SCIENCE.
Psychology. The process by which a response normally elicited by one stimulus (the
UCS) comes to be controlled by another stimulus (the
CS as well).
Adapted from Psychology: The Science of Behaviour Neil R. Carlson et al
If you didn't get that, classical conditioning is basically a
method by which a
person or persons is
conditioned to
react to a specific
stimulus that does not
naturally cause the
reaction. Classical conditioning is not
a bad thing. It's something we experience every day in our lives.
For instance, a child can watch a
balloon expand (conditional stimulus), and exhibit a
startle reaction (
response) when the balloon explodes (the
unconditional response. If this happens long enough a conditioned response would develop, then the child exhibits the
startle reaction, which is now the
conditional response, in response to the
balloon being
expanded.
Obviously someone cannot simply be
conditioned by linking the specific stimulus with the
response once. Factors such as
strength and
perceived
importance of the stimulus and response, the number of
repetitions that have to take place, and the
time between the stimulus and the response also play a
role.
Classical Conditioning was discovered by
Ivan Pavlov in
1904 with
his study on dogs (see for the original experiment). Its interesting to note that Pavlov's work was not intentionally a
study into animal
behaviour, but on the
digestive system). Subsequently classical conditioning is also known as
Pavlovian conditioning. The concept of using classical conditioning to
control the masses, as exhibited in
anti-government/
anti-communist books such as
Brave New World, where
citizens are conditioned to
enjoy working and
fear the outdoors.
See also
weird experiences with self classical conditioning.