Conditioned stimulus what is and examples

The Russian physiologist I. P. Pavlov discovered classical conditioning by subjecting dogs to some stimuli presented during food consumption. Found that these stimuli caused salivary secretion even when a food was not effectively supplied.

After a sufficient number of conditioning tests, the conditioned stimulus was able to cause the response not conditioned even in the absence of food supply. In this psychology-online article, we will tell you What is a conditioned stimulus and we will see some examples of the same. Understanding how conditioned stimuli work and how to create them is very important for a large number of disciplines such as marketing, advertising, learning and psychology.

1. What is the conditioned stimulus
2. When a stimulus becomes conditioned
3. Examples of the conditioned stimulus

What is the conditioned stimulus

A conditioned stimulus (EC) is any stimulus, internal or external, which Initially it does not cause any reaction in the body and that, Through a conditioning process, you can create an answer. The conditioned stimulus is the counterpart of the unconditioned stimulus. You can consult the following article on classical conditioning to understand it better.

Characteristics of unconditioned stimulus

To better understand what it is, we tell you what are the main characteristics of the unconditioned stimulus:

• It must be noticeable.
• Do not raise the same response induced by the unconditioned stimulus-
• It doesn't have to be too intense.
• Conditional stimuli can be positive, such as light, sound, and negative, such as electroshock or bites.
• Stimuli cause conditioned reactions. In turn, Iván Pávlov divides the conditioned reactions into acquired, that is, they are established after a certain training, and natural, which are mostly carried out spontaneously.

When a stimulus becomes conditioned

By their very nature, conditioned stimuli do not cause any spontaneous response, on the contrary, The reactions only appear when the body is subject to a conditioning process. This process should not necessarily occur in a calculated way

In our daily lives we find many situations that create conditioned stimuli in our mind and in our body. However, if they are consciously created, associations tend to be more powerful and durable.

For Pávlov, for a stimulus to be conditioned, this must precede in time to the unconditioned stimulus and continue to act at the same time as this. At least a certain number of times must coincide. Therefore, Time is needed for a neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus. This period is called Acquisition phase, during which humans or animals learn to connect the neutral stimulus with the unconditional response, thus transforming these repeated and neutral connections into a conditioned stimulus.

Not all conditioned stimuli are equally powerful. The intensity of the answers can vary Depending on factors such as associations used or the times when conditioned and unconditional stimuli are presented together. For this reason, much of behavior psychology studies which is the best way to produce powerful answers in certain organisms.

Examples of the conditioned stimulus

To make it easier to identify it, then we show you different examples of the conditioned stimulus:

Fear of a situation

Imagine that one day you go by bicycle on the street and suddenly a dog attacks you. From that moment, it is very likely that you associate the place where the accident occurred with the unpleasant situation you lived there. For this reason, that path, which was previously neutral, becomes a conditioned stimulus that causes fear and that is better to avoid.

Aversion to taste

One of the most curious types of classical conditioning is what is known as the aversion to taste. A person proves a new type of food that is initially a neutral stimulus. After consuming it, it quickly becomes bad.

From that moment on, just smelling or savoring that type of food, the person may feel disgust and rejection of food. Therefore, a new conditioned stimulus is spontaneously created, although food intake has nothing to do with posterior discomfort.

Routine habits

Every night you like to enjoy your favorite television program with a cup of tea. Over time, the obstacle will become a conditioned stimulus that will make you want to take a cup of tea every time you see it.

Another example of routine habits would be a mother always tries to do yoga when her son makes a nap in the afternoon. As part of the nap routine, the mother reads a couple of books to her son to sleep. In this case, reading the books is the conditioned stimulus, since when I do it will begin to think about your yoga routine.

Association of Sounds

When a father arrives at home house, he always puts the car in the garage. When he does, his children always hear the garage door open from inside the house. In this situation, children associate the sound of the garage door, which acts as a conditioned stimulus, with the father.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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