Learning: Exploring Pavlov\'s Notion of Conditioning There

Learning: Exploring Pavlov's Notion Of Conditioning

There are enormous differences between unconditioned and conditioned responses. Unconditioned responses are those natural reactions that occur without thought or planning. These reactions are not a product of training, but rather a natural response of the body and mind when exposed to certain stimuli. In unconditioned responses, there is no training that would alter an individual's behavior. One of the most infamous examples of an unconditioned response is Pavlov's dog. The dog, as any dog would, naturally salivates at the idea of food. The dog was hungry, and thus naturally reacted to the stimulus of food. We all have had similar reactions to food that perked our interest in any given state of hunger. Another example of this would be the strange, but familiar leg jerk when one is forced to endure a tap on the knee. It is a natural response of the body to jerk the leg when the knee is tapped. Thus, when your doctor taps your knee, you have the unconditioned response of a leg jerk. One final example of this is appropriate as Halloween comes closer into season. When we are startled or scared, we have a natural response of jumping, screaming, or even running away. This expression of freight is not trained, but can even be seen in young children. Reactions out of fright show a clear unconditioned response.

A conditional response, on the other hand, is much different. It is essentially a response that has been invoked through a modification or training of behavior. The conditioned response is one which was trained to the individual learner by some sort of outside force. Pavlov was a crucial voice in showing the importance of condition in learning. His basic concepts that were needed to reinforce in a conditioning way were a reward that was provided to a particular behavior. Or when a negative experience came about from a certain action, that individual will try to avoid a repeat of the same experience. When an individual is rewarded for a behavior, they will repeat it. When an individual is scared, they will avoid those stimuli. In this, behavior is classified as a conditional response; it means that that behavior has been pushed onto the individual as the correct response to react to particular stimuli. It is a symptom of socialization and training in social interactions. Conditioned responses are those responses which are trained. As such, an example would be someone's extreme fear of some event or object that has come about after that individual has had a negative experience with it. For example, if someone was bit as a child by a dog, they might exhibit an intense fear of dogs when they grow older. This fear is bred out of the experience that conditioned their behavior later in life. Another example would be a dog being trained by the sound of a can opener to understand that they are being fed. As any dog owner knows, if you feed your dog canned food you have to open the can. Dogs are incredibly smart and will learn to associate the sight and sound of can openers to the fact that they are being fed. Thirdly, another example of a conditioned response is an individual being extremely afraid of a dentist after a lengthy visit. Emotional responses can also be condition. For example, I have noticed in myself the emotional condition response when I have to go to my dentist. Based on the dental work I have done in the past, I have extreme anxiety every time I go to the dentist. Not only am I nervous, but I find myself acting extremely agitated to friends and loved ones, while extremely shy to the professionals in the office. I am otherwise a very openly social person, but my conditioned fear of the dentist because of my prior experiences has conditioned my more negative emotions to come out.