Learning Principles

Module 3

Ivan Pavlov's early contributions

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  Pavlov was a physiologist studying the digestive processes in dogs. He would use meat powder to make dogs salivate, then measure the amount of saliva produced. He noticed that the dogs began to salivate before the meat powder was placed in their mouth, and determined the footsteps of his assistant coming down the hallway was enough to elicit this reaction. Following up on this observation, he began experimenting with a tuning fork and developed the theory we today label "classical conditioning." 
   

• Classical Conditioning is the process by which new events or stimuli acquire the power to trigger responses. The model contains a number of components including the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response. When a neutral stimulus is presented in close proximity to the unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes paired with the unconditioned stimulus and response, and eventually obtains the power to elicit the response. Once this occurs, the unconditioned stimulus is no longer necessary to elicit the response. At this point, the neutral stimulus is referred to as a conditioned stimulus, and the unconditioned response is referred to as a conditioned response.

  

  It is important to remember that the Conditioned Response and Unconditioned Response are the same response, but different words are used which allows a more thorough understanding of the relationship between the response and some specific stimulus.
   

  

   

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