Chapter 4: Behavioral Learning Theory

Lesson 1: Pavlovs Classical Conditioning

In his famous experiment, Ivan Pavlov noticed dogs began to salivate in response to a tone after the
sound had repeatedly been paired with presenting food. Pavlov quickly realized that this was a learned
response and set out to further investigate the conditioning process. 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. After the association is learned, the previously neutral
stimulus is sufficient to produce the behaviour.