Classical Conditioning And Its Most Important Experiments
He Classical conditioning (either Pavlovian conditioning) is one of the introductory topics studied in the psychology degree, and is one of the basic principles of learning.
Therefore, surely all psychologists and teachers They have knowledge about its importance in associative learning or in the formation of pathologies such as phobias. There are few who do not know Ivan Pavlov and his experiments with dogs. For those who still don’t know him, below we explain his theory in detail.
One of the most important features of This type of learning is that it involves automatic or reflex responses, not voluntary behaviors (Unlike Operant conditioning either instrumental). The creation of a connection between a new stimulus and an already existing reflex was called “classical conditioning”, therefore, is a type of learning according to which an originally neutral stimulus, which does not provoke a response is able to provoke it thanks to the associative connection of this stimulus with the stimulus that normally provokes said response.
Classical conditioning laid the foundations for behaviorism one of the most important schools of psychology, and was born as a consequence of the studies of Pavlov, a Russian psychologist who was interested in the physiology of digestion, especially in salivation reflexes in dogs.
Pavlov’s famous dog experiment: The conditioned reflex
Pavlov’s research is one of the foundations of behavioral sciences. In his initial investigations, Pavlov had observed that After putting food in the mouth of the dog he was investigating, he began to secrete saliva from certain glands Pavlov called this phenomenon the “salivation reflex.”
By performing the experiment repeatedly, he observed that his presence (that of Pavlov himself) caused the dog to begin secreting saliva without having the food present, Well, he had learned that when Pavlov showed up at the laboratory, he would receive food So, in order to know if she was right, he put a separator between the dog and the food, this way the dog couldn’t see it. The researcher introduced the food through a hatch and recorded the animal’s salivation.
Later, Pavlov began to apply different stimuli (auditory and visual) that were then neutral, just before serving the dog food. His results indicated that, after several applications, the animal associated the stimuli (now conditioned stimuli) with food. Pavlov called the salivation that occurred after this association “conditioned reflex.”
Below you can watch this video that explains Pavlov’s experiments.
The theory of classical conditioning: general concepts
Classical conditioning is also called stimulus-response model either partnership learning (ER). The results of his research earned Pavlov the Nobel Prize in 1904.
In the process, he designed the Classical Conditioning scheme based on his observations:
Watson’s contributions to behaviorism
Fascinated by Pavlov’s discoveries, John Watson proposed that the process of Classical Conditioning could also explain learning in humans. As a classical behaviorist, thought that emotions were also learned through conditioned association and in fact, he thought that the differences in behavior between humans were caused by the different experiences that each one lived.
Little Albert’s Experiment (by John Watson)
To do this, he carried out “the experiment with little Albert”, an 11-month-old baby, together with his collaborator Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University (United States), since I wanted to find out if it is possible to condition an animal when it is associated with a loud noise (hammer blow on a metal board) that provokes a fear response
The association of the blow of a hammer on the metal board (EI) and the presence of a white rat (CS) that was previously a neutral stimulus, ended up provoking an emotional response of fear (CR) to the mere presence of the rat, thus demonstrating that fear could be learned by classical conditioning. This is the most common mechanism for acquiring phobias. Needless to say, this experiment could not be carried out today, since it exceeds the limits of scientific ethics.
You can discover more about little Albert’s experiment by entering this post:
In 1913, Watson published a paper called Psychology as the behaviorist views itand proposed to analyze psychology from the analysis of observable behavior instead of from the analysis of consciousness, perspective valid until then. To this end, he proposed the elimination of introspection as a valid method for psychology, replacing it with objective observation and experimentation.
