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A person can learn in both conscious and unconscious ways. Behaviors, attitudes, ideas, and the absorption of new information can be learned with or without a person's knowledge.

Classical conditioning is a form of unconscious learning that was popularized by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. Today, classical conditioning is often used as a therapeutic technique to change or modify negative behaviors, such as substance use.

Read on to find out more about classical conditioning and how it's used today.

What Is Pavlov's Theory?

When Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, he was performing unrelated research on dog digestion. He noticed how the dogs' reactions to the food they were being fed evolved based on stimuli in the test environment, which had nothing to do with the actual food he was giving to them.

At the beginning of the experiment, the dogs would salivate only when presented with food. Later on, other neutral noises, such as the food cart coming into the testing area, began to make them salivate because it always occurred prior to the dogs being fed.

To test out whether the dogs were actually being conditioned by external and unrelated stimuli, Pavlov set up an experiment that involved ringing a bell right before giving food to the dogs. After some time, the dogs began salivating after hearing the bell without seeing or hearing the food cart come into the room.

The results of this discovery led Pavlov to develop the theory that behavior could be learned simply by introducing consistent stimuli.

The Pavlovian Impact

Terms to Know

To fully understand the process behind classical conditioning, there are several terms you need to know. They include:

Unconditioned stimulus:Unconditioned stimulus occurs when you have an automatic response to a certain stimulus in a natural and unlearned way. For example, if you cut an onion and your eyes tear up, that is an automatic response and thus an unconditioned stimulus.

Neutral stimulus:A neutral stimulus in the environment does not evoke any response by itself. It can, however, be used later to trigger a response.

Conditioned stimulus: A conditioned stimulus is one that used to be neutral but has since garnered a response because it has been connected to a stimulus that evokes that specific response.

Unconditioned response:An unconditioned response is automatic, meaning that it is a type of response that just happens naturally. Using food as an example, if you smell food you like, your mouth may begin to water in anticipation of the meal. That is automatic.

Conditioned response:This response is learned based on a neutral-to-conditioned stimulus.

Key Principles

What Is the Classical Conditioning Process?

If the classical conditioning process is successful, a learned response will form based on unconscious associations between two different stimuli. There are three steps in this process: before conditioning, during conditioning, and after conditioning.

Before Conditioning

Prior to the conditioning, a naturally occurring unconditioned stimulus must be present.

In the case of Pavlov's research, it was simply presenting the dogs with food. The food being presented led to an unconditioned response, which was the dogs' salivating. This response is automatic and not learned.

A neutral stimulus is also present but has not yet evoked any response at all. The neutral stimulus needs to be paired with the unconditioned stimulus for it to begin causing a response.

During Conditioning

The second phase of classical conditioning involves the pairing of the unconditioned and neutral stimulus to drive a response.

In Pavlov's experiment, for instance, he used a bell. The bell acts as a neutral stimulus, whereas presenting the food to the dogs acts as an unconditioned stimulus.

When the dogs hear the bell and then are presented with food, they unconsciously form a connection between the two stimuli. The neutral stimuli-the bell-evolves into a conditioned stimulus. The dogs now respond to the bell in the same way they did when given food because they view the bell as part of the process.

After Conditioning

Once the conditioning has occurred and the association is made between the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus can be removed from the equation entirely and the response will be the same. A response is now triggered by using the conditioned stimulus by itself.

For example, the dogs in Pavlov's experiment soon salivated at hearing only the sound of the bell because they associated it with getting fed.

What Are Real-World Applications of Classical Conditioning?

There are many areas in which classical conditioning is used today, including in mental health treatment, education, and pet training.

Mental Health

Classical conditioning may be used in mental health applications because it can be useful to help treat and understand the development of certain disorders.

Research has shown classical conditioning principles to be helpful in treating:

Certain therapies are used to help counter-condition some people with various mental health disorders. They include exposure and aversion therapy.

In exposure therapy, people with anxiety and phobias are exposed to what they fear most in a safe environment until they are no longer afraid. Aversion therapies replace positive experiences drawn from negative behaviors into negative responses.

For example, if a person misuses alcohol, they may be given a medication that causes them to feel ill every time they drink it. This negative response will, in turn, condition them to no longer desire alcohol.

