Objectives: unconditioned stimulus, evokes a similar response as the

unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, the

1. Describe how Pavlov’s early work in classical conditioning
influenced the understanding of learning.
2. Review the concepts of classical conditioning, including
unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS),
unconditioned response (UR), and conditioned response
(CR).
3. Explain the roles that extinction, generalization, and discrimination
play in conditioned learning.
sound of the tone served as the conditioned stimulus that,
after learning, produced the conditioned response (CR),
which is the acquired response to the formerly neutral
stimulus. Note that the UR and the CR are the same
behaviour — in this case salivation — but they are given
different names because they are produced by different
stimuli (the US and the CS, respectively).
Example:

What is Classical Conditiong?

In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), shown in Figure 8.2, was
studying the digestive system of dogs when he noticed an
interesting behavioural phenomenon: the dogs began to
salivate when the lab technicians who normally fed them
entered the room, even though the dogs had not yet
received any food. Pavlov realized that the dogs were
salivating because they knew that they were about to be
fed; the dogs had begun to associate the arrival of the
technicians with the food that soon followed their
appearance in the room.

Classical Conditioning refers to learning that occurs when

a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a
stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behaviour.

Concepts of Classical Conditioning

There are concepts involved in this type of behavioral

approach to learning. The unconditioned stimulus (US)
is something (such as food) that triggers a naturally
occurring response, and the unconditioned response
(UR) is the naturally occurring response (such as
salivation) that follows the unconditioned stimulus. The
conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus that,
after being repeatedly presented prior to the
 An example of it is astudent experienced to be hit by his teacher
once so the generalization happened is whenever he saw his teacher
or anyone coing with a stick he will have a feeling that he will be
beaten up.
Stimulus Discrimination

is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and

other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus.

An example of this is the bell that rings during recess and dismissal
time. A student can recognized the sound of the bell at 9 am then
automatically it means recess, while if it rings at 12 noon then
means dismissal time for lunch.

Roles of extinction, generalization, and

discrimination play in conditioned learning
EXTINCTION PHASE
this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with
an unconditioned stimulus.

Example if a teacher have used to say that whenever her student is

talkative she will kick her out but as many times hs her student been
talkative she did not kicked our the student hence there is an
extinction hapoen for the student would not believe her anymore an
will continue the behavior inside the classroom.
Stimulus Generalization

is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar

responses after the response has been conditioned.
Exercises and Critical Thinking
1. Teacher Ann put stars on the board when the students are quiet and
attentive. Eventually, the students start becoming quiet and attentive
whenever she approach theboard. Can you explain the students’
behaviour in terms of classical conditioning?
2. Recall a time in your life, perhaps when you were a child, when your
behaviours were influenced by classical conditioning. Describe in
detail the nature of the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and the
response.

Acitivity