AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Classical conditioning was stumbled upon by accident. Pavlov was conducting research on the digestion of dogs when he noticed that the dogs’ physical reactions to food subtly changed over time. At first, the dogs would only salivate when the food was placed in front of them.

Detailed explanation-2: -Classical conditioning is learning through association and was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time that they were given food.

Detailed explanation-3: -For example, whenever you come home wearing a baseball cap, you take your child to the park to play. So, whenever your child sees you come home with a baseball cap, he is excited because he has associated your baseball cap with a trip to the park. This learning by association is classical conditioning.

Detailed explanation-4: -If your dog enjoys walks, and associates the sound of his leash being removed from its spot with an imminent walk, does he get excited just by hearing the leash? That’s classical conditioning at work. A less fun example may be your dog’s reaction to the vet.

Detailed explanation-5: -Classical conditioning is when a conditioned response is paired with a neutral stimulus. The most famous example of this is Pavlov’s dogs, where Ivan Pavlov trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a metronome. The metronome was a neutral stimulus, since the dogs previously had no reaction to it.