Classical Conditioning and Phobias

In school systems, classical conditioning can be used to provide students with positive associations within their learning experiences.

For example, if a student has to give a presentation in front of the class but feels great anxiety because of it, a teacher can develop certain positive stimuli that can later be associated with public speaking.

The student, in turn, learns to associate public speaking with a positive environment.

Taste Aversions

Taste aversions can improve the survival of a species. One particular study demonstrated this using rats. The rats in question were exposed to a type of radiation that caused them to feel nauseated. Following their exposure, the rats no longer liked flavored water when it was presented to them at the same time as the radiation.

The radiation acts like an unconditioned stimulus, because it triggers feelings of automatic nausea. The flavored water acts as a conditioned stimulus, because when the rats were exposed to only the flavored water without the radiation, they experienced nausea in the same way as if the radiation were present.

Advertising

Advertisers will often use classical conditioning to encourage consumers to buy their product.

For example, a commercial may show a product that people enjoy using. Eventually, a person will associate happy people having fun with that product. This association of good feelings could alter a person's perspective and lead them to buy the product in question.

Advertising will also use music as a form of classical conditioning. Upbeat and joyful music will eventually be associated with feelings of happiness for the people that see the ad. They will then associate that company with good emotions.

Placebo Effects

Classical conditioning has also been researched as a part of the placebo effect. The research surrounding this area of study has found that classical conditioning can essentially cause the placebo effect to occur.

One study looked at classical conditioning in relation to the placebo effect and pain modulation and found that a person can reduce their pain if given certain cues that are associated with lower levels of pain.

Pet Training

Classical conditioning is a highly popular tool used to train pets to be more obedient. It is performed to assist your dog in unconsciously engaging in good behaviors.

Classical Conditioning and Your Pet

Classical conditioning is a form of unconscious learning style. It was popularized by physiologist Ivan Pavlov after he accidentally stumbled upon it during an unrelated experiment using dogs. The theory maintains that people can be directed to unconsciously respond to a certain stimulus different from what would trigger the response naturally.

The idea of classical conditioning has been used in various real-world applications, especially mental health. Others include the education system, advertising, pet training, placebos, and taste aversions.

A Word From Verywell

While Pavlov's dogs led to the discovery of classical conditioning, not all people will react in exactly the same way. However, there are many real-world ways to utilize classical conditioning for your benefit. Pavlov's discovery shaped behavioral psychology, but as the study of classical conditioning continues, more gaps will be filled in when it comes to understanding human behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is classical conditioning different from operant learning?

Classical and operant conditioning differ in a few ways. Where classical conditioning uses stimuli to help evoke an involuntary response, operant conditioning uses behavior and consequences as a way of conditioning. For example, different from Pavlov's dogs, operant conditioning would involve rewards for good behaviors and punishment for bad behaviors.

When would classical conditioning be harmful?

Classical conditioning can be harmful when a stimulus that presents no danger to a person becomes associated with something that causes great fear. For example, if a person eats food and gets food poisoning, it's possible that they would get an aversion to that food, even though it is not always harmful to their health.

What's a simple way to remember how classical conditioning works?

Classical conditioning may seem like a complicated concept, however, the process itself is quite easy to remember. When two stimuli are paired together to evoke the natural response of the first stimulus, it creates a conditioned response.

Think of Pavlov's dogs: They were given food causing them to salivate. The food was then paired with a bell, which also led them to salivate. When the bell rang, they eventually thought that it meant they were getting food, even when no food was presented, and they salivated anyway.

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Pavlov's Theory of Classical Conditioning: What You Need To Know

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Classical conditioning can be a helpful teaching strategy for mental health professionals, as well as with pets and students. Get examples of Pavlov's theory.

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Behaviorism, also known as behavioral learning theory, is a theoretical perspective in psychology that emphasizes the role of learning and observable behaviors in understanding human and animal actions.

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Pavlov's Dog Experiment

Pavlov (1902) started from the idea that there are some things that a dog does not need to learn. For example, dogs don't learn to salivate whenever they see food. This reflex is 'hard-wired' into the dog.

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.

Pavlov's studies of classical conditioning have become famous since his early work between 1890 and 1930. Classical conditioning is "classical" in that it is the first systematic study of the basic laws of learning (also known as conditioning).

