classical conditioning (Pavlov)

What is classical conditioning?

Learning through association, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response

Who developed classical conditioning?

Pavlov through experiments with dogs and salivation

What is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?

A stimulus that naturally produces a response (e.g. food)

What is an unconditioned response (UCR)?

A natural, automatic reaction to the UCS (e.g. salivation to food)

What is a neutral stimulus (NS)?

A stimulus that initially produces no response (e.g. bell)

What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?

Originally neutral, but after association with UCS, it produces a response (e.g. bell after pairing with food)

What is a conditioned response (CR)

Learned response to the CS (e.g. salivation to bell)

What was pavlov’s experiment?

Dogs were presented with food (UCS), salivation (UCR), bell (NS) paired with food, bell became CS, salivation became CR

Strength of this experiment

Scientific credibility: based on controlled experiments (Pavlov’s dogs), producing reliable data

Practical applications: used in therapies like systematic desensitisation for phobias

Influence: foundation for behaviourist psychology and later learning theories

Limitations of this experiment

Animal research: findings may not generalise fully to humans

Reductionist: focuses only on observable behaviour, ignoring cognitive and emotional factors

Deterministic: suggests behaviour is entirely shaped by associations, ignoring free will