#PAVLOV CAT SERIES#

How does classical conditioning work in the real world? Consider the case of Moisha, who was diagnosed with cancer. Real World Application of Classical Conditioning View this video about Pavlov and his dogs to learn more. Before conditioning, think of the dogs’ stimulus and response like this: The dogs’ salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus. The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism. In Pavlov’s experiments, the dogs salivated each time meat powder was presented to them. Through his experiments, Pavlov realized that an organism has two types of responses to its environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses. He was able to train the dogs to salivate in response to stimuli that clearly had nothing to do with food, such as the sound of a bell, a light, and a touch on the leg.

#PAVLOV CAT SERIES#

To explore this phenomenon in an objective manner, Pavlov designed a series of carefully controlled experiments to see which stimuli would cause the dogs to salivate. These unusual responses intrigued Pavlov, and he wondered what accounted for what he called the dogs' “psychic secretions” (Pavlov, 1927). However, dogs don’t naturally salivate at the sight of an empty bowl or the sound of footsteps. Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive, so no learning is involved. Over time, Pavlov (1927) observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of food, but also at the sight of food, at the sight of an empty food bowl, and even at the sound of the laboratory assistants' footsteps. In his studies with dogs, Pavlov measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various foods. Pavlov’s area of interest was the digestive system (Hunt, 2007). Physiologists study the life processes of organisms, from the molecular level to the level of cells, organ systems, and entire organisms. Pavlov was a physiologist, not a psychologist. Pavlov came to his conclusions about how learning occurs completely by accident. Figure 6.3 Ivan Pavlov’s research on the digestive system of dogs unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning process now known as classical conditioning.

Pavlov cat