Pavlov's dogs were individually situated in secluded environments, secured within harnesses. A food bowl was positioned before them, and a device was employed to gauge the frequency of their salivary gland secretions.

The data from these measurements were systematically recorded onto a rotating drum, allowing Pavlov to meticulously monitor the rates of salivation throughout the course of the experiments.

First, the dogs were presented with the food, and they salivated. The food was the unconditioned stimulus and salivation was an unconditioned (innate) response. (i.e., a stimulus-response connection that required no learning).

Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) > Unconditioned Response (Salivate)

In his experiment, Pavlov used a metronome as his neutral stimulus. By itself, the metronome did not elicit a response from the dogs.

Neutral Stimulus (Metronome) > No Response

Next, Pavlov began the conditioning procedure, whereby the clicking metronome was introduced just before he gave food to his dogs. After a number of repeats (trials) of this procedure, he presented the metronome on its own.

As you might expect, the sound of the clicking metronome on its own now caused an increase in salivation.

Conditioned Stimulus (Metronome) > Conditioned Response (Salivate)

So, the dog had learned an association between the metronome and the food, and a new behavior had been learned.

Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a conditioned response (and also known as a Pavlovian response). The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.

Temporal contiguity

Pavlov found that for associations to be made, the two stimuli had to be presented close together in time (such as a bell).

He called this the law of temporal contiguity. If the time between the conditioned stimulus (bell) and the unconditioned stimulus (food) is too great, then learning will not occur.

'Unconditioning' through experimental extinction

In extinction, the conditioned stimulus (the bell) is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus (the food).

Over time, the dog stops associating the sound of the bell with the food, and the conditioned response (salivation) weakens and eventually disappears.

In other words, the conditioned response is "unconditioned" or "extinguished."

Spontaneous recovery

Pavlov noted the occurrence of "spontaneous recovery," where the conditioned response can briefly reappear when the conditioned stimulus is presented after a rest period, even though the response has been extinguished.

This discovery added to the understanding of conditioning and extinction, indicating that these learned associations, while they can fade, are not completely forgotten.

Generalization

The principle of generalization suggests that after a subject has been conditioned to respond in a certain way to a specific stimulus, the subject will also respond in a similar manner to stimuli that are similar to the original one.

In Pavlov's famous experiments with dogs, he found that after conditioning dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell (which was paired with food), the dogs would also salivate in response to similar sounds, like a buzzer.

This demonstrated the principle of generalization in classical conditioning.

However, the response tends to be more pronounced when the new stimulus closely resembles the original one used in conditioning.

This relationship between the similarity of the stimulus and the strength of the response is known as the generalization gradient.

This principle has been exemplified in research, including a study conducted by Meulders and colleagues in 2013.

Impact of Pavlov's Research

Ivan Pavlov's key contribution to psychology was the discovery of classical conditioning, demonstrating how learned associations between stimuli can influence behavior.

His work laid the foundation for behaviorism, influenced therapeutic techniques, and informed our understanding of learning and memory processes.

1. Behaviorism: Pavlov's work laid the foundation for behaviorism, a major school of thought in psychology. The principles of classical conditioning have been used to explain a wide range of behaviors, from phobias to food aversions.

2. Therapy Techniques: Techniques based on classical conditioning, such as systematic desensitization and exposure therapy, have been developed to treat a variety of psychological disorders, including phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In these therapies, a conditioned response (such as fear) can be gradually "unlearned" by changing the association between a specific stimulus and its response.

3. Little Albert Experiment: The Little Albert experiment, conducted by John B. Watson in 1920, demonstrated that emotional responses could be classically conditioned in humans. A young child, "Little Albert," was conditioned to fear a white rat, which generalized to similar objects.

4. Educational Strategies: Educational strategies, like repetitive learning and rote memorization, can be seen as applications of the principles of classical conditioning. The repeated association between stimulus and response can help to reinforce learning.

5. Marketing and Advertising: Principles from Pavlov's conditioning experiments are often used in advertising to build brand recognition and positive associations.

For instance, a brand may pair its product with appealing stimuli (like enjoyable music or attractive visuals) to create a positive emotional response in consumers, who then associate the product with it.

