Okuzeka
Psychology vocabulary · Learning and Behaviour

Classical conditioning

Meaning in psychology, with examples

nounCore term

In psychology, classical conditioning means: A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus, after being paired many times with a stimulus that naturally causes a response, comes to cause a similar response on its own.

In Turkish: klasik koşullanma, Pavlovcu koşullanma

How it is used

Linked to Ivan Pavlov's experiments with dogs. Textbooks use the terms unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response and extinction. Clinicians use it to explain how fears and phobias can be learned.

Example sentences

  1. Through classical conditioning, the sound of the dentist's drill can start to trigger fear.

  2. Pavlov's dogs are the textbook example of classical conditioning.

Common collocations

  • conditioned response
  • conditioned stimulus
  • unconditioned stimulus
  • extinction
  • operant conditioningLearning in which behaviour changes because of its consequences: actions followed by reinforcement become more frequent, and actions followed by punishment become less frequent.
  • stimulusAnything in the environment or inside the body that can be detected and can trigger a response, such as a sound, an image, a smell or a touch.
  • phobiaAn intense, lasting and out-of-proportion fear of a specific object or situation, such as spiders, heights or flying, that leads to avoidance.
  • behaviourEverything a person or animal does that can be observed, such as actions, reactions and habits, often studied as a response to the environment.

More terms: Learning and Behaviour

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