You’ve probably heard of Ivan Pavlov and classical conditioning.
A quick refresher.
When a dog sees food, they salivate.
Food’s an unconditioned stimulus and salivating is an unconditioned response.
Dogs don’t have to learn how to do this, they all do it naturally.
But Pavlov’s dogs started salivating when he walked in the room.
Why?
Every time Pavlov walked into the room, the dogs got food shortly after.
The dogs learned that seeing Pavlov meant food was about to come next, so might as well
salivate now.
Pavlov had gone from being a neutral stimulus to conditioned stimulus that led to the now
conditioned response of salivating.
This is an automatic, unconscious process that we’re powerless to stop.
It’s one of the most basic, primal parts of our psychology.
I like to think of it as an association machine that forms connections about the things that
we keeping experiencing in the world.
Let me show you how it works.
But first I’m going to need a volunteer…
All I need you to do is sit here and just act natural.
I’m going to read this list of words.
Every time I see this word capitalized, I’m going to spray Brooke in the face with water.
She’ll naturally flinch.
That’s a reflex that’s universal to all humans.
It protects your eyes and face.
The unconditioned stimulus of water to the face leads to the unconditioned response of
flinching.
Classical conditioning will teach her to associate this word, a neutral stimulus that doesn’t
lead people to flinch, with getting sprayed with water- that’s the key association.
If this works, she’ll flinch when she hears this word, because it will have come a conditioned
stimulus.
And If we’re lucky, she’ll start to flinch when she hears words that sound like this
world right here.
That’s called generalization.
You ready Brooke?
I sure am Ali.
cup, CAN, lime, CAN, dish, girl, chalk, can, dish, CAN, key, screen, ran, CAN, desk, CAN,
knob, bag, tape, CAN, dish, clip, CAN, air, ban, cheese, CAN, door, can, wheel, fire,
CAN, dish, hair, CAN, ring, nail, CAN, boat, cap, dish, CAN, crane, wheel, fire, CAN, dish,
king, cape, apple, CAN, dog, blue, can, dish, CAN, take, call, brick, pair, CAN, spin, chair,
CAN, camp, CAN, dish, CAN, bridge, scale, can, fan, board, CAN, cool, three, horn, disk,
CAN, can, cast, test, pen, dime, CAN, dish, van, can, card, stand, meat, pad, can, dish,
set, can, tree, ice, plum, can, cost, bird, glass, can, light, can, sword, juice, can,
dish, rock, smoke, grease, dish, keep, kid, tan, dice, hole, set, dish, eye, friend, wax,
bill, bulb, dish, class, mine, mark, work, can, dish, can, bus, dish, phone, can, smart,
first, can, crack, feet, can, tub, bowl, can, van, day, can, rake, dish, CAN, bluff, risk,
CAN, salt, dish, CAN, ball, stack, CAN, rain, hat, food, can, van, disk, tree, can
The instructions tell me I'm supposed to give her a garbage bag to put over herself but
I did not follow this part of the instructions.
So I definitely flinched at can but I wasn't flinching at fan but I was flinching at things
like can't, the C sound at the beginning of the word.
Whenever there was a ca sound I was like.
I wonder if the timing of the spray had been different, and I think it was because you
had done it on the C sound, if you had done it more of the and sound then I would have
responded more to that stimulus.
This might seem like a strange thing to learn but remember that this association machine
in our head helps us prepare for situations we’re likely to encounter in the future.
Here, learning to flinch helped Brooke protect herself from the water.
This type of learning happens all the time!
Everyone feels more alert when they drink caffeine but overtime just the smell of coffee
can give you a jolt of energy.
When a cell phone notification goes off, everyone checks their phone because that sound is associated
with important people in your life.
Advertising use classical condition to pair up their brand with sexy, fun, healthy lifestyles.
Sometimes associations can be made quickly, especially if the response is strong.
Think about food poisoning - all you need is to get sick from food once and then the
next time you walk by the same restaurant or smell that type of food you feel sick.Check
out Brooke's video on disgust to learn more about this.
Classical conditioning isn’t permanent.
If you stay in a situation long enough and the predictions don’t come true, the learning
can be undone.
That’s what exposure therapy for anxiety disorders is all about, and you can learn
more about that by watching my video on phobias.
Want to replicate this experiment yourself?
Get a friend, a working spray bottle, use the list of words in the description below,
and then share your video in the comments below.