concepts in classical conditioning by simulating Pavlov's

experiments with dogs. Now you may be wondering

if I'm going to be dealing with human beings why am I

looking at a dog? The answer is that the same principles of behaviourism

that apply to higher order animals, also apply to us humans.

So, when it comes to classical conditioning

we aren't that much different from Rover here.

We're presenting Rover with a stimulus here- a bell

When we ring the bell, there's no response in Rover.

That's because dogs just like human beings are not naturally

wired to have a response to a bell. Without conditioning

there is no response. Therefore, we call the bell a Neutral Stimulus

I can ring the bell, repeatedly

with no response from Rover.

Next, we'll introduce Rover to a new stimuls--the sight of food and water.

Rover's natural response to the sight of food and water

is to salivate. He wasn't conditioned to have this reaction.

It's natural, innate or inborn

and automatic not taught, not conditioned. So this stimulus

is called an Unconditioned Stimulus and Rover's response is called

an Unconditioned Response.

Next, we'll simulate Pavlov's experiment.

We'll ring the bell and then present Rover with food and water.

Rover salivates- not because of the bell

which is a Neutral Stimulus but because of the food- the Unconditioned Stimulus

Now we are going to repeat this process.

If we repeatedly ring the bell before presenting Rover

with food, he'll be conditioned to respond to the bell.

Now Rover will salivate

upon hearing the bell even in the absence of food.

This response

has been conditioned. It's now a Conditioned Response

and the bell has become a Conditioned Stimulus.

So to recap,

the bell started out as a Neutral Stimulus.

The food was an Unconditioned Stimulus. When Rover salivated

upon seeing the food, it was an Unconditioned Response.

When we repeatedly paired the sound of the bell with

the sight of food, Rover was finally conditioned to salivate

upon hearing the bell. The bell has now become a Conditioned Stimulus.

for Rover and salivating to the sound of the bell

is a Conditioned Response in Rover.

Behavioural theory tells us that our behaviours have been shaped or

conditioned by past experiences in much the same way that Rover

has been conditioned to salivate upon hearing that bell, and therefore

behaviour modification is possible through conditioning.