Pavlov Experiment

1. Pavlov’s Classical
Conditioning
Dr. Pratibha Sagar
Department of Education
MJPRU, Bareilly

2. Classical Conditioning
Theory
Classical conditioning was the
first type of learning to be
discovered and studied within
the behaviorist tradition (hence
the name classical).

3. Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov
– 1849-1936
– Russian physician/
neurophysiologist
– Nobel Prize, 1904
– studied digestive
secretions

4. Classical Conditioning
Theory
Pavlov was studying the digestive
system of dogs and became
intrigued with his observation
that dogs deprived of food began
to salivate when one of his
assistants walked into the room.

6. Classical Conditioning
Theory
He began to investigate this
phenomena and established the
laws of classical conditioning.

7. Pavlov’s Apparatus for Studying
Classical Conditioning in Dogs

8. Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
• Pavlov’s device
for recording
salivation

9. Pavlov’s Experiment
• He first observed whether the dog
salivated in response to a particular
stimulus, such as a ringing of a bell.
The dog did not.

10. Pavlov’s Experiment
• Pavlov rang the bell again, but this
time he followed it with the
presentation of some powdered
meat. Of course, the dog salivated.
Pavlov rang the bell several more
times, always presenting meat
immediately afterward. The dog
salivated on each occasion.

11. Pavlov’s Experiment
• Pavlov rang the bell without presenting
any meat; nevertheless, the dog
salivated. The bell, to which the dog had
been previously unresponsive, now led
to a salivation response.
–Because there had been a change of
behavior, according to behaviorists,
learning had taken place.

12. Analysis of Pavlov’s
Experiment
• Neutral stimulus (NS) – A stimulus
to which the organism does not
respond in any noticeable way.
–The bell did not initially elicit a
salivation response.

13. Analysis of Pavlov’s
Experiment
• The Neutral stimulus is presented
just before an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS), one that leads to an
unconditioned response (UCR).
–The meat powder was the
unconditioned stimulus, and the
dog’s salivation was the
unconditioned response

14. Analysis of Pavlov’s
Experiment
• The previously neutral stimulus now
elicits a response, so it is no longer
“neutral” and has become a conditioned
stimulus (CS) to which the organism has
learned a conditioned response (CR).
–The bell became a conditioned
stimulus that led to the conditioned
response of salivation.

15. Examples of Classical
Conditioning in Human
Learning
• Food aversions due to negative
associations
• Darkness leads to drowsiness
• Images invoking attitude
• Fears and phobias
• Fear of failure

16. Classical Conditioning
• Pavlov started with the
unconditioned response of
salivation to food. He hypothesized
that that this was an automatic
connection.
–The dogs had an unconditioned
reflex between food and secretion
of digestive juices.

17. Unconditioned Reflexes
Dog in laboratory
 Dog sees food
 Dog salivates

18. Classical Conditioning
A buzzer is called a neutral stimulus
because it elicits attention to the
sound, but no automatic connection.
–The dogs would lift their ears and
look around when the buzzer
sounded, but no salivation was
produced.

19. Conditioning
Dog in laboratory
 Dog sees food
 Dog hears bell
 Dog salivates

20. Classical Conditioning
• Pavlov noticed that the dogs he used
to do his research salivated upon the
sight of the lab workers who fed
them.
–He concluded that this reflex was
“psychological” because it was
based on the dog’s previous
experiences.

21. Classical Conditioning
–Further testing demonstrated that
the sight of food produced the
same effect as giving the same
amount of food to the dog.

22. Classical Conditioning
• Based upon his tentative acceptance
of the salivation as a reflex, Pavlov
used the term conditional reflex to
describe this response.

23. Classical Conditioning
• He conjectured that animals develop
new connections by transferring a
response from one stimulus to
another.
–He hypothesized that if a buzzer
always preceded the food, the
buzzer would begin to elicit the
reflex of salivation.

24. Classical Conditioning
• After a few pairings of the buzzer
with the food, the dogs would begin
to salivate as soon as the buzzer
sounded.

25. Conditioned Reflex
Dog in laboratory
 Dog hears bell
 Thinks food
 Dog salivates

26. Unconditioned Stimulus
• Unconditioned means “not
learned.”*
• Any stimulus that without learning
will automatically cause an
unconditioned response is called an
unconditioned stimulus (US).

27. Unconditioned Stimulus
• Salivation in response to food is an
unconditioned response because it is
– inborn,
– automatic,
– unlearned response to a
• Unconditioned response are “built
into” NS

29. Examples of
Unconditioned Stimuli
• loud noise Startle
• light in eye Pupil contraction
• puff of air in Eye blink
• touching hot stove Hand withdrawal

30. Unconditioned Response
Unconditioned Response (UR):
A response that is invariably
elicited by the unconditioned
stimulus without prior learning.

32. Conditioned Stimulus
 Conditioned means “learned.”*
 Any stimulus that comes to elicit
a conditioned response through
Classical Conditioning is called a
conditioned stimulus (US).

