Classical Conditioning Pavlov Watson Modernday Application

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The theory of classical conditioning was introduced near the turn of the nineteenth century (1900) by Russian scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Pavlov’s experiment was originally intended to study the physiology of salivation, however it turned out that his experiments led him to the discovery of conditioned reflexes. Pavlov’s experiments involved measuring stomach secretions in dogs as they were introduced to food, meat, meat powder, etc. As Pavlov progressed through his experiments he noticed that the dogs had began to salivate upon seeing the food. Then Pavlov began to notice that the dogs began to salivate when he saw an empty plate, or when he saw the experimenter; the dogs even salivated at the sound of the foot steps from the experimenter as they were about to enter the room. Noticing these responses from the dogs, Pavlov decided to test his discovery of condition reflexes. In his experiments testing conditioned reflexes, before the experimenters would enter the room to feed the dogs Pavlov would have a light turned on or have a bell rung. At first the dogs had a neutral reaction to the light or bell because the dogs have not associated those stimuli with being feed. After many trials of pairing, with the light or the bell, with the food, eventually the dogs began to associate being feed with the stimuli if the light or the bell. Upon making the association with the light or bell with the food, the dogs would then begin to salivate when the light turned on or when the bell was rung. The dogs had been conditioned to salivate at the sight of the light being turned on, or at the sound of a bell being rung. Pavlov’s discovery of conditioned reflexes led to the modern day theory of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning considers stimuli and response: unconditioned stimuli, unconditioned response, conditioned stimuli, and conditioned

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