THEORY OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

The Theory of Classical Conditioning

The Theory of Classical Conditioning

Introduction

The theory of classical Conditioning was introduced by conducted by Pavlov in which he chose dogs as a sample to conduct the experiment upon. The core idea and the ideology of this experiment was that the sample of this experiment (dogs) was presented food by Pavlov; afterwards Pavlov calculated the response of the sample in form of salivary; i.e. the amount of saliva generated by dogs mouth (Gormezano, Prokasy, Thompson, 1987). The next step of the experiment was that Pavlov rang the bell before he presented food to the dogs. In the initial phase of the experiment the dogs did not respond until and unless the physical presence of food was realized (Gormezano, Prokasy, Thompson, 1987). However, in the second phase of the experiment the salivation process was realized in the dogs by hearing the sound of the bell. In this experiment the sample was able to erudite and linked the presentation of food with the sound of the bell. By considering the physiological responses in practice the sound produced by the bell was correlated with the presentation of the food by the sample.

Discussion and Analysis

The theory of classical conditioning can serve as the tools for the trainers in two guidelines: when the autonomic responses are trained (the process to drool, production of adrenaline or reduction in adrenaline secretion) without the usage of the stimulus that is responsible for the creation of this type of retort and the creation of a connection between stimuli and its affect on the animal (the cause and effect relationship) (Klein, Mowrer, 1989). This is categorized into primary and secondary stimuli. The stimulus in which the untrained subject shows its reaction is known as the unconditioned stimulus or the primary stimulus. Nevertheless, the second category of the Stimuli is known as the secondary stimulus. In this category the subject shows its reaction but there is one condition for it; the subject should be trained to react or behave in certain way first (Klein, Mowrer, 1989). This process is known as the conditioned stimulus or the secondary stimuli.

The Scenario of Pigeons

The formal properties of the stimuli may play an important role in the process of classical conditioning. The RC may appear in the presence of stimuli that were not originally conditioned but still share some features with them. For example, considering EC as the sound of ...