33. Conditioned Response
A learned response rather than a
naturally occurring one.

35. More Realistic Example
• Getting dental work done
(unconditioned stimulus)
• hurts (unconditioned
response)
• Eventually the sound of the
dentist’s drill (conditioned
stimulus)
• causes anxiety, fear, or pain
(conditioned response)

36. Classical Conditioning
General Model
• Stimulus (S) elicits >Response (R)
• Classical conditioning starts with a
reflex (R): an innate, involuntary
behaviour.
•

37. Classical Conditioning
General Model
• This involuntary behavior is elicited or
caused by an antecedent environmental
event.
• For example, if air is blown into your
eye, you blink. You have no voluntary or
conscious control over whether the blink
occurs or not.

38. Classical Conditioning
Specific Model
• A stimulus will naturally (without
learning) elicit or bring about a
reflexive response
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
elicits > Unconditioned Response
(UR)

39. Classical Conditioning
Specific Model
• Neutral Stimulus (NS) --- does not elicit
the response of interest
• This stimulus (sometimes called an
orienting stimulus as it elicits an
orienting response) is a neutral stimulus
since it does not elicit the Unconditioned
(or reflexive) Response.

40. Classical Conditioning
Specific Model
The Neutral/Orientiing Stimulus (NS)
is repeatedly paired with the
Unconditioned/Natural Stimulus
(US).

41. Classical Conditioning
Specific Model
• The Neutral Stimulus (NS) is
transformed into a Conditioned
Stimulus (CS).
•That is, when the CS is presented by
itself, it elicits or causes the CR (which
is the same involuntary response as the
UR.

42. Classical Conditioning
Specific Model
•The name changes because it is
elicited by a different stimulus.
•This is written CS elicits > CR.

43. Classical Conditioning
Theory
• In the area of classroom learning,
classical conditioning is seen
primarily in the conditioning of
emotional behaviour.

44. Classical Conditioning
Theory
•Things that make us happy, sad,
angry, etc. become associated with
neutral stimuli that gain our
attention.

45. Classical Conditioning
Theory
• For example, the school,
classroom, teacher, or subject
matter are initially neutral stimuli
that gain attention.

46. Classical Conditioning
Theory
•Activities at school or in the
classroom automatically elicit
emotional responses and these
activities are associated with the
neutral or orienting stimulus

47. Classical Conditioning
Theory
•After repeated presentations, the
previously neutral stimulus will
elicit the emotional response

48. Classical Conditioning
Theory
Example:
* Child is harassed at school
* Child feels bad when harassed
* Child associates being harassed and
school
* Child begins to feel bad when she thinks
of school

49. Factors Influencing
Classical Conditioning
• How reliably the CS predicts the US
• The number of pairings of the CS and
the US
• The intensity of the US
• The temporal relationship between
the CS and the US

50. Classical Conditioning
S1 R1
S2
S2 R2
Evoked
Reflex Prediction
US UR
CR
CS
Elicited
Conditioned
Unconditioned
Event or Object
Organism responds to.
Event or Object
Organism Perceives.

51. Diagram of Classical
Conditioning
Unlearned S-R
UCS UCR
+ (association formed/pairing made)
CS CR
Learned S-R

52. Pavlov’s Dog Example of CC
Unlearned S-R
UCS UCR
Food presented dog Salivating
+ (association formed/pairing made)
Bowl or steps dog salivating
CS CR
Learned S-R

53. Example of Classical
Conditioning
Unlearned S-R
UCS UCR
Flu Bug vomiting
+ (association formed/pairing made)
Restaurant of Choice vomiting
CS CR
Learned S-R

54. Example of Classical
Conditioning
Unlearned S-R
UCS UCR
Sadness over breakup crying
+ (association formed/pairing made)
Song that meant a lot to relationship crying
CS CR
Learned S-R

55. Example of Classical
Conditioning
Unlearned S-R
UCS UCR
No food/low blood sugar hunger pains
+ (association formed/pairing made)
Clock/particular time hunger pains
CS CR
Learned S-R

56. Educational Implications
• Practice is important.
–Use flash cards when learning
math facts or a foreign
language.
–Improve reading by reading!

57. Educational Implications
• Students should encounter
academic subject matter in a
positive climate and associate it
with positive emotions.

58. Educational Implications
–Provide a positive classroom
climate beginning on Day 1.
–Students should experience more
success than failure.

59. Educational Implications
• To break a bad habit, try these:
–Exhaustion method
•Present the stimulus until the
individual is too tired to respond.
–Threshold method
•Present the stimulus very faintly, so
that the individual does not respond
to it in the habitual manner.

60. Educational Implications
• To break a bad habit, try these:
–Incompatibility method
•Present the stimulus when the
habitual response cannot occur and
when an opposite response will
occur.

61. Educational Implications
• Assessing learning involves looking for
behavior changes.
–Never assume that students are
learning anything unless you actually
observe students’ behaviors changing
as a result of instruction.