned fear response in Little Albert.

This type of learning, called fear conditioning , is important in teaching us about potential dangers.

However, it becomes problematic if benign, neutral stimuli become conditioned to trigger emotional responses.

Psychologists believe this type of aversive conditioning is responsible for psychological disorders such as anxiety disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 4 .

In traumatic situations, people may become conditioned to fear benign environmental cues, such as an object or a place. This fear then becomes generalized to similar items that now serve as sources of threat to them.

What is stimulus generalization?

Stimulus generalization in psychology refers to the tendency for a person's response to one stimulus to be generalized to other similar stimuli.

An example would be if a person was bitten by a dog and became afraid of it. Whenever he sees a dog again, even if it is not the same breed, he fears it. He now fears all dogs despite their differences because he has generalized his fear of one dog. His fear may even be generalized to all four-legged animals.

In the Little Albert Experiment, after the child was conditioned to fear a white rat, his fear was generalized to a white feather. There was no discrimination between a rat and a feather.

In those suffering from PTSD, the fear may be generalized to something or someone they see often. That means they experience traumatic fear in their presence often, which is debilitating.

What is an unconditioned stimulus in parenting?

A parent's positive touch and comfort is an unconditioned stimulus that can trigger an unconditioned response of calm in a child. A consistently responsive parent conditions the child to associate the parent's prescence or a particular situation, such as getting hurt, feeling sad, or facing a fear, with the comfort and security of nurturance. Over time, the situation becomes a conditioned stimulus that alone could evoke conditioned response of calm. Responsive parenting provides unconditioned stimuli that can condition a child to develop a secure attachment and emotional regulation.

In contrast, a parent's abusive behavior is an unconditioned stimulus that can trigger an unconditioned response of fear in a child. Over time, the parent's presence or a particular situation becomes a conditioned stimulus that can trigger a conditioned fear response. Abusive parenting provides unconditioned stimuli that can condition a child to respond to benign situations with fear and anxiety, developing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Final thoughts on unconditioned stimulus

Understanding the power of unconditioned stimuli and the principles of classical conditioning is essential for recognizing how life experiences shape a child's behaviors and emotional responses. This knowledge enables parents to appreciate the powerful role of their everyday interactions in shaping their children's responses to the world around them. Supportive behaviors not only provide immediate comfort but also contribute to the development of resilience, emotional well-being, and healthy relationships in the long term.

By fostering positive, secure attachments through consistent, nurturing interactions, parents can help their children develop a strong foundation for emotional health and resilience, preparing them to navigate life's challenges with confidence.

1. Clark RE. Classical Conditioning and Brain Systems: The Role of Awareness. Science . Published online April 3, 1998:77-81. doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5360.77
2. Kimmel HD. Inhibition of the unconditioned response in classical conditioning. Psychological Review . Published online 1966:232-240. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023270
3. Harris B. Whatever happened to little Albert? American Psychologist . Published online 1979:151-160. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.34.2.151
4. Maren S. Neurobiology of Pavlovian Fear Conditioning. Annu Rev Neurosci . Published online March 2001:897-931. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.897

PSYCH101: Introduction to Psychology

Principles of classical conditioning.

Read this text to learn how classical conditioning occurs and the processes that affect classically conditioned associations.

How would you respond to these questions? If the sound of your toaster popping up toast causes your mouth to water, what are the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) , the conditioned stimulus (CS) , and the conditioned response (CR) ? Explain how the processes of stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are considered opposites. How does a neutral stimulus become a conditioned stimulus?

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 6.3). As we discussed briefly in the previous section, c lassical conditioning is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events.

Figure 6.3 Ivan Pavlov's research on the digestive system of dogs unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning process now known as classical conditioning.

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. In his studies with dogs, Pavlov 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:

Meat powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

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 6.4). 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.

Tone (NS) + Meat Powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

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.

Tone (CS) → Salivation (CR)

Two illustrations are labeled "before conditioning" and show a dog salivating over a dish of food, and a dog not salivating

Figure 6.4 Before conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (salivation), and a neutral stimulus (bell) does not produce a response. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.

