Question

Can anyone explain whats ''Classical Conditioning'' it has to do with Pavlov..

Answer 1

Imagine this:

I'm holding a needle up to a balloon.

So what? No big deal, right?

But then...I pop the balloon. POP!

The loud POP sound makes you flinch.
You flinch, because that is your natural reaction to the popping noise. Get it?

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Now....the next time I hold up a needle to a balloon, you flinch. Even before I pop the balloon.

Why are you flinching?? I haven't even popped the balloon yet!

The answer is simple.
You flinch because your mind has made a mental CONNECTION between the needle, and the sound of the balloon popping.

You ANTICIPATE the balloon popping, even though I haven't popped it yet.
Because you see me holding the needle up to the balloon.

Does that make sense?

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Classical Conditioning is all about connections.

It's about making connections between two different things that were not always connected, before.

Answer 2

I'll tell you about Ivan Pavlov's demonstration of Classical Conditioning.
This is something that he actually did.

Ivan Pavlov had a couple of dogs.

Whenever the dogs saw food, they would salivate.
Salivating was their natural reaction to food.

So this is what Ivan did.

Every time he brought the dogs some food...
he would ring a bell.

He did this for a while.

Again, every time he brought food for the dogs,
the dogs would salivate.

One day, Ivan decided to ring the bell,
but he didn't bring the dogs any food.

Guess what? They dogs still salivated.

QUESTION: But there was no food! Why were they salivating?
ANSWER: Because the dogs had already made a mental connection between the FOOD and the BELL.

Now, the dogs would salivate whenever they heard the bell.
Because they had made a connection between the bell, and food.

Classical Conditioning is all about making CONNECTIONS between two things that were not always connected.