Classical Conditioning
In Classical conditioning, an initially neutral stimulus (the Conditioned Stimulus (CS)) is paired with an Unconditioned Stimulus (US). The conditioned stimulus can then elicit a conditioned response (CR) over time, without the original US.
- example: alarm clock sound (CS) paired with waking up early (US) to produce feeling of grumpiness (CR)
- example: alarm bell (CS) paired with dog food (US) to produce drooling (CR) for the dog
See more in Stimulus.
Example with Dog Experiment
In his famous experiment, Pavlov rang a bell and then gave a dog some food. After repeating this pairing multiple times, the dog eventually treated the bell as a signal for food, and began salivating in anticipation of the treat.