Real World Application of Classical Conditioning

After entering the doctor's office, Moisha sees a syringe, and then gets her medication. In addition to the doctor's office, Moisha will learn to associate the syringe with the medication and will respond to syringes with nausea. This is an example of higher-order (or second-order) conditioning, when the conditioned stimulus (the doctor's office) serves to condition another stimulus (the syringe). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if someone rang a bell every time Moisha received a syringe injection of chemotherapy drugs in the doctor's office, Moisha likely will never get sick in response to the bell. Consider another example of classical conditioning. Let's say you have a cat named Tiger, who is quite spoiled. You keep her food in a separate cabinet, and you also have a special electric can opener that you use only to open cans of cat food. For every meal, Tiger hears the distinctive sound of the electric can opener ("zzhzhz") and then gets her food. Tiger quickly learns that when she hears "zzhzhz" she is about to get fed. What do you think Tiger does when she hears the electric can opener? She will likely get excited and run to where you are preparing her food. This is an example of classical conditioning. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? What if the cabinet holding Tiger's food becomes squeaky? In that case, Tiger hears "squeak" (the cabinet), "zzhzhz" (the electric can opener), and then she gets her food. Tiger will learn to get excited when she hears the "squeak" of the cabinet. Pairing a new neutral stimulus ("squeak") with the conditioned stimulus ("zzhzhz") is called higher-order conditioning , or second-order conditioning . This means you are using the conditioned stimulus of the can opener to condition another stimulus: the squeaky cabinet (Figure 6.5). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if you ring a bell, open the cabinet ("squeak"), use the can opener ("zzhzhz"), and then feed Tiger, Tiger will likely never get excited when hearing the bell alone.

A diagram is labeled "Higher-Order / Second-Order Conditioning" and has three rows. The first row shows an electric can opene

Figure 6.5 In higher-order conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus), so that eventually the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response, without the initial conditioned stimulus being presented.

Everyday Connection: Classical Conditioning at Stingray City

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 they 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 6.6). Kate was able to feed, pet, and even kiss (for luck) these amazing creatures. Then all the squid was gone, and so were the stingrays.

Figure 6.6 Kate holds a southern stingray at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands. These stingrays have been classically conditioned to associate the sound of a boat motor with food provided by tourists. (credit: Kathryn Dumper)

Classical conditioning also applies to humans, even babies. For example, Elan buys formula in blue canisters for their six-month-old daughter, Angelina. Whenever Elan 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. In this example, the edge of the yard elicits fear and anxiety in the dog. Fear and anxiety are the conditioned response.

General Processes in Classical Conditioning

Now that you know how classical conditioning works and have seen several examples, let's take a look at some of the general processes involved. In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition , when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself. Timing is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Depending on what is being conditioned, sometimes this interval is as little as five seconds. However, with other types of conditioning, the interval can be up to several hours. Taste aversion is a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness). Here's how it works. Between classes, you and a friend grab a quick lunch from a food cart on campus. You share a dish of chicken curry and head off to your next class. A few hours later, you feel nauseous and become ill. Although your friend is fine and you determine that you have intestinal flu (the food is not the culprit), you've developed a taste aversion; the next time you are at a restaurant and someone orders curry, you immediately feel ill. While the chicken dish is not what made you sick, you are experiencing taste aversion: you've been conditioned to be averse to a food after a single, bad experience. How does this occur - conditioning based on a single instance and involving an extended time lapse between the event and the negative stimulus? Research into taste aversion suggests that this response may be an evolutionary adaptation designed to help organisms quickly learn to avoid harmful foods. Not only may this contribute to species survival via natural selection, but it may also help us develop strategies for challenges such as helping cancer patients through the nausea induced by certain treatments.

Garcia and Koelling (1966) showed not only that taste aversions could be conditioned, but also that there were biological constraints to learning. In their study, separate groups of rats were conditioned to associate either a flavor with illness, or lights and sounds with illness. Results showed that all rats exposed to flavor-illness pairings learned to avoid the flavor, but none of the rats exposed to lights and sounds with illness learned to avoid lights or sounds. This added evidence to the idea that classical conditioning could contribute to species survival by helping organisms learn to avoid stimuli that posed real dangers to health and welfare. Robert Rescorla demonstrated how powerfully an organism can learn to predict the UCS from the CS. Take, for example, the following two situations. Ari's dad always has dinner on the table every day at 6:00. Soraya's mom switches it up so that some days they eat dinner at 6:00, some days they eat at 5:00, and other days they eat at 7:00. For Ari, 6:00 reliably and consistently predicts dinner, so Ari will likely start feeling hungry every day right before 6:00, even if he's had a late snack. Soraya, on the other hand, will be less likely to associate 6:00 with dinner, since 6:00 does not always predict that dinner is coming. Rescorla, along with his colleague at Yale University, Alan Wagner, developed a mathematical formula that could be used to calculate the probability that an association would be learned given the ability of a conditioned stimulus to predict the occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus and other factors; today this is known as the Rescorla-Wagner model. Once we have established the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus, how do we break that connection and get the dog, cat, or child to stop responding? In Tiger's case, imagine what would happen if you stopped using the electric can opener for her food and began to use it only for human food. Now, Tiger would hear the can opener, but she would not get food. In classical conditioning terms, you would be giving the conditioned stimulus, but not the unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov explored this scenario in his experiments with dogs: sounding the tone without giving the dogs the meat powder. Soon the dogs stopped responding to the tone.

Extinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response. What happens when learning is not used for a while - when what was learned lies dormant? As we just discussed, Pavlov found that when he repeatedly presented the bell (conditioned stimulus) without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus), extinction occurred; the dogs stopped salivating to the bell. However, after a couple of hours of resting from this extinction training, the dogs again began to salivate when Pavlov rang the bell. What do you think would happen with Tiger's behavior if your electric can opener broke, and you did not use it for several months? When you finally got it fixed and started using it to open Tiger's food again, Tiger would remember the association between the can opener and her food - she would get excited and run to the kitchen when she heard the sound. The behavior of Pavlov's dogs and Tiger illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery : the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period (Figure 6.7).

A chart has an x-axis labeled "time" and a y-axis labeled "strength of CR;" there are four columns of graphed data. The first

Figure 6.7 This is the curve of acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery. The rising curve shows the conditioned response quickly getting stronger through the repeated pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (acquisition). Then the curve decreases, which shows how the conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus is presented (extinction). After a break or pause from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears (spontaneous recovery).

During acquisition, the conditioned response gets stronger and stronger through repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. Several days (and ice cream bars) later, you notice that your mouth begins to water (conditioned response) as soon as you hear the truck's musical jingle - even before you bite into the ice cream bar. Then one day you head down the street. You hear the truck's music (conditioned stimulus), and your mouth waters (conditioned response). However, when you get to the truck, you discover that they are all out of ice cream. You leave disappointed. The next few days you pass by the truck and hear the music, but don't stop to get an ice cream bar because you're running late for class. You begin to salivate less and less when you hear the music, until by the end of the week, your mouth no longer waters when you hear the tune. This illustrates extinction.

The conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus (the sound of the truck) is presented, without being followed by the unconditioned stimulus (chocolate ice cream in the mouth). Then the weekend comes. You don't have to go to class, so you don't pass the truck. Monday morning arrives and you take your usual route to campus. You round the corner and hear the truck again. What do you think happens? Your mouth begins to water again. Why? After a break from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears, which indicates spontaneous recovery. Acquisition and extinction involve the strengthening and weakening, respectively, of a learned association. Two other learning processes - stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization - are involved in determining which stimuli will trigger learned responses. Animals (including humans) need to distinguish between stimuli - for example, between sounds that predict a threatening event and sounds that do not - so that they can respond appropriately (such as running away if the sound is threatening).

When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called stimulus discrimination . In classical conditioning terms, the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. Pavlov's dogs discriminated between the basic tone that sounded before they were fed and other tones (e.g., the doorbell), because the other sounds did not predict the arrival of food. Similarly, Tiger, the cat, discriminated between the sound of the can opener and the sound of the electric mixer. When the electric mixer is going, Tiger is not about to be fed, so she does not come running to the kitchen looking for food. In our other example, Moisha, the cancer patient, discriminated between oncologists and other types of doctors. She learned not to feel ill when visiting doctors for other types of appointments, such as her annual physical. On the other hand, when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalization , the opposite of stimulus discrimination. The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response. For instance, if the electric mixer sounds very similar to the electric can opener, Tiger may come running after hearing its sound. But if you do not feed her following the electric mixer sound, and you continue to feed her consistently after the electric can opener sound, she will quickly learn to discriminate between the two sounds (provided they are sufficiently dissimilar that she can tell them apart). In our other example, Moisha continued to feel ill whenever visiting other oncologists or other doctors in the same building as her oncologist.

Behaviorism

John B. Watson, shown in Figure 6.8, is considered the founder of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a school of thought that arose during the first part of the 20th century, which incorporates elements of Pavlov's classical conditioning. In stark contrast with Freud, who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, Watson championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must focus on outward observable behavior that can be measured.

Figure 6.8 John B. Watson used the principles of classical conditioning in the study of human emotion.

Watson's ideas were influenced by Pavlov's work. According to Watson, human behavior, just like animal behavior, is primarily the result of conditioned responses. Whereas Pavlov's work with dogs involved the conditioning of reflexes, Watson believed the same principles could be extended to the conditioning of human emotions. In 1920, while chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University, Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, conducted research on a baby nicknamed Little Albert. Rayner and Watson's experiments with Little Albert demonstrated how fears can be conditioned using classical conditioning. Through these experiments, Little Albert was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things. Initially he was presented with various neutral stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks, cotton wool, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of these things. Then Watson, with the help of Rayner, conditioned Little Albert to associate these stimuli with an emotion – fear.

