Shubhangi Taneja
According to Wiki, “Classical conditioning refers to a learning procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus is paired with a previously neutral stimulus.” Wikipedia
And, classical conditioning is also called the “habit condition” as it helps you to make you a good and happening person.
Classical conditioning has given by the famous psychologist Ivan Pavlov who tries this experiment on his own dog.
Firstly, he just makes a setup in which he rings a bell and places food in front of the dog and he starts salivating, this process goes on and a time comes when the dog just salivating when he heard the sound of a bell.
In this way, Pavlov conditioned that dog by providing him the stimulus of the bell and he responds according to that.
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Lastly to break this conditioning Pavlov ring the bell this time but the food jar was empty still dog was salivating and with the process of a long time, Pavlov continues to provide with an empty jar and the dog salivating and after some days the dog conditioned with that and dog stop salivating.
Terms to Know
Unconditioned Stimulus:
This triggers the response when something happens around you.
Unconditioned Response:
This is the natural response according to the stimulus we get.
Conditioned Stimulus:
This is not a natural stimulus; it is an artificially created stimulus as Pavlov experiments the dog is provided with food before the bell rings every time.
Conditioned Response:
Likewise conditioned stimulus then the response will be according to that like the dog was salivating as food is present before them.
Extinction:
It is the process in which the behavior disappears after the sometimes like dog stops salivating as no stimulus is provided.
Generalization:
Generalization means that the same behavior tends to continue according to that stimulus.
Discrimination:
As when a stimulus gets changed then the response will automatically get changed.
For example: If in the place of the bell, the horn gets replaced then the dog will not show any response means it will not be salivating.
Classical Condition Examples
Example 1:
For the last few years if you get your paycheck on Friday then you feel good on Friday every time. It means you have been conditioned to associate it with positivity.
Example 2:
You quit smoking on outside area recently, and every time when you went outside you have a craving for a cigarette every time.
Example 3:
During a thunderstorm, a tree falls on your house and it gets damaged and next time if you heard the sound of a thunderstorm, you feel anxiety as bad memory is associated with the moment.
Memory is associated with conditioning as every time when you encounter the same situation you will get the same feeling might be of pain or happiness.
As sometimes you will get an emotional hurt you will pain but that pain is not of every time as long as time gets running you will think of something you will not get hurt or tears in your eyes.
According to the above experiment, we can conclude that same happens with the human mind also that we can condition our mind and make a habit formation.
Habit is a part of life whether it is bad and good. For making any habit conditioning is necessary, we can train our mind to leave any bad habit and to adopt the good habit.
In many rehab centers related to drug or alcohol use, they use this theory to train the human mind to give them proper life skills.
How to inculcate “Classical Conditioning” in our daily life?
- Make a habit formation of early sleep and early rise.
- Do make small good habits and reinforce yourself with a thing you like.
- With the help of this conditioning, you can make your surroundings a positive one so that you can grow your skills.
- You can train your pet also how to behave with a stranger
- This conditioning helps you to make your life disciplined.
Conclusion
At last, classical conditioning has several applications like psychology, learning, training, and daily life.
It also is used in offices as well as at your homes. You can try this experiment even on your pets and small kids to make them live an independent life.
Even dog trainers also used to train them in various activities and even for train them for crime investigation.
In the end, I can say – “Classical Conditioning” is associated with habit formation so give it a try and leave your bad habits and absorb good ones.
