Classical Conditioning Essay

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Classical Conditioning Psy 390 May 2, 2012 Classical Conditioning The Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov founded classical condition theory. He was studying the secretion of stomach acids and salivation of dogs when they were presented with different kinds and different amounts of food. While studying the secretions of stomach acids and salivation, he notices that salivation would increase if the dog has not had any food. An increased amount of salvia and stomach acid would generate at the existence or footsteps of the food supplier. This discovery led Ivan Pavlov to classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is known as an associative learning approach. It is also known as or referred to Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. Classical conditioning was a major development in the field of psychology. Theory A type of learning that a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response is classical conditioning (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). Classic conditioning has an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), unconditioned response (UCR), conditioned stimulus (CS), and a conditioned response (CR). The unconditioned stimulus causes the reaction or response and the unconditioned response is the natural response that is not connected to prior learning. The unconditioned response always transpires in the company of the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus was the neutral stimulus before being paired with the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned response is the newly learned response after being conditioned to the neutral stimulus or conditioned stimulus. Ivan Pavlov continued to use dogs to test his theory. In Pavlov’s experiment, the ringing bell was his neutral stimulus, the meat was the unconditioned stimulus and salivation is the unconditioned response. Pavlov would

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