Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning was discovered accidentally when studying digestion in dogs. He found that by pairing a neutral stimulus (a bell) with an unconditioned stimulus of food, the dog would learn to associate the bell with food and display the unconditioned response of salivation upon hearing the bell alone. This showed that learning can occur through associating stimuli, forming conditioned responses to previously neutral stimuli. The theory explains the acquisition of conditioned responses, and their later extinction or potential spontaneous recovery.

1. Let’s Learn
Something New
Hadeeqa Waleed
Educationist

2. Pavlov theory of classical
conditioning
• Classical conditioning (also known as
Pavlovian conditioning) is learning through
association and was discovered by Pavlov, a
Russian physiologist. In simple terms, two
stimuli are linked together to produce a new
learned response in a person or animal.

3. About Pavlov
• Pavlov came to his conclusions about how learning
occurs completely by accident. Pavlov was a
physiologist, not a psychologist. Physiologists study
the life processes of organisms, from the molecular
level to the level of cells, organ systems, and entire
organisms. Pavlov’s area of interest was the digestive
system (Hunt, 2007).

4. Stimulus And Response
• A stimulus is any object that elicits a sensory or
behavioral response in an organism. In
perceptual psychology, a stimulus is an energy
change which is registered by the senses and
constitutes the basis for perception.
• How the animal respond to the stimulus is called
response

5. To understand Pavlov theory you
need to know
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
Unconditioned response (UR)
Neutral stimulus (NS)
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Conditioned response (CR)

6. Unconditioned Stimulus
• Produce a natural response or reaction
• Such as meat produces a natural salivation response from a dog
• Some reactions produce environment that we don’t need to learn these
reaction are called natural reaction.
• EXAMPLE:
• Food can make you hungry.
• An attractive person can naturally make you feel excited.

7. Unconditioned response
Unconditioned stimulus
Food
Getting exposed to
bacteria or virus
Getting prickled with a pin
Seeing an attractive person
Un conditioned response
Make you hungry
Getting sick
Feeling pain
Getting excited

8. Neutral stimulus
•Pavlov rang the bell but the dog
did not have response to the bell
•Bell in this point a neutral stimulus

9. Conditioned stimulus
• Pavlov gave the doing a piece of meat and t the same time
he rang the bell.
• From this the dog knew that I would get food when the bell
rang
• So the dog would associate the bell with the meat.

10. Acquisition
• Acquisition is the part when the US & CS are
presented together.
• This strengthens the likelihood of the CR.
• Acquisition is basically when the condition response
is learn.

11. Conditioned stimulus
•Eventually Pavlov took the meat away
and just rang the bell by itself. The
dog learned to salivate to the sound of
the bell.

12. Conditioned response
• At this point: Pavlov has taught his dog to salivate to the
sound of a bell the dogs salivation response to the bell or the
conditioned stimulus is the conditioned response or CR.
• Any response to a conditioned stimulus is a conditioned
response.

13. Extinction
• When the CR stops because the CS hasn't been
presented with the US for a while.
• Dog thought: this is the 25th time you’ve rang the bell
and there is not meat. I am not falling for the cruel
joke anymore.
• Ok I stopped salivating the last 50 times you rang the bell
but hopefully 51 is a charm & you’ll show me the meat.

14. Spontaneous recovery
•When the CS produce the CR after the
behavior has been extinct.