Classical conditioning in human behaviour.

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Michelle Greenfield        Page         4/28/2007

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

INTRODUCTION

The theory of classical conditioning (also called Pavlovian conditioning) is accepted worldwide and has remained virtually unchanged since its conception of Pavlov’s work.  It is used to explain and interpret a wide range of human behaviour, such as where phobias come from, why we dislike certain foods, the source of our emotions, how advertising works, why we feel nervous before a job interview and before an exam and what arouses us sexually.

PAVLOV

Ivan Pavlov, the famous Russian physiologist, discovered these important relationships around the turn of the century.  He created the first learning theory, which precedes the reinforcement theory.  In his experiment with dogs, he discovered the process of reflex learning (Classical conditioning).   That an unconditioned stimulus (food) which produces an unconditioned response (salivation) is presented together with a conditioned stimulus (bell), so that the salivation is eventually produced on the conditioned stimulus (bell) alone, thus becoming a conditioned response.

UCS  =  Unconditioned Stimulus

UCR  =  Unconditioned Response

CS     =  Conditioned Stimulus

CR  =  Conditioned Response

The importance and application of Pavlov’s work extends beyond salivating dogs.  His theories of Classical conditioning explained a major portion of human behaviour and helped to launch psychology as a true science.

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WATSON

The first attempt to apply Pavlov’s findings to humans was made by Watson.  He believed that all human behaviour was a product of learning and conditioning, he stated in his speech of 1913:

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-informed, and my own special world to bring them up in, and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, layer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, beggar man and thief.”  (Watson, 1913)

This was an extremely revolutionary view for its time.  Many psychologists ...

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