Modern Day Classical Conditioning

Modern Day Classical Conditioning

Kristy Smith

Week 4 - Classical Conditioning

PSYC-110-AV-201320-20789

Friends University

Classical Conditioning is a process of behavior alteration, by which the subject learns to respond in a chosen manner, to a previously neutral stimulus that when consistently used, along with an unconditioned stimulus, provokes a desired response.

An unconditioned stimulus is a normal response, such as the smell of food makes a person feel hungry. On the other hand, an unconditioned response is the exact opposite, feeling hungry is the unconditioned response, when a person smells food which is the unconditioned stimulus.

Moreover, a neutral stimulus is nothing more than the getting the subjects attention by using a sound to condition a response and the sound induces a conditioned stimulus.

When I am cooking dinner the smell of the food is the unconditional stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response that induces a hungry feeling in my family. When it is time to eat, I use a dinner bell as a neutral stimulus to condition a response that it is time to come to the table to eat. Thus, together with the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food), and the neutral stimulus (the dinner bell ringing), I condition a stimulus that makes my family move to the dinner table to eat.

In conclusion, the association of the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, along with the neutral stimulus, the conditioned stimulus and condition a response reinforces the behavior of my family to prepare to eat without having to say anything to them. They know when they smell the food and feel hungry, dinner will be served soon and they listen for the sound of the bell that tells them it is time to move to the dining room to eat.

Reference

Myers, D. (2011). Classical conditioning. (pg. 227-232) Exploring Psychology (8th edition.) Worth Publishers: New York. ISBN -13: 978–1–429–21635–7