Classical condiioning

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Classical Conditioning

It is the process by which an organism learns to connect, or associate, two stimuli that repeatedly occur together.

In this process, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits a specific response. Eventually, the neutral stimulus comes to trigger that same response on its own.

Three Stages: An unconditioned stimulus first triggers a reflex on its own. Pairing it repeatedly with a neutral stimulus lets that stimulus trigger the same response alone.

Key Terms: UCS, UCR, CS and CR describe the unlearned and learned halves of the association. Extinction, generalisation and discrimination describe how a learned response can fade, spread or narrow.

Pavlov’s Dogs: Ivan Pavlov’s original experiments paired a bell with food until the bell alone made dogs salivate.

Real-World Reach: The same mechanism explains phobias, panic disorder, addiction cravings and even conditioned immune responses.

Not Just Reflex: Later research shows conditioning depends on how well a stimulus predicts an outcome, not merely on how often the two are paired.

Clinical Use: Systematic desensitisation and aversion therapy both apply conditioning principles to treat phobias and addictions. Modern Evidence: Anxiety disorders link less to fast fear learning and more to weak extinction of fear around safe cues.

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