Classical Conditioning

Think about the scariest movie you have ever seen. Is your heart beating faster? If so, this is called conditioning. Basically, you have learned to associate a stimulus (thinking of a scary movie) with a response (heart beating faster). Classical conditioning is when one stimulus (like thinking of a scary movie), elicits a response like your heart beating faster, which typically would have been triggered by a different stimulus (actually watching the movie). This occurs because you have learned to associate the two stimuli with each other. Classical conditioning is the most basic form of learning; it occurs in both humans and animals and does not require conscious thought. Much of this type of learning is automatic.

Essential Questions

• What are the principles of classical conditioning?
• How did Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson use classical conditioning?