Classical Conditioning: How We Learn
- RRHS ScienceNHS
- Jan 8
- 2 min read
By: Kaya Sadnick-
Psychologists have studied the concepts of learning and behavior for centuries, from philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates to the establishment of psychology as a scientific field in the 1800s. Since then, a variety of theories have been developed, from a variety of psychologists. One of the most notable theories is Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning, which laid the groundwork for future behavioral psychology.
Classical conditioning is merely learning something by association. He identified four basic principles: the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus, and the conditioned response. The unconditioned stimulus and response are instinctual, and the conditioned stimulus and response are coupled with their unconditional counterparts to create either a positive or negative association.
Pavlov, who had worked with dogs before in a clinical setting, established these 4 principles by observing dog saliva. He noticed that, when dogs were brought food by assistants in white coats, they would salivate. After a certain amount of time, they’d eventually salivate whenever these assistants entered the room, regardless of whether they had brought food. Thus, Pavlov hypothesized that the dogs salivating when food was brought was a unconditioned response, and them salivating when they saw the assistants was a conditioned response.
To eliminate bias and confounding variables, Ivan Pavlov tested his hypothesis in a controlled setting. Before they were conditioned, the canines salivated when they were brought food, and had no response when a bell was rang. During conditioning, the subjects were brought food at the same time as a bell was rang. After the conditioning process, they would salivate whenever they heard the bell ring, confirming that they began to associate the sound with the positive experience of eating. Ivan Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning extends far beyond dogs—it’s used today to help understand complex mental health topics like anxiety, PTSD, and depression.
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