Critical Evaluation

Pavlovian conditioning is traditionally described as learning an association between a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US), such that the CS comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR). This fits many lab studies but misses the adaptive function of conditioning (Domjan, 2005).

From a functional perspective, conditioning likely evolves to help organisms effectively interact with biologically important unconditioned stimuli (US) in their natural environment.

For conditioning to happen naturally, the conditioned stimulus (CS) can't be arbitrary, but must have a real ecological relationship to the US as a precursor or feature of the US object.

Pavlovian conditioning prepares organisms for important biological events by conditioning compensatory responses that improve the organism's ability to cope.

The critical behavior change from conditioning may not be conditioned responses (CRs), but rather conditioned modifications of unconditioned responses (URs) to the US that improve the organism's interactions with it.

Evidence shows conditioning occurs readily with naturalistic CSs, like tastes before illness, infant cues before nursing, prey sights before attack. This conditioning is more robust and resistant to effects like blocking.

Traditional descriptions of Pavlovian conditioning as simply the acquired ability of one stimulus to evoke the original response to another stimulus paired with it are inadequate and misleading (Rescorla, 1988).

New research shows conditioning is actually about learning relationships between events, which allows organisms to build mental representations of their environment.

Just pairing stimuli together doesn't necessarily cause conditioning. It depends on whether one stimulus gives information about the other.

Conditioning rapidly encodes relations among a broad range of stimuli, not just between a neutral stimulus and one eliciting a response. The learned associations allow complex representations of the world.

Recently, Honey et al. (2020, 2022) presented simulations using an alternative model called HeiDI that accounts for Rescorla's findings. HeiDI differs by allowing reciprocal CS-US and US-CS associations. It uses consistent learning rules applied to all stimulus pairs.

The simulations suggest HeiDI explains Rescorla's results via two mechanisms:

1. Changes in US-CS associations during compound conditioning, allowing greater change in some US-CS links

2. Indirect influences of CS-CS associations enabling compounds to recruit associative strength from absent stimuli

HeiDI integrates various conditioning phenomena and retains key Rescorla-Wagner insights about surprise driving learning. However, it moves beyond the limitations of Rescorla-Wagner by providing a framework to address how learning translates into performance.

HeiDI refers to the authors of the model (Honey, Dwyer, Iliescu) as well as highlighting a key feature of the model - the bidirectional or reciprocal associations it proposes between conditioned stimuli and unconditioned stimuli.

H - Honey (the lead author's surname), ei - Bidirectional (referring to the reciprocal associations), D - Dwyer (the second author's surname), I - Iliescu (the third author's surname).

References

Domjan, M. (2005). Pavlovian conditioning: A functional perspective. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 56, 179-206.

Honey, R.C., Dwyer, D.M., & Iliescu, A.F. (2020a). HeiDI: A model for Pavlovian learning and performance with reciprocal associations. Psychological Review, 127, 829-852.

Honey, R. C., Dwyer, D. M., & Iliescu, A. F. (2022). Associative change in Pavlovian conditioning: A reappraisal. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.

Meulders A, Vandebroek, N. Vervliet, B. and Vlaeyen, J.W.S. (2013). Generalization Gradients in Cued and Contextual Pain-Related Fear: An Experimental Study in Health Participants. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(345). 1-12.

Pavlov, I. P. (1897/1902). The work of the digestive glands. London: Griffin.

Pavlov, I. P. (1928). Lectures on conditioned reflexes. (Translated by W.H. Gantt) London: Allen and Unwin.

Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex. Translated and edited by Anrep, GV (Oxford University Press, London, 1927).

Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you think it is. American Psychologist, 43(3), 151.

Pavlov, I. P. (1955). Selected works. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.

Watson, J.B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist Views It. Psychological Review, 20, 158-177.

Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of experimental psychology, 3(1), 1.

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Pavlov's Dogs Experiment & Pavlovian Conditioning Response

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Pavlov predicted the dogs would salivate in response to the food in front of them, but he noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever they heard the footsteps of his assistant, who was bringing them the food.

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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904

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Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 14, 1849 at Ryazan, where his father, Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, was a village priest. He was educated first at the church school in Ryazan and then at the theological seminary there. Inspired by the progressive ideas which D. I.