Ivan Pavlov

Mandy Teoh Yee Leng

PEC 110009
Yee Yeong Chien
PEC 110038

Chapter 1 Introduction
What is Classical Conditioning?

According to Oxford Dictionary of

Psychology (2009), classical conditioning is
one of the two major forms of conditioning,
being the process of learning through which
an initially neutral stimulus, such as the
ticking of a metronome, comes to elicit a
particular response, such as salivation, as a
consequence of being paired repeatedly
with an unconditioned stimulus, such as
food

Terms to be understood:
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) -a stimulus that can elicit the
response without any learning or easier to understand, the
respond to an unconditioned stimulus is inborn
Unconditioned respond (UCR) -is an unlearned, innate,
involuntary physiological reflex that is elicited by the
unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus (CS)- stimulus that comes to elicit
responses as a result of being paired with an unconditioned
stimulus
Conditioned response (CR) - which is elicited by the conditioned
stimulus, is similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the
unconditioned response
Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a previously
neutral stimulus (CS) is followed by a stimulus (UCS) that elicits
an unlearned response (UCR)
As a result of these pairings of the CS and UCS, the CS comes to
elicit a respond (CR) that, in most cases, is identical or very
similar to the UCR

Procedure of Classical Conditioning

Stage 1 before classical

conditioning

Stage 2 During conditioning

Stage 3 After conditioning

Technique in Counselling
1.
.
.
.
.

Relaxation training
method of deeply relaxing the muscles of the body and
as well as mental relaxation
this technique is easily learned
a set of instruction that teaches them to relax
After clients learn the basics of relaxation procedures, it
is essential that they practice these exercises daily to
obtain maximum results and also as a well-learned
response (habitual pattern)
Relaxation training can be apply to variety of clinical
problems, either as a separate technique (example:
stress and anxiety, manifested in psychosomatic
symptoms) or in conjunction with related methods (such
as systematic desensitization)

Systematic desensitization
. Systematic desensitization is an appropriate
technique for treating phobias, anxiety,
anger, insomnia, asthmatic attacks, motion
sickness, nightmares and sleep-walking
. It is a step-by-step process of breaking a
clients conditioned associations with a feared
objects or experience
. Desensitization occurs through relaxing while
simultaneously imagining the feared stimuli
2.

There are steps to conduct systematic

desensitization that are:
i.
relaxation training as have explained in the above
ii. stimulus hierarchy
iii. Exposure
3. In Vivo Exposure
. involves client exposure to the actual anxietyevoking events rather than simply imagining these
situations
3. Flooding
. either in vivo or imaginal exposure to anxietyevoking stimuli for a prolonged period of time

Case study
NADD Bulletin Volume IX Number 3 Article 2
Robert Howenstine, Ph.D.

K.R. , 21 yrs old, Down Syndrome, lived with

parents
Limited speech that hard to understand,
understand simple speech fairly well
Happy, enrgetic, cooperative & helpful
Active in lots of community activity: Special
Olympics
Great interst in cars and trucks
Like to help father work on his pickup truck
Well liked and made steady in school

New teacher pressured to perform on post

school life, emphasize on vocational training
Difficult &stressful
Began resist assignment, refuse all tasks
Teachers talk to parents to continue persue
More upset
Mother surgery, stay with grandparents for 2
days, experienced significant difficulties
Never went to sleep, began acting bizarrely
Eg: forgot to take pants down when sat on the
toilet, get into everything, intimated her
grandfathers swearing
Refused to go to schol or regular activities

 Put

her on Trazadone for sleep, Depakote for mood

stabilization
2 months later, was home all the time, refuse to go
school, spending most of time on bed
Weekly session
Teach K.R to tae deep breath, having difficulty
Was told to do things which she felt comfortable,
asked to stand and take deep breath and then sit
again
After became comfortable, gradually asked to take
steps toward front door, open the door, go out the car,
open the car door, get inside the car
Each steps repeated 5 times before going to next
steps,
Mother thought to do procedure with her

 Course

for 2 months, K.R overcame anxiety,

returned to active & happy life in community
*only take her to places she liked such as
Starbucks or favourite restaurant
New social activities for her to fit in well
Did not return to school & graduated
No recurrence over 4 years

Discussion

Systematic desensitization can treat phobias in

individual with developmental disabilities
Did not develop a relaxing response, making a
response that required some effort and
concentration was sufficient to compete with
anxiety
Taking medication and providing praise and
positive reinforcement is helping the use of
desensitization