For example, Watson handed Little Albert the white rat, and Little Albert enjoyed playing with it. Then Watson made a loud sound, by striking a hammer against a metal bar hanging behind Little Albert's head, each time Little Albert touched the rat. Little Albert was frightened by the sound – demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises –ƒ and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus generalization – he became afraid of other furry things: a rabbit, a furry coat, and even a Santa Claus mask (Figure 6.9).

Watson had succeeded in conditioning a fear response in Little Albert, thus demonstrating that emotions could become conditioned responses. It had been Watson's intention to produce a phobia – a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation – through conditioning alone, thus countering Freud's view that phobias are caused by deep, hidden conflicts in the mind. However, there is no evidence that Little Albert experienced phobias in later years. While Watson's research provided new insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by today's standards.

A photograph shows a man wearing a mask with a white beard; his face is close to a baby who is crawling away. A caption reads

Figure 6.9 Through stimulus generalization, Little Albert came to fear furry things, including Watson in a Santa Claus mask.

Everyday Connection: Advertising and Associative Learning

Advertising executives are pros at applying the principles of associative learning. Think about the car commercials you have seen on television. Many of them feature an attractive model. By associating the model with the car being advertised, you come to see the car as being desirable. You may be asking yourself, does this advertising technique actually work? According to Cialdini (2008), men who viewed a car commercial that included an attractive model later rated the car as being faster, more appealing, and better designed than did men who viewed an advertisement for the same car minus the model. Have you ever noticed how quickly advertisers cancel contracts with a famous athlete following a scandal? As far as the advertiser is concerned, that athlete is no longer associated with positive feelings; therefore, the athlete cannot be used as an unconditioned stimulus to condition the public to associate positive feelings (the unconditioned response) with their product (the conditioned stimulus). Now that you are aware of how associative learning works, see if you can find examples of these types of advertisements on television, in magazines, or on the Internet.

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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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UCS, UR, CS, CR Practice

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A group of ranchers attempts to discourage coyotes from attacking their sheep by placing a substance on the wool of the sheep that makes coyotes violently ill if they eat it. Very quickly, the coyotes avoid the sheep entirely. In this scenario, what are the UCS, CS, and CR, respectively?

The substance, the sheep’s wool, aversion to the sheep

The sheep’s wool, the substance, aversion to sheep

Aversion to sheep, the substance, the sheep’s wool

Dylan’s mother buys him a new hat before they go on a family fishing trip. On the boat, Dylan gets nauseated and vomits. Th e next day he gets nauseated just from looking at the hat. The hat has become:

The unconditioned stimulus

The conditioned stimulus

The conditioned response

The unconditioned response

Once Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate to the sound of a tuning fork, the tuning fork was a(n)

unconditioned stimulus

neutral stimulus

conditioned stimulus

unconditioned response

4. Multiple Choice Edit 30 seconds 1 pt The conditioned stimulus (CS): is the response to the US. is originally the neutral stimulus that gains the power to cause the CR. triggers an unconditioned response reflexively or automatically when the CR happens. is what triggers the US to occur.
5. Multiple Choice Edit 20 seconds 1 pt The conditioned response (CR) is the usually the same as the CS US UR CR

In the Little Albert experiment, the unconditioned stimulus (US) was the

In the Little Albert experiment, the conditioned stimulus (CS) was the

In the Little Albert experiment, the unconditioned response (UR) was the

In the Little Albert experiment, the conditioned response (CR) was the

In classical conditioning, the UR

happens after the CR

is the response to the CS.

is the response to the US

triggers the US to occur

11. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Which of the following is an unconditioned response? clapping after a thrilling concert performance jumping rope running through a maze to get a food reward sweating in hot weather
12. Multiple Choice Edit 1 minute 1 pt Once Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate to the sound of a bell, the bell was a(n) unconditioned stimulus neutral stimulus conditioned stimulus unconditioned response

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Little Albert Experiment (Watson & Rayner)
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The Little Albert Experiment
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The Little Albert Experiment
Classical Conditioning Theory Lets clear Concepts Basics & meaning of UCS, UCR, CS, CR with Examples

VIDEO

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LITTLE ALBERT EXPERIMENT
Little albert experiment!!!

