Classical conditioning in psychology is a type of learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally triggers a response. After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus alone can elicit a similar learned response called the conditioned response. This process involves key components:
- Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): naturally produces a response without prior learning.
- Unconditioned Response (UCR): the natural response to the UCS.
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): previously neutral, now triggers a learned response.
- Conditioned Response (CR): the learned response to the CS.
The concept was famously demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov in his experiments with dogs, where a bell (neutral stimulus) was paired with food (UCS), eventually causing the dogs to salivate (CR) at the sound of the bell alone.
