THE CONDITIONED RESPONSE

It is important to be aware of the various types of learning. After participating in the following experiments, students will be able to see and discuss the effects of classical conditioning in their everyday life.

DEMONSTRATION:

Have a subject sit in a desk in the front of the classroom, facing the class. The teacher will stand behind the student with a yardstick in hand. The teacher will tap the desk three times then tap the student once on the head. The teacher does this three times, and on the fourth time taps the desk, but not the student's head. The class is able to see the subject's reaction.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING EXPERIMENT:

Students pair up and decide who will be the subject and who will be the experimenter. The experimenter is given the following instructions (the subject is not told any of this):

1. The subject will sit and relax for 2 minutes. The subject then takes a pulse for 30 seconds, multiplies the result by two, and records this as the "resting pulse.''

2. The experimenter will tap a pencil five times on the desk and immediately have the subject stand up and hop on one leg for 30 seconds. The subject will take a pulse rate again, double it and record it as "Hop #1.'' This procedure will be repeated four more times, and data recorded each time.

3. Now, the subject will sit and relax until the pulse returns to the initial resting pulse rate. The experimenter will then tap the pencil five times and the subject will take a pulse without having to hop. The data is recorded.

The students and teacher then discuss the experiments and answer the questions:

What is classical conditioning?

Identify the following: unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response.

How does classical conditioning prevent some people from being successful?

What types of classical conditioning can you find in your life?

DEFINITIONS:

The class will benefit from describing the experiments of the scientist, Ivan Pavlov who trained a dog to salivate at the ringing of a bell.

• Classical Conditioning -- in humans it plays an important role in learning emotional responses such as fears, attitudes, and feeling towards particular objects. A person learns that there is an association between two events.

• Unconditioned Stimulus -- food placed near a dog will provide the unconditioned response of salivation. The food is the stimulus.

• Conditioned Stimulus -- a dog associates the ringing of a bell to food being provided and will salivate at just the sound of the bell. The bell provides the conditioned response.

Humans will learn when reinforcement occurs. They will continue certain behaviours when rewarded and cease certain behaviours when punished.

e.g.

learning to be superstitious (many professional athletes exhibit this)

disliking a certain food

being hungry at the same time each day

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