Classical conditioning is a type of learning that has had a great influence on behavioral psychology, a systematic approach to psychology that emerged in the nineteenth century and that assumes that many behaviors are the product of an association, reflexes produced by a conditioned response to certain stimuli. . This association is a consequence of this person’s story.
Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, along with John B Watson, is the ultimate representative of classical conditioning, one of the key processes of behavioral psychology and behaviorism, along with operational and instrumental conditioning.
- Condition people so they don’t expect anything and everyone is satisfied with the slightest you offer.
- -Ivan Pavlov-.
Is conductism based on the assumption that all learning occurs through interactions with the environment, which in turn shapes behavior?In conventional conditioning, the learning process involves the association of an initial stimulus (e. g. the smell of food) that causes a regular and measurable unconditional response (e. g. salivation) in the body, with a neutral event (e. g. sound) that did not cause the response (salivation) before conditioning.
After several consecutive space-time presentations, the neutral event will acquire the functions of the initial stimulus, causing the same response as this, in this way a noise could eventually cause salivation.
It is important to note that conventional conditioning involves placing a neutral stimulus before a natural reflex. In Pavlov’s classic experiment with the dog, the neutral stimulus was the sound of a bell and the natural reflection was salivation in response to food. neutral stimulus with environmental stimulus (food presentation), the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus) could produce the salivation response.
Classical conditioning consists of forming an association between two stimuli that lead to a learned response, there are three basic phases that appear in this process:
The first part of the classic conditioning process requires a stimulus (let’s call it unconditional) that will automatically trigger a response. For example, following the example we brought earlier, salivating in response to the smell of food is a natural stimulus.
During this phase of the process, the conditioned stimulus will result in an unconditioned response, for example, the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus) naturally and automatically triggers a salivation response (unconditioned response).
There is also a neutral stimulus that has no effect yet, when this neutral stimulus corresponds to the unconditioned stimulus, a response will be evoked.
In this way, unconditional stimulus is unconditional, natural, and can automatically trigger a response, for example, when you notice the smell of a meal you really like, you may be hungry and the feeling of hunger begins. , the smell of food is the miscondied stimulus.
The unconditional response is the unconditional response that occurs naturally in response to unconditional stimulus; In other words, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditional response.
During the second phase of the conventional conditioning process, the previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly associated with the conditioned stimulus, as a result of this pairing, an association is formed between the previously neutral stimulus and the unconditional stimulus. Stimulus is now known as conditioned stimulus. The subject is now conditioned to respond to this stimulus.
The conditioned stimulus is previously a neutral stimulus that, after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus, triggers the conditioned response, in this way if when we smell a food we like to hear a noise at the same time, and if it occurs several times, the noise by itself will only cause the conditioned response. In this case, the noise is the conditioned stimulus.
Once the association between unconditional stimulus and conditioned stimulus has been consolidated, the presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone will already provoke a response (even without the presentation of the unconditional stimulus).
The resulting response is known as a conditional response. The conditional response is the response learned to the previously neutral stimulus. In the example above, the conditioned response would be to be hungry to hear the noise.
Behavioralists have described a number of different phenomena associated with conventional conditioning. Some of these elements involve initial adjustment of the response. These elements are important for understanding the classic packaging process.
Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a response is first established and then gradually strengthened. During the acquisition phase of conventional conditioning, a neutral stimulus is repeatedly associated with an unconditional stimulus.
Remember that miscondied stimulus is something that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning. Once the association is established, the subject will begin exhibiting behavior in response to the previously neutral stimulus, which is now known as the conditioned stimulus. At this point, the answer has already been obtained.
Extinction occurs when the occurrence of a conditioned response decreases or disappears; in the context of conventional conditioning, this occurs when a conditioned stimulus is no longer associated with an unconditional stimulus.
Sometimes, however, a learned response can suddenly resurface even after a period of extinction. Spontaneous recovery is the recurrence of the conditioned response after a rest period or a decreased response period. If conditioned stimulus and unconditional stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur very quickly, after spontaneous recovery.
The generalization of the stimulus is the tendency of the stimulus conditioned to evoke similar responses after the response has already been conditioned. In John B Watson’s famous Little Albert experiment, a young boy was conditioned to be afraid of a white rabbit. The child demonstrated a generalization of the stimulus to fear also in response to other white furry objects, including Watson’s stuffed animals and hair.
Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been associated with unconditional stimulus, so when the subject is able to distinguish two stimuli, it will only respond when the conditioned stimulus occurs.
The five key principles of conventional conditioning are acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization of stimuli and discrimination of stimuli.
Today, we can find many clear examples of the application of classical conditioning theory, advertising is one of them, and one of the utmost importance, advertising uses conventional packaging as a technique to obtain an answer.
Advertising in game programs is one of the many examples. With the exciting and positive atmosphere of a fun show, the viewer can start generating an exciting response to the ad due to an association with the environment.