Applications Paper:
The paper presented is aimed at demonstrating the primary principals behind classical conditioning. By using a real life example the textbook theory can be applied to a hypothetical patient suffering from a sleep disorder possibly somewhat brought on by a ‘learnt’ experience.
My female friend expresses the symptoms of alertness and insomnia commonly prior to one specific action; brushing her teeth. The scenario given dictates that the only other time my friend brushes her teeth is prior to leaving for work in the morning and furthermore the text also highlights that her working life has relatively recently become more stressful.
Atkinson (1980) brings in to play the fact that stress is quite likely to be the cause of the insomnia and alertness. By focusing specifically on Bond and McConkey’s (2001) theory: “…Classical conditioning can be defined as the pairing of some fixed temporal relationship of a neutral stimulus and a stimulus capable of regularly and reliably eliciting a response…” we can potentially see that the night time stressfulness could be as a result of her becoming classically conditioned.
To understand exactly how my friend has learned to display characteristics of stress in the evenings, prior to sleep, we must familiarize ourselves with the basic principals of classical conditioning.
There are four definitions, which must first be made clear; Wayne Written (2001) explains:
1) The Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) – A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without prior conditioning. In this scenario specifically the UCS would be my friend leaving for work in the mornings.
2) The Unconditioned Response (UCR) – Is an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning. In this case the response is quite obviously the stressful feeling my friend endures.
Adopting Wayne Written’s (2001) description of our like – like scenario, so far Fig 1.1 below shows the relationship we have created. Without any learning-taking place the UCS of going to work has been associated with a conditioned response of feeling stressed.
Fig 1.1
Wayne Written (2001) continues:
3) The Controlled Stimulus (CS) – Is a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning acquired the capability a conditioned response. Again relating the CS to this example, we would be assuming that the brushing of her teeth would have been previously a neutral stimulus and hence forming the controlled stimulus for this argument.
4) The Controlled Response (CR) – Is a leant reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of prior conditioning.
Therefore, a human or animal will forget about the old stimulus and become attached to the new stimulus. The terms: Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Neutral Stimulus, Conditioned Stimulus, and Conditioned Response are key when explaining the process of Classical Conditioning. A Unconditioned Stimulus is when a stimulus will lead to a natural response without any training needed. A Unconditioned Response is a natural and automatic response brought up by the Unconditioned Stimulus. A Neutral Stimulus is when something elicits no response at first. For example, a specific object will have no meaning before the experiment but once the experiment is undergo, the object will take on a different role than before. A Conditioned Stimulus is a stimulus that at first had no meaning, but when associated with the Unconditioned Stimulus it will eventually generate a Conditioned Response. A Conditioned Response will cause a natural and automatic response towards the Neutral Stimulus because the person was trained to react that
When Antonio was seven years old, he had a very bad flu and was hospitalized. He was able to recover without complications, but he noticed that whenever he drove by the hospital he was treated at that he would start to feel sick to his stomach.Unconditioned stimulus in Antonio's case was initially the hospital. The unconditioned response to being at the hospital was he didn't feel well. Then the Hospital became the conditioned response by making Antonio feel sick when he had to visit or drive by the hospital. It is because he associated the hospital (CS) with feeling ill. The hospital where he was treated for the sickness is the conditioned stimulus (CS), causing him to remember what occurred and inducing his stomach to hurt (CR) which is an conditioned response. This is an example of classical
Watson, John B.; R Rayner, (March 2000) Conditioned emotional reactions, American Psychologist, Vol 55(3), 313-317.
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
Janice 's problems illustrate connections between the biological, psychological, and social systems. According to (Newman/ Newman,2015) a biological system includes all those processes necessary for this physical functioning. Janice is feeling stressed and because of that it made changes to her biological system which includes changes to her sleeping pattern and also caused her to have trouble
The two main forms of conditioning, are classical conditioning (learning by association), and operant condition (learning from consequences).Classical conditioning, is the learning process in which one is conditioned (learns) to respond to a neutral stimulus as if it were a meaningful stimulus. In operant conditioning, learning occurs through associations made between a behavior and the consequence that follows.
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). Often during this stage the US must be associated with the CS on a number of occasions, or trials, for learning to take place.
For the first four days of the observational part of the experiment, I noticed that I always shook my legs when I was in class or focusing on something like homework. In the terms of classical conditioning terms: The Unconditioned stimulus is probably me focusing on my work or in class, the Unconditional response is the shaking of the legs, the conditioned stimulus is me being class, and the conditional responses is the shaking of the legs in response to me being in cl...
Stimulus control occurs when a presence or absence of a stimulus trigger a behavior (Chance, 2014, p. 399). In my experience, I’ve noticed many indications of stimulus control in my behavior. For example, I tend to read a book every time I eat. In this case, my eating habit is controlled by the stimulus of reading a book. I believe that the stimulus control present in this example was somewhat harmful because reading materials aren’t always available to me when I eat which makes me uncomfortable.
The unconditioned stimulus is the old spicy guy. It is when unconditioned stimulus triggers a response. When women see their commercial it sends a feeling of arousal, which lead to conditioned stimulus of desiring the product. The conditioned stimulus would be the old spice product because that is the kind of stimulus that is occasion for a conditioned response, which is advertisement and response campaign. Unconditioned response would be desire for one’s significant other to look and smell like the old spice guy. That would be unconditioned response because the behavior is natural, a...
These terms (CS, US, CR, UR), as well as the word “conditioning”, were first employed by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936), who originally studied the digestive system for which he won a Nobel prize in 1904 (Andrews, 2006). It was during these studies that Pavlov was led to the study of behaviour (behaviourism) and what is now known as classical (or pavlovian)
Classical conditioning is a technique of learning that occurs when an unconditional stimulus is paired with a conditional stimulus. The unconditional stimulus is biologically potent, the conditional stimulus is neutral (Kalat, 2011). Example of each is taste of food and sound of tuning fork respectively. After repeated pairing, the organism exhibits a conditional response to the conditional stimulus. The conditional response is similar to the unconditioned response though it is relatively impermanent and is acquired through experience (Kalat, 2011).
The preparatory-response model was first proposed by Pavlov and is a type of classical conditioning. Pavlov suggested that a conditioned stimulus can act as a substitute for an unconditioned stimulus. An example of the preparatory-response theory involves cases in which conditioning eventually results in a conditioned response that appears to be opposite of the original unconditioned response. This type of preparatory response is called a compensatory response and is easily observed in habitual drug users. The user can learn to associate cues from the environment that are commonly present when using a drug the body begins to prepare itself for the effect.
...233). Pavlovian conditioning has four parts: unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. Each of the four parts is associated to one another. The unconditioned stimulus automatically causes the unconditioned response. The conditioned stimulus after being trained can trigger the conditioned response.
Classical conditioning also called as Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning. It is a kind of learning a new behavior through association that when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) and evokes a conditioned response (CR). It also is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus (Cherry, 2014). Classical conditioning has much strength such as can help to explain all aspects of human behavior and many of advertisers will use classical conditioning to advertise their produces, however it also have some weaknesses such as all classical conditioning responses must involve a reflex and classical conditioning is a completely physical process, learning is not important as reflected in scenario. This paper will talk about the strengths and the weaknesses of classical conditioning theory followed by a brief description of the scenario and the strengths and weaknesses of applying classical conditioning on it.