Classical Conditioning, Pavlov's Dog Experiment, Watson, Little Albert

Psychology iin 5 Minutes.
Classical Conditioning explained in detail with examples in 5 minutes.
The process of learning is not always the same. Learning can happen in a wide variety of ways. To explain how and when learning occurs, psychologists have proposed a number of different theories, namely.
Learning Through Classical Conditioning,
Learning Through Operant Conditioning, and
Learning Through Observation

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.

1. Unconditioned Stimulus is a trigger that leads to an automatic response – The Food,
2. Neutral Stimulus is a trigger that doesn’t lead to any response on its own, initially. – The Bell (Before Conditioning),
3. Conditioned Stimulus is a trigger, that now leads to a response. – The Bell (After Conditioning)
4. Unconditioned Response is an automatic reaction that occurs without thought – (The Salivation on seeing the Food)
5. Conditioned Response is a learned response or a reaction that is created where no response existed earlier. – (The Salivation after the Bell)

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.
1. The Before Conditioning phase, here a set of unconditioned stimulus and response are identified. (The Food, and the Salivation)
2. The Conditioning phase, a neutral stimulus is introduced repeatedly, paired with an unconditioned stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. (The Bell is repeatedly introduced with the Food) ,
3. The After-conditioning phase, the conditioned stimulus alone triggers the conditioned response. (The Bell causes Salivation on its own, without Food) ,

Behaviorists have described a number of different phenomena associated with classical conditioning in psychology, these are:

1. Acquisition, Learning to respond to the conditioned stimulus,
2. Extinction, disappearance of learned response, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an original stimulus.
3. Spontaneous Recovery, Automatic re-emergence of learned response after a period of extinction.
4. Generalization, it is the tendency to get triggered by other stimulus that are similar to Conditioned Stimuli.
5. Discrimination, It is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other similar triggers.

Here Are Few Examples of Classical Conditioning ,
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
This experiment illustrates how phobias can form through classical conditioning. even a single instance may be enough.

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 they were paired together.

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.
people may be motivated to purchase certain products because they have developed a favorable opinion of them due to classical conditioning.

Criticisms of Classical Conditioning,
The approach still holds great fascination for researchers and relevance in modern psychology. but some maintain that classical conditioning represents a reductive and mechanical explanation for some behaviors and it 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.
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