COMMENTS

6.2 Classical Conditioning
Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus ...
Classical Conditioning
Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus ...
Little Albert Experiment (Watson & Rayner)
The Little Albert experiment was a controversial psychology experiment by John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. The experiment was performed in 1920 and was a case study aimed at testing the principles of classical conditioning. Watson and Raynor presented Little Albert (a nine-month-old boy) with ...
6.3: Classical and Operant Conditioning
Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus ...
Classical Conditioning
Jim conducts an experiment in which he offers Dwight a breath mint every time Jim's computer makes a specific sound. After repeating this several times, he eventually conditions Dwight to automatically expect a breath mint upon hearing that sound. See if you can identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.
The Unconditioned Stimulus in Classical Conditioning
In the learning process known as classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. In other words, the response takes place without any prior learning. Contrast this with the conditioned stimulus, which only prompts a response after a person or animal has ...
6.2. Classical Conditioning
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. ... 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 ...
The Little Albert Experiment
The participant in the experiment was a child that Watson and Rayner called "Albert B." but is known popularly today as Little Albert. When Little Albert was 9 months old, Watson and Rayner exposed him to a series of stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, masks, and burning newspapers and observed the boy's reactions.
Little Albert experiment
The film of the experiment. The Little Albert experiment was a study that mid-20th century psychologists interpret as evidence of classical conditioning in humans. The study is also claimed to be an example of stimulus generalization although reading the research report demonstrates that fear did not generalize by color or tactile qualities. [1]
UCS,CS,UCR,CR Flashcards
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR). Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Neutral Stimuli (NS), Unconditioned Response (UCR), Conditioned Response (CR) and more.
Classical Conditioning: How It Works With Examples
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.
PDF Cs Ucs Ucr & Cr
• Thinking about Pavlov's experiment, identify the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR on the graphic below: o What is the meat powder? ... If the dog's salivation is both the UCR and CR, then: ... Little Albert (pp 175 ...
20 Unconditioned Stimulus Examples
The Little Albert Experiment demonstrated fear conditioning, where a loud noise (UCS) was paired with a white rat (NS) until the rat alone elicited fear in the infant (CR). Stimulus generalization occurs when the CR is triggered by stimuli similar to the original CS, such as Little Albert's fear response to a white feather.
PSYCH101: Principles of Classical Conditioning
Little Albert was frightened by the sound - demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises -ƒ and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus ...
Chapter 6: Classical conditioning and the 'Little Albert' experiment
Chapter 6: Classical conditioning and the 'Little Albert' experiment. What is classical conditioning. Click the card to flip 👆. Classical conditioning is a form of learning where two or more stimuli are linked through repeated associations so that involuntary, reflexive responses are produced by new stimuli which did not previously produce a ...
Little Albert Experiment CC Flashcards
Little Albert was conditioned to have a fear response to various stimuli which previously had not evoked fear such as a white rat, white rabbit, a dog and a coat How CC applies NS: white rat UCS: loud bang UCR: fear CS: White rat CR: fear -
John Watson's Little Albert Experiment
The Little Albert Experiment was a famous psychological experiment carried out by John B. Watson to show that a human could be classically conditioned similarly to dogs. Watson was a key figure in ...
Classical Conditioning: Examples and How It Works
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.
Classical Conditioning Flashcards
UCS UCR CS CR. UCS = hot water UCR = jumping back CS = flushing of the toilet CR = jumping back from the sound of the flush. John Watson conducted an experiment with a boy named Albert in which he paired a white rat with a loud, startling noise. Albert now becomes startled at the sight of the white rat.
UCS, UR, CS, CR Practice
UCS, UR, CS, CR Practice quiz for 12th grade students. Find other quizzes for Other Sciences and more on Quizizz for free! UCS, UR, CS, CR Practice quiz for 12th grade students. ... In the Little Albert experiment, the unconditioned response (UR) was the. fear. white rat. mother. loud noise. 9. Multiple Choice. Edit. 1 minute. 1 pt.
DOCX Little Albert
Little Albert Experiment. 1. Identify the UCS/UCR/CS/CR in Watson's experiment. Besides the rabbit, what other conditioned stimuli (objects) were used as part of this experiment? 2. Why are there so many discrepancies and myths regarding the Little Albert study? Give an example of one of these discrepancies.
LITTLE ALBERT Flashcards
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Little Albert, BEFORE CONDITIONING, DURING CONDITIONING and more. ... UCS UCR CS CR. NS - White rat UCS - Loud noise UCR - FEAR CS - White rat CR - FEAR. Ethical consideration - emotional traumata and lasting damage - failed to seek permission from mother - Did not debrief
What is the NS, UCS, UCR, CR, and CS in the little albert experiment
In the Little Albert experiment, a baby was conditioned to fear white rats paired with a loud noise. The key components include the UCS (loud sound), the UCR (fear response to sound), the NS (white rat before conditioning), the CS (white rat after conditioning), and the CR (fear response to the white rat alone). Explanation: