Question

Describe it in two paragraphs -Learning Define one of the following concepts and describe a time in your life that illustrates this concept. Concepts: classical conditioning, shaping, chaining, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, operant conditioning, punishment.

Answer 1

• I would describe the concept of classical conditioning with an example from my personal life.
• Classical conditioning was given by Pavlov which focused on learning through associations.the environment influences and shapes our behvaiour.
• My dinner time has been conditioned during my childhood and its something which still hasnt changed.My cook starts to prepare food close to 7pm and the smell of the food comes from the kitchen,when I smell it,I start to feel hungry and I know its dinner time and I need to get ready for it.
• Food is the naturally occuring stimulus which is called the unconditioned stimulus.The UCS,which is the smell of food,then results in my UCR which is feeling hungry response.UCR is the unconditioned response which gets automatically triggered by UCS.
• Now,when this happens repeatedly,then an association between the neutral stimulus and UCS,whic then becomes conditioned stimulus (CS) leading to conditioned response(CR).
• So,when the smell of food comes from the kitchen,then I have my alarm which goes off indicating that I need to be ready for dinner.Initially the alarm was a neutral stimulus leading to no response,but after repeated pairing with the smell of food(UCS),lead to my CR of feeling hungry.The alarm alone eventually became the conditioned stimulus.
• So,now there is an association between UCS and CS,so presenting CS alone which is the alarm,would lead to my CR which is feeling hungry.As soon as th alarm rings,I know its dinner time.
• My dinner time has become classically conditoned over the years,so now I only eat at 8pm,not before or after that.As soon as the alarm goes off at 8pm,I know its my dinner time,even if I am not really feeling hungry,but its just conditioning that I have to eat.