COGNITIVE

BEHAVIOURAL
THERAPY

PRACTITIONER
CERTIFICATION

CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Like many great scientific advances, Pavlovian conditioning (classical

conditioning) was discovered by mistake. During the 1890s Russian
physiologist, Ivan Pavlov was observing salivation in dogs in response to being
fed, when he discovered that his dogs would start salivating whenever he
entered the room, even when he wasn't bringing them food.

Pavlovian Conditioning: Pavlov (1902) started with the idea that there are certain
things that a dog doesn't need to learn. For example, dogs do not learn to salivate
whenever they see food. This is a reflex that is ‘hard-wired’ into the dog. In
behaviourist terms, it's an unconditioned response (a stimulus-response
connection that required no learning). In behaviourist terms, we write:

Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) > Unconditioned Response (Salivate)

Pavlov highlighted the existence of the unconditioned response by giving a dog a

bowl of food and then measuring its salivary secretions.

However, when Pavlov discovered that any event or object which the dogs learnt
to associate with their food (such as the lab technician) would trigger the same
response, he realised that he had made a crucial scientific discovery. Accordingly,
he devoted the remainder of his career to studying this type of learning.

Pavlov knew that somehow, the dogs in his lab had learned to associate food with
his lab technician. This must have been learned, because previously the dogs did
not do it, and there came a point where they started, which means their behaviour
had changed. A change in behaviour of this kind must as a result of learning.

In behaviourist terms, the lab technician was originally a neutral stimulus. It's
called neutral because it produces no response. What had happened was that
the lab technician (neutral stimulus) had become associated with the food
(unconditioned stimulus).

Pavlov used a bell in his experiments as his neutral stimulus. When giving food to
the dogs, he also rang the bell. After repeating this procedure a number of times,
he rang the bell on its own. As you may expect, the bell on its own now caused
increased salivation.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

So the dogs had learned an association between the bell and their food and a
new behaviour had been learnt. As this response was learned (or conditioned), it's
called a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus had now become a
conditioned stimulus.

Pavlov discovered that for associations to be made, the two stimuli must be
presented close together in time. He termed this the law of temporal contiguity.
If the time between the ringing of the bell (conditioned stimulus) and the delivery
of the food (unconditioned stimulus) is too long, then learning will not occur.

NOTES:
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Classical Conditioning Theory

'Behaviourism' as a movement in psychology came about in 1913 when John

Broadus Watson published the classic article 'Psychology as the Behaviourist
Views It'.

John Watson suggested that the process of classical conditioning (based on Ivan
Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain every aspect of human psychology.

From speech to emotional responses - everything was simply patterns of stimulus

and response. Watson completely denied the existence of the consciousness or
mind. Watson believed that all individual differences in behaviour were as a result
of different experiences of learning. He quoted:

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to

bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief
and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors” (Watson, 1924, p. 104).

Examples of Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behaviour through the

process of association. Simply put, two stimuli are linked together to produce a
new learned response in a person or animal. Classical Conditioning is made up of
three stages. At each stage the stimuli and responses are given scientific terms:

Stage 1 - Before Conditioning:

At this stage, the 'unconditioned stimulus' (US) produces an 'unconditioned

response' (UR) in an organism. In simple terms, this means that a stimulus in the
environment has created a behaviour or response which is unlearned (or
unconditioned) and therefore is a natural response which hasn't been taught. In this
respect, no new behaviour has been learned yet.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

For example, a stomach virus (US) would usually produce a response of nausea
(UR). In another example, a perfume (US) would often create a response of desire
or happiness (UR).

This stage also involves another stimulus called the 'neutral stimulus' (NS) - this has
no effect on a person. The NS could be an object, person, place, etc. The neutral
stimulus in classical conditioning doesn't produce a response until it is paired up
with the unconditioned stimulus.

Stage 2 - During Conditioning:

Throughout this stage, a stimulus which produces no response (i.e. neutral) is

associated with the unconditioned stimulus at which point it is now recognised as
the conditioned stimulus (CS).

For example, a stomach virus (US) may be associated with eating certain foods
such as chocolate (CS). Also, perfume (US) may be associated with a specific
person (CS).

Usually, during this stage, the US must be associated with the CS on several
occasions, or trials, in order for learning to take place. However, one trail learning
can happen on certain occasions where it's not necessary for an association to be
strengthened over time (for example, being sick after food poisoning or drinking
too much alcohol).

Stage 3 - After Conditioning:

The conditioned stimulus (CS) has now been associated with the unconditioned
stimulus (US) to create a new conditioned response (CR).

For example, an individual (CS) who has been associated with nice perfume (US) is
now considered attractive (CR). Or chocolate (CS) which was eaten before a person
was sick with a virus (US) now produces a response of nausea (CR).
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning (learning by association) is one way in which animals learn.

Previously neutral stimuli become associated with naturally occurring reflexes.
Classical conditioning can happen by itself or it can be carried out deliberately.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

An example of Classical Conditioning and CBT

Sometimes neutral stimuli become associated with anxiety provoking situations

and can cause huge difficulties in people’s lives. For example, David is driving
home on a rainy day (CS) when he unfortunately has a car accident (US) - he finds
the whole experience terrifying (UR).  Following this David feels too nervous to
drive when it's raining (CR) and he stops driving altogether.

David might go to a CBT therapist who explains that he can overcome his fear by
getting rid of his conditioned response. The therapist recommends that he needs
to go driving repeatedly, particularly when it's raining. They reassure him that his
fear will reduce over time if he does this.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF REFLECTION:

1) Can you identify a habitual behaviour in your own life that might have come into
existence through an expression of classical conditioning? If so, what is it?

2) Can you identify a habitual behaviour in someone that you know which might
have come into existence through an expression of classical conditioning at an
earlier stage in their life? If so, what is it?

3) How might you explain this idea (of classical conditioning) to a client whom is
struggling with an addiction of some kind?