Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is “a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events” (Myers & DeWall, 2015, p. 282). I borrowed the example I will be using for this assignment from the video linked here. In the video, a boy establishes that throwing a paper ball at his brother will prompt him to retaliate if he does not stop. He then rings an alarm on his phone to see if it elicits a response from his brother, but it does not. Afterward, he throws a paper ball at his brother each time immediately after ringing an alarm and does this until his brother becomes infuriated and retaliates by throwing a pen at him. The next time he rings an alarm, his brother turns back and immediately throws another pen at him without him throwing the paper ball first. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus (US) is the paper ball because throwing it naturally triggers retaliation, which is the unconditioned response (UR). The neutral stimulus (NS) is the alarm because it elicits no response from the brother before conditioning. The alarm becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) when the brother immediately retaliates the next time it rings, without any paper ball being thrown at him. Also, retaliation, formerly an unconditioned response, now becomes a conditioned response (CR) because it is elicited by the previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus. References Myers, D.G., & DeWall, N.C. (2015). Psychology (11th Edition). Worth Publishers. Daughters, A. (2015). Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning Psychology Experiment. Apr 24, 2015. YouTube. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7AIrt06ck.
