William G. Huitt
Educational Psychology Interactive
Last rev: June 2012
Classical Conditioning Theory
Ivan Pavlov—Russian scientist
trained in biology and medicine
Studied digestive system in dogs
Classical Conditioning
Overview/Review
• Organism treated as a “black box.”
Stimulus
(S)
Organism
Response
(O)
(R)
• Antecedent stimulus “elicits” an involuntary
response.
Classical Conditioning
Also called respondent conditioning
Starts with reflexive behavior
such as blinking when puff of air
is blown into eye
Conditioning involves associating
another stimulus with the
stimulus that will elicit the
reflexive behavior
Classical Conditioning
The specific model for classical conditioning
• A stimulus will naturally (without learning) elicit
or bring forth a reflexive response
• An Unconditioned Stimulus (US) elicits an
Unconditioned Response (UR)
• A Neutral Stimulus (NS) – is
noticed but does not elicit the
involuntary response of interest
Classical Conditioning
The specific model for classical conditioning
• A Neutral Stimulus (NS) – is noticed but does not
elicit the involuntary response of interest
• The Neutral Stimulus (NS) is repeatedly paired
with the Unconditioned (Natural) Stimulus
• NS  US; the US elicits the UR
Classical Conditioning
The specific model for classical conditioning
• A Neutral Stimulus (NS) – is noticed but does not
elicit the involuntary response of interest
• The Neutral Stimulus (NS) is repeatedly paired
with the Unconditioned (Natural) Stimulus
• NS  US; the US elicits the UR
• Through the process of pairing, the
NS is transformed into a Conditioned
Stimulus (CS)
Classical Conditioning Theory
Primarily observed in conditioning of
emotional behavior
• Stimuli that automatically elicit a specific
emotion (happy, sad, excited, fearful, etc.)
become associated with neutral stimuli that gain
child’s attention.
Classical Conditioning Theory
Primarily observed in conditioning of
emotional behavior
• School, classroom, teacher, subject matter, and
even other students are initially neutral stimuli
that gain child’s attention.
• Activities at school or in the
classroom automatically elicit
emotional responses (e.g., child is
does not do well on a lesson or is
bullied by other students
Classical Conditioning Theory
Primarily observed in conditioning of
emotional behavior
• After repeated associations of Neutral Stimuli
and Unconditioned Stimuli, they become
associated
• The NS is transformed into a CS; it
will elicit the emotional response
when it is presented (or even
thought about by the child)
Classical Conditioning Theory
Primarily observed in conditioning of
emotional behavior
• Child is harassed at school.
• Child feels fearful when harassed.
• Child associates being harassed and school.
• Child begins to feel fearful at
school or even simply thinking
about school.
Classical Conditioning Theory
Primarily observed in conditioning of
emotional behavior
• In order to extinguish the connected between
feeling fearful and thinking of school, the
associated connection between school and being
harassed must be broken.
• Talking will not work; the
associated stimuli must be
disconnected.
Behavioral Learning Theories
To learn about operant conditioning