Pavlov’s Experiment of Classical Conditioning – Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic observation of the present and disciplined scientific experimentation and modeling.
It attempts to accomplish legitimate, objective conclusions through rigorous formulations and observation. Generally, behavior science deals primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behavior as it relates to society.
Pavlov’s Experiment of Classical Conditioning:
In Pavlov’s experiment, a researcher first attached a capsule to a dog’s salivary gland to measure salivary flow. A bell was rung, every time, the dog Sam was given the meat powder. This was repeated several times. Later Pavlov observed that the dog salivated at at the mere sound of the bell, without the meat powder being followed. Thus, the dog had been conditioned to respond to a new stimulus which was previously an unconditioned response.
The meat powder is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS); salivation is the unconditioned response (UCR) sound of the bell is the conditioned stimulus (CS) and salivation at the sound of the bell is the conditioned response (CR).
Pavlov’s theory is that CS (bell) simply as a result of pairing with the UCS (meat powder) acquires the capacity to substitute for the UCS in evoking the response. This means that an association is formed between the CS and the UCS, so that CS becomes the equivalent of the UCS in eliciting response.
Pavlov believed that this association took place in the brain. Two areas of the brain, one for the UCS and the other for the CS became activated during classical conditioning and the activation of UCS area resulted in a reflex or automatic response. Pavlov showed us how a significant internal process such as learning can be studied objectively.
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