Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a new conditioned response. Specifically, Ivan Pavlov's famous experiment found that dogs could be conditioned to salivate (the conditioned response) in response to a bell (the conditioned stimulus), after the bell was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food (the unconditioned stimulus), which naturally elicited salivation (the unconditioned response). The document then provides an example of how this process could apply to a scenario where someone develops a headache (conditioned response) upon seeing an ice cream scooper (conditioned stimulus) after initially receiving a headache (unconditioned response) from being hit with a scooper (unconditioned stimulus).

1. Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov – 1904 Nobel Prize
Winner in Physiology
Stimulus, Response, Neutral Stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus, & Conditioned Response

2. Here’s What He Used…
 Stimulus
 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
 Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
 Neutral Stimulus (NS)
 Unconditioned Response (UCR)
 Conditioned Response (CR)

3. Diagram This Situation…
 Connor loves Chocolate
Chip Cookie Dough ice
cream from the local ice
cream shop. He never paid
much attention to the ice
cream scooper they used to
scoop the ice cream until
one day the scooper flew
out of the server’s hand and
hit him in the head and gave
him a terrible headache.
Now every time he walks by
the ice cream shop he gets
a splitting headache.
In the story above, list the following:
Neutral Stimulus (NS): _______________
Response (R): ______________________________
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): __________________
Unconditioned Response (UCR): _________________
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): ___________________
Conditioned Response (CR): ___________________

4. Tough to do when you don’t know
what the terms mean. So let’s
learn what they mean…

5. What’s a STIMULUS?
 A stimulus is
something that
causes a response

6. Unconditioned Stimulus
 A stimulus that you
did not have to be
TAUGHT to react to.
 You react by instinct

7. Unconditioned Response
 A response from a
stimulus that you
DID NOT have to be
trained to react to

8. Conditioned Stimulus
 A stimulus that you
have to be TAUGHT
to react to.

9. Conditioned Response
 A response to a
stimulus that you
had to be trained to
react to

10. Neutral Stimulus
 A stimulus that
doesn’t mean
anything to you yet

11. What’s
My
Name?

12. Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov studied how
a person could
control a dog’s
behavior
 He especially
focused on dog
drool

13. Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov wanted the
dogs to drool every
time he rang a bell

14. What’s happening here?

15. Now the Learning Process…

16.  Pavlov then rang the bell as he showed the
dog food…
 And the dog drooled!

18.  After awhile, Pavlov only had to ring the bell)
and the dog would drool!

20. Diagram This Situation…
 Connor loves Chocolate
Chip Cookie Dough ice
cream from the local ice
cream shop. He never paid
much attention to the ice
cream scooper they used to
scoop the ice cream until
one day the scooper flew
out of the server’s hand and
hit him in the head and gave
him a terrible headache.
Now every time he walks by
the ice cream shop and
sees the server reach for
the ice cream scooper he
gets a splitting headache.
In the story above, list the following:
Neutral Stimulus (NS): _______________
Response (R): ______________________________
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): __________________
Unconditioned Response (UCR): _________________
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): ___________________
Conditioned Response (CR): ___________________

21. You will see the terms of
Classical Conditioning
everywhere now that you
know about them.