Suppose a child fails an exam and gets punished by their parents. The child automatically associates exams with bad consequences that cause anxiety. When the child retakes an exam, they will automatically become nervous.
This process is called associative learning in psychology. Here are the specialized terms ( initials) you should know that I mentioned in the brackets above.
An unconditioned stimulus( US) is something (such as punishment) that triggers a naturally occurring response( such as anxiety) and is called an unconditioned response( UR).
The conditioned stimulus( CS) is a neutral stimulus( such as an exam) that, after being constantly presented previous to the unconditioned stimulus (punishment), evokes an analogous response( anxiety) to the unconditioned stimulus.
The conditioned stimulus produces the conditioned response( CR), the acquired response( automatically nervousness) to the formerly neutral stimulus.
We learn, acquire knowledge and experience certain behaviours from birth. We can learn from different sources from our surroundings. Associative learning has a significant role in shaping our behaviour.
Classical conditioning is learning through association. It’s considered more of a reflex, an automatic, learned response. When Two stimuli are combined, a person or animal learns a new response.
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To be easier to understand, let’s discuss how dogs are learning eating when you ring a bell.
When we show our dog food (an unconditioned stimulus), the dog produces salivation( an unconditioned response). And also, we’ve only got a bell ring(a neutral stimulus). It doesn’t produce any response.
During teaching (During conditioning), you should constantly ring the bell and feed your dog. You should connect these two stimuli to get the dog’s salivation( unconditioned response).
After a few repetitions(after conditioning), the dog salivates when they hear the bell sound. The bell sound becomes the conditioned stimulus( CS) because its effects depend on its association with food.
The conclusion is that Before conditioning, food (an unconditioned stimulus) produces salivation (an unconditioned response), and a bell (a neutral stimulus) doesn’t produce a response. During conditioning, the food (unconditioned stimulus) is presented constantly just after the presentation of the bell (neutral stimulus). After conditioning, only the neutral stimulus produces salivation (a conditioned response), therefore getting a conditioned stimulus.
As a result, when you ring a bell, a dog knows it’s time to eat, and he’s waiting for food.
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Conditioning is essential to evolution. It helps organisms prepare for both pleasant and harmful situations. Imagine, for example, that an animal first smells a new food, eats it, and also gets sick. However, it’ll quickly learn that the food creates a negative outcome and won’t eat it the next time if the animal can learn to associate the smell( CS) with the food( US).
You can easily find classical conditioning examples in everyday life. I’ll end this paper with other cases.
A parent’s praise for a child’s good actions( US) makes them feel proud( UR). The child associates the behaviour ( CS) with honour and feels proud( CR).
A harsh instructor( US) makes scholars feel bad( UR). Scholars associate attending the academy( CS) with the intense instructor and learn to feel bad about attending the academy( CR).
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Knowing how you learned your habits or why you have a terrible passion for commodities is handy. I suppose it’s the first step to positively changing yourself and your surroundings.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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