Question

1. who was ivan pavlov? why is he important to the field of psychology? 2. what was pavlov initially studying? 3. what reflex did he find in his dogs? 4. what other stimuli did pavlov use to manipulate his dogs salivary reactions? 5. what does it mean when we say a stimulus and a response are “unconditioned”? 6. how do we know conditioning has taken place? what happens to the learned response over time if no natural stimulus is present?

Explanation:

1. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist - psychologist. His work on classical conditioning laid the foundation for behaviorist psychology, showing how associations between stimuli can be formed.
2. Pavlov was initially studying the digestive system in dogs, focusing on salivation related to eating.
3. He found the salivary reflex in dogs. Dogs would naturally salivate when presented with food (an unconditioned stimulus).
4. He used stimuli like bells, tones, and flashing lights to manipulate the dogs' salivary reactions, pairing them with food to create conditioned responses.
5. An unconditioned stimulus is one that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning. An unconditioned response is the natural, innate reaction to that unconditioned stimulus. For example, food (unconditioned stimulus) and salivation (unconditioned response) in dogs.
6. Conditioning has taken place when a neutral stimulus (like a bell) that previously did not elicit a particular response now elicits a response similar to the unconditioned response (salivation) after being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food). If no natural stimulus is present over time, the learned response (conditioned response) will gradually weaken and eventually disappear, a process called extinction.

Answer:

1. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist important for founding classical - conditioning theory in psychology.
2. He was initially studying the digestive system of dogs.
3. He found the salivary reflex.
4. Bells, tones, flashing lights.
5. An unconditioned stimulus naturally triggers a response, and an unconditioned response is the innate reaction to it.
6. A neutral stimulus elicits a response after pairing with an unconditioned stimulus. The learned response weakens and fades (extinction) without the natural stimulus.