Question

For this post, I would like for us to discuss some event in our lives (of course that we feel comfortable discussing) that we have associated with either good or bad experiences or any examples.Let's organize our posts in the following fashion:

1). Discuss an event that you have had with which you associated good or bad experiences.  Some of you may have this experience with a dentist's office when you were younger (sorry folks who are studying dentistry ;), going to school, giving a speech, a driving test, or asking someone out on a date! While these tend to sound like possible negative experiences, you can also use pleasant experiences like the smell of apple pie, the sight of a loved one, or a particular brand of clothes or accessory you like to wear. The event must have had subsequent effects on the way you act in the presence of that situation or object following the event.  Talk about what occurred either with the initial exposure to the event or multiple exposures over time.

2). Apply your experience(s) to the theory of classical conditioning.  Make sure that you define your variables as is typically done when defining classical conditioning (e.g., UCS, UCR, NS, CS, & CR). How would you define and classify your experiences through this lens?

3) You can use the text and/or outside reputable research to find out how we can get ourselves to, let's say, be less fearful of asking someone out, becoming more accepting of others, or even to love creepy crawly spiders as pets! unlearning, counter-conditioning, and/or intensifying the association to this specific association?  You can think of this as Based on our knowledge of classical conditioning terminology, what is one way to enhance and/or change our previous experiences?

Answer 1

1. An event I can immediately recall that left me with a slightly negative experience was taking care of my friend’s cat for the weekend. I used to adore her cat, Simba and was extremely excited to have him home for the weekend. However, I found myself cleaning up his mess all throughout and was even scratched very badly by him. Whenever I meet Simba now, I think of the time I took care of him and begin to feel repulsive.

2. In terms of classical conditioning Simba was the neutral stimulus (NS), his messing up act was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and my anger towards the mess he created was the unconditioned response (UCR). After the weekend, Simba become the conditioned stimulus (CS) and my anger towards him become the conditioned response (CR).

3. Perhaps the best to overcome this association would be through the process of learning. By spending more time with Simba, I would perhaps learn about more of his behaviours that I would then associate with him, rather than just him messing up my house.