The owner of a small farm in Georgia had a dog and a hen house filled with chickens. His family loved their dog; however, they depended upon their chickens for meat and eggs. On a number of occasions, the family dog had found a way to enter the chicken coop at night while the farmer and his family slept. The dog had come to like eating the chickens that provided the family with the meat and eggs on which they depended. Although the farmer had taken all the necessary steps to fortify the hen house, the dog still found his way in. The farmer had to find a way to stop the dog from desiring the chickens.
To discourage the dog from wanting the chickens, the farmer decided to take some of the meat that came from one of his chickens and taint it with a drug that would not be fatal but would cause the dog to become nauseated and disoriented after eating the meat. The farmer placed the tainted chicken in the chicken coop where the dog would find it first, and then placed the dog into the chicken coop. Each time the dog was placed into the chicken coop, he ate the tainted chicken and became sick. The farmer continued placing the dog into the henhouse each night before retiring; each time he did this, the dog would smell the chicken, eat the meat first and become sick. After a number of pairings, of the UC stimulus (the chickens) and the conditioned stimulus (the tainted chicken), the dog would smell the chickens, become anxious, and make haste for the henhouse door. The key fundamentals of classical conditioning for this scenario are the unconditioned stimulus (US), the unconditioned response (UR), the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the conditioned response (CR) (Webcache, 2010). The unconditioned stimulus (Unconditioned stimulus, 2010) in this scenario is the chicken in the hen house. The chicken elicits the unconditioned response (Unconditioned response, 2010) of the dog to desire, unconditionally, the chicken, without being conditioned to do so. This is “an immediate involuntary stereotyped to [the] (Reflex, 2010, para. 1) that comes about when the dog sees or smells the chickens (US). The conditioned stimulus (CS) is the tainted chicken meat that “comes to elicit a particular ” (Conditioned stimulus, 2010, para. 1), like the dog becoming sick after eating the meat while paired with the chickens (US) in the hen-house.
The expected results that one would expect to see in this scenario would be the dog learning a new behavior. The “immediate involuntary stereotyped ” (Reflex, 2010, para. 1) of the dog after smelling the chickens should change. In stead of dog entering the chicken coop to eat the chickens while the famer and his family slept, the process of learning that included the previously neutral stimulus (the tainted meat), would come to elicit a new desire. Upon approaching the coop to kill a chicken and eat the meat, the memory of the smell of the unconditioned stimulus (tainted chicken) and the conditioned response (feelings of nausea and disorientation), would now elicit a new response: The dog would run in the other direction upon smelling the chickens. The Chart supplied following reference pages illustrates how the theory of classical conditioning would apply to this scenario.
Classical conditioning as a concept was introduced by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov’s observations suggested that behaviors were the product of a learned response. Associative learning is the most fundamental type of learning and involves creating new associations that connect the environmental events of one’s life. Two forms of conditioning are recognized as trustworthy by psychological science: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a process of learning by which an initially neutral stimulus comes to elicit a specific desired response by pairing that stimulus repetitively with an unconditioned stimulus. Classical conditioning is a spontaneous or reflexive form of learning; the ultimate goal of classical conditioning is to evoke a particular desired reflex via a neutral stimulus by coupling the neutral stimulus with a stimulus that evokes the desired reflex. The scenarios provided by Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson set the standard for the use of classical conditioning for numerous types of behavioral modification and learning theories. The use of classical conditioning can be seen in the example of the dog who continually found his way into a chicken coop at night. The dog had come to like killing the chickens while the farmer and his family slept. The farmer used classical conditioning to discourage the dog from desiring the chickens by using an unconditioned stimulus: tainted chicken. The expected results of the famer were that the dog would learn a new behavior, and stop killing his chickens. By pairing the neutral stimulus (tainted chicken) with the conditioned stimulus (the chickens) he would ultimately evoke the desired response of the dog no longer desiring the chickens in his coop. The dog’s reflexive behavior would at last be changed. To demonstrate this process, a flow diagram is provided following the reference pages.
References
Braslau-Schneck, S.. (2010). An Animal Trainer's Introduction To Operant and Classical Conditioning. Retrieved from
Classical conditioning n." A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Apollo Group. 1 June 2010
Conditioned stimulus (2010) A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Apollo Group. 2 June 2010
Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2010). Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved June 1st, 2010 from
Reflex (2010) A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Apollo Group. 2 June 2010
Unconditioned stimulus (2010). A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Apollo Group. 2 June 2010
Unconditioned response (2010) A Dictionary of Psychology. Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Apollo Group. 2 June 2010
Webcache (2010). Psychology “Classical Conditioning “Classical Conditioning Scenarios” Scenarios” Scenar. Retrieved from