The field of psychology covers many topics of human behavior, but phobias and addictions are often its practical applications in everyday life. Through classic and operant conditioning, subjects can be lead into powerful phobias or addictions which can affect their lives to the point of intervention. These phobias and addictions can be nearly impossible to get over without the process of extinction. Through the implementation of classic and operant conditioning, we can explore the deep-seated root of phobias and addictions as well as the extinction of them.
Classic conditioning is defined as “A procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits that response” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 164) and was made known by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov’s famous experiment involved him ringing a bell before feeding the dogs until the dogs began to associate the bell with food and would salivate at the sound of it. This experiment involved an unconditioned response, or UCR, …show more content…
It requires removal of the stimulus that the subject has learned to associate with their behavior. In classical conditioning, this involves presenting the conditioned stimulus without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus. This does not entirely obliterate the association, it only weakens the conditioned response. If the conditioned stimulus is presented days later with the addition of the unconditioned stimulus, then spontaneous recovery may occur (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). In operant conditioning, extinction involves the removal of the reinforcement, positive or negative. With out a reward for their behavior, subjects will be less likely to repeat the behavior because they gain nothing from it (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). This becomes handy in the case of phobias or addictions learned through classic or operant
Classic conditioning is defined as “A procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits that response” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 164) and was made known by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov’s famous experiment involved him ringing a bell before feeding the dogs until the dogs began to associate the bell with food and would salivate at the sound of it. This experiment involved an unconditioned response, or UCR, …show more content…
It requires removal of the stimulus that the subject has learned to associate with their behavior. In classical conditioning, this involves presenting the conditioned stimulus without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus. This does not entirely obliterate the association, it only weakens the conditioned response. If the conditioned stimulus is presented days later with the addition of the unconditioned stimulus, then spontaneous recovery may occur (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). In operant conditioning, extinction involves the removal of the reinforcement, positive or negative. With out a reward for their behavior, subjects will be less likely to repeat the behavior because they gain nothing from it (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). This becomes handy in the case of phobias or addictions learned through classic or operant