Theories Of Behavior: PSY/420 Week 2 -Discussion

Discuss your answers to these questions with your classmates:

• What is an example of classical conditioning in your life?
• In your example, which elements are the unconditioned stimulus (US), unconditioned response (UR), conditioned stimulus (CS), and conditioned response (CR)? Why?
• How can you adapt your example to include higher order conditioning?

My response to food is an example of classical conditioning. Whenever I feel hungry, I go get something to eat. Sometimes I go to fast food restaurants where all the menu items are displayed with pretty pictures. Sometimes, when I see a pretty picture of a food item that I have tried before, I start feeling the desire to eat even though I am not really physically hungry.

In this case, the initial feeling of hunger is the unconditioned stimulus (US) that leads me to the fast food restaurant where I exhibit the unconditioned response (UR) of ordering something off the menu. The neutral stimulus (NS) is the pretty picture of the menu item that I choose. Later, whenever I see that picture of the menu item, I start to feel like eating. This is because the neutral stimulus (NS), the pretty picture, becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) which elicits the feelings of eating, which is now the conditioned response (CR).

I have recently noticed a sign in the window of Taco Bell that displays a picture of one of their meals on top of a wrapped Christmas git. Christmas has traditionally been a time when many people eat a lot. This picture makes the meal look more appealing to me because I like the Christmas season, and I do eat a lot during that time. Accordingly, this image of the meal sitting on top of a wrapped Christmas gift provides additional stimulation that makes me want to eat. I would say this is an example of higher order conditioning.