In the early 1900s Pavlov achieved something more than getting a dog to drool at the sound of a tune. His famous experiment made people aware of and explained a type of learning that is instinctual to intelligent life. “Learning by association” or specifically “classical conditioning” is a way that we associate an unrelated (neutral) stimulus to another stimulus which in result induces a specific behavior.
There are generally 4 components to classical conditioning. The unconditioned response (UR), unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned response (CR), and the conditioned stimulus (CS). In Pavlov’s example, the US was the food and the UR was salivating. This is the natural reaction the dog would have. During conditioning, the tune was played before the food was given to the dog. After some time the tune became the CS and the salivating became the CR.
A real life example of a way I have been classically conditioned happens to me almost every night. I find myself rummaging through my cabinet looking for something sweet. I’m craving dessert. Most of the time I don’t realize I want dessert until after I have sought it out by opening up my cabinet. Now, I don’t have to eat dinner and I will still crave something sweet in the evenings. As a kid my parents would often have dessert for us after dinner and when I had a meal plan I would almost always get a cookie or ice cream at the dining call. Now that I shop and cook for myself I don’t always have a sweet treat to fulfill my craving.
This is one of the reasons why weight loss can be so hard for people. People have habits that are hard to break. When you eat dinner, it triggers a response that once you are done it is time for dessert. Fortunately for people trying to lose weight, these habits can be broken with some discipline and time. If you stop eating dessert after dinner the cravings for it can go away. This is an example of “extinction”. However, if you start eating desserts again these cravings can come back and this is known as “spontaneous recovery”.
Classical conditioning happens all around us without us noticing. It is important to be aware of how we might be classically conditioned to avoid immediate responses we might not wish to have. What are some ways you have experienced classical conditioning first hand?
This post gave me a much better understanding on classical conditioning. When I was first learning it, I was having trouble understanding the 4 components to conditioning, but your first-hand example clears up my confusion. Your example of expecting dessert naturally after dinner is a great example of the conditioned responses. I connect this with the habit of biting your nails. I realize that when I get nervous or bored, my conditioned response to handle with this is to bite my nails. It’s very hard to break this habit and if you do, it’s common to undergo a spontaneous recovery as you mentioned.
I can relate to this post so much! After my dinner, I ALWAYS crave something sweet. Most of the time its chocolate but anything sweet satisfies my craving. Growing up, my family always had a bowl of ice cream after dinner and that was something I did until I was about 15. When I started getting older and my metabolism started to slow down I realized I needed to stop doing that every night. Eventually the cravings for them went away and it became a habit to feel satisfied after my dinner and not need a dessert. Now, I am a freshman and I did summer session at PSU this summer and the buffet has desserts as well as your meal. The habit of wanting something sweet actually restarted for about a 3 weeks then I made myself go one a walk or something after dinner so I’m not laying in bed and tempted to eat something sweet. This was such a good example of classical condition and will definitely help me remember it better now that you helped me make a connection!
I also relate to this post! Whenever my family finishes dinner on Sundays at home, we almost always have desert to the point where I almost expect it every time. I thought your explanation for Pavlov’s dogs was a great review as I haven’t looked back far in my notes other than the new content. I’d like to point out that you didn’t mention the (NS) Neutral Stimulus that is exactly the same as the (CS) Conditioned Stimulus. The stimuli being the tone that would eventually allow the dogs to salivate by hearing it ring. I also thought that your insight for the cause of obesity through conditioning was also very interesting. It made me wonder if parents in America didn’t condition their children to eat unhealthy, could that decrease the rate of obesity?