Classical Conditioning: Types of Stimulus and Response

Last time we saw that…

We saw that, through classical conditioning, Arthur associated school with getting bullied.

 But how does classical conditioning work?

 Well, we know that the stuff that we perceive in the environment are called…

 The stuff that we perceive in the environment are called stimuli.

 Now, in the environment, there are some stimuli that we don’t have any particular feelings or responses to.

For instance, originally, Arthur didn’t have any particular feelings towards his school [graphic of Arthur shrugging].

And, he also doesn’t have any particular feelings about buckets… or ants.

On the other hand, there are some stimuli that naturally make us feel a certain way…

…For instance, when a bully beats Arthur up, it makes him feel scared and anxious…and ice cream makes Maleeha really happy 😊

Now, when a stimulus doesn’t make uscause us to feel or respond in any particular way, we call it a neutral stimulus.

But when a stimulus does make usnaturally makes us feel a certain way, it’s called an unconditioned stimulus.

And the response that we get from an unconditioned stimulus, we call an unconditioned response.

So, for Arthur, buckets and ants are neutral stimuli.

But, ice cream, and, being beaten up, are unconditioned stimuli.

And Maleeha feeling happy in response to the ice cream… and Arthur’s feeling scared and anxious in response to the school bully, are called are unconditioned responses.

Now, which of these are examples of unconditioned stimuli?

These stimuli cause no response, so they are neutral stimuli.

And these are just responses, not stimuli.

But these are stimuli which cause an unconditioned response, so we call them unconditioned stimuli.

Now, when we’re talking about classical conditioning, these long words can get a bit…long. So they often get shortened.

Neutral stimulus is NS ; unconditioned stimulus is UCS ; and unconditioned response is UCR

But, through classical conditioning, our feelings towards neutral stimuli can change.

For instance, Arthur originally had no response to school, but he had an unconditioned response to being bullied….but once he was beaten up at school, he associated school with being bullied.

So, we can say that…

We can say that the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus.

And so, as a result, the neutral stimulus [school] – which used to have no response – causes a response [Anxious Arthur]!

 When a neutral stimulus causes a response, we say that the neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.

 And the response we have to a conditioned stimulus, we call a conditioned response.

 Again, we can shorten these long words. Conditioned stimulus becomes CS, and conditioned response becomes CR.

 And this is how classical conditioning works!

 And so now, for Maleeha, who gets really happy when she hears the jingle from the ice cream truck: before classical conditioning…

 Before classical conditioning, the jingle from the ice cream truck was a neutral stimulus, because it caused no response.

 And ice cream was an unconditioned stimulus, because it naturally made her feel really happy – an unconditioned response.

 But then…

But then, during classical conditioning, she associated the neutral stimulus [jingle of ice cream] with the unconditioned stimulus [the ice cream].

And then after classical conditioning…

After classical conditioning, the jingle of the ice cream truck became a conditioned stimulus, which caused a conditioned response [happy]. 

 So, to sum it up, before classical conditioning, there is…

Before classical conditioning, there is a neutral stimulus, which causes no response, and an unconditioned stimulus which causes an unconditioned response.

Then,

Then, the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus.

As a result, after classical conditioning,

As a result, after classical conditioning, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, which causes a conditioned response.