1. Chapter 6
Classical Conditioning Notes

2. Ivan Pavlov Rings a Bell
 Conducted an experiment to see if
he could get dogs to salivate in
response to any stimulus
(something that produces a
reaction) that he chose.
 He rang a bell seconds before
giving the dogs food and repeated
this several times
 Then he rang the bell, but did not
give the dogs food afterward
 The dogs still salivated in response
to the bell

3. Letters of Learning
 Unconditioned stimulus (US)-
stimulus that causes a
response that is automatic or
not learned
 The dog food
 Unconditioned response (UR)-
automatic response
 Salivating for the dog food

4. Letters of Learning
 Conditioned stimulus (CS)- stimulus that is
repeatedly associated with the unconditioned
stimulus
 Bell
 Conditioned response (CR)- learned response to
a stimulus that was previously meaningless
 Salivating when they hear the bell ring

5. Applications of Classical
Conditioning
 Taste aversion- a learned avoidance of a
particular food
 Example: if you have ever gotten food poisoning
and then could not eat that kind of food for a long
time?
 Extinction- when the conditioned stimulus is
disconnected from the unconditioned stimulus
 Example: if Pavlov keeps ringing the bell, but stops
giving the dogs food, they will stop salivating when
the bell rings
 Spontaneous recovery- the reappearance, after a
pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

6. Applications of Classical
Conditioning
 Generalization- responding in the same ways to
stimuli that seem to be similar
 Example: the dogs may salivate when they hear a
chime
 Discrimination- responding differently to stimuli
that aren’t similar to each other

7. Applications to help change behavior
 Flooding- exposing a person to the stimulus until
the fear is gone
 Systematic desensitization- taking baby steps to
rid a person of a fear
 Counter-conditioning- pleasant stimulus is
repeatedly paired with a fearful one