Behaviorism in Today’s Schools-part 02 Classical Conditioning
Posted by mrfordsclass on April 15, 2008
In part 01 we took a look at the basic concepts of behaviorism. In part 02 we examine Classical Conditioning.
Types of Behaviorism
There are two basic schools within behaviorism: Classical, and Operant.
Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning (think dogs) was first purposed by Dr. Ivan Pavlov. He found that by pairing unconditional stimuli with conditioned stimuli he could cause changes in behaviors. Classical Conditioning, also known as Pavlovian Conditioning, is defined as the “association of automatic responses with new stimuli”. (O’Donnell, Reeve, & Smith, 2007
Why think dogs?
Ivan Pavlov was a physiologist by trade (he studied how the body works). While doing research on the digestive system of dogs he noticed that the dogs would begin to salivate (drool) when they heard the research assistance walk down the hall with food powder. He then deducted that somehow the footsteps took the place of the food power to cause a physiological reaction. Later experiments paired/combined the food powder with a bell.
There are four key terms to know when dealing with Classical Condition:
- Unconditional stimuli
- Conditional stimuli
- Unconditional response
- Conditioned response.
Unconditional Stimuli (US):
“A stimuli that, without prior learning, produces an automatic physiological response. (O’Donnell, Reeve, & Smith, 2007)
When broken down to every day language this means that this stimuli, change in the environment, will cause the critter to have a reaction, a response. There is no training required.
For example a puff of air in the eyes will cause a person to blink. The person does not need to learn to blink when getting air in the eye.
Conditioned Stimuli (CS):
“In classical conditioning, the stimulus that is paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US) and eventually comes to elicit the conditioned response (CR) (Crider, Goethals, Kavanaugh, & Solomon, 1989)
On its own this stimuli does nothing or does not cause what the unconditional stimuli causes. For example a click sound does not cause a person to blink their eyes. What will eventually happen is the Conditioned Stimuli will be paired/combined with the Unconditional Stimuli to cause the person to blink their eye. We will see how this works is further along this essay.
Unconditioned Response (UR):
A behavior that is produced in response to a stimulus without prior learning. It is typically an automatic physiological response. (O’Donnell, Reeve, & Smith, 2007)
This is the repose; the outcome that the organism will show when presented with the Unconditioned Stimulus, meaning it comes natural to the organism.
Going example the puff of air to the eyes will cause the person to blink. The blinking is the UR.
Conditioned Response (CR):
A response that is linked to a particular stimulus through conditioning by being paired with the stimulus. (O’Donnell, Reeve, & Smith, 2007)
Here is where the confusion sets in for freshman psychology students. The response is the same thing as the Unconditioned Response, but because it is happening due to something that would not cause it on its own, we give it a special name.
