Applications of Conditioning
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Pavlovs Dogs Get Conditioned
Pavlov’s Theory of Classical Conditioning Explained! This video is a great explainer for class when discussing Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning. Below is a video that provides an explanation with re-enactment of Ivan Pavlov’s discoveries
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Classical Conditioning on a College Roommate
This clip shows a college student conditioning his roommate to flinch at the sound of the phrase “that was easy.” Every time he presses a button that emits the phrase, he shoots his roommate with an airsoft gun. Eventually, his roommate flinches just at the sound of the words that was easy. This video has inspired many similar experiments that…
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Pavlovs Fish
The video clip shows the results of studies on conditioning of fish. The investigator is shown collaborating with commercial fisheries to train wild sea bass to return in response to a tone in order to receive food. Investigators discuss challenges of the research. What types of applications might conditioning have in business settings?
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How Your Horse Learns: Why it Goes Bad Before it Gets Good Again
This video presents a horse-trainer explaining how to work with horses while keeping their past negative experiences and different temperaments in mind. The trainer demonstrates how to attract the horse’s attention and interpret their head and body posture. How might having more than one horse in the same corral affect training?
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Extinction Burst
This video presents an individual experiencing “extinction burst.” The subject repeatedly pushes a button to close elevator doors, knocks on a locked door, pushes the button on a drink machine, clicks the receiver button on a public telephone, and pushes the button on a copy machine – all without success. Each of the examples shown in this clip shows extinction…
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Habituation of a Startle Response
This short clip shows habituation of a rat’s innate startle reflex to a loud noise. The rat shows a decrease in the magnitude of the response as a function of repeated exposure to the noise. Audio is included, but an X is presented during presentations of the noise. How do we know the rat is habituated to the noise? What…
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Dishabituation of a Rats Startle Response
Here we see a rat that has undergone habituation to a loud noise (indicated by a yellow X). After two trials, a different loud noise is presented (a door slamming, indicated by a red circle). The habituated response briefly returns upon presentation of the original loud noise. Would the dishabituation occur if the extraneous stimulus was visual rather than auditory?
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Spontaneous Recovery
In this video, a habituated rat shows little response to two trials of a loud noise. After three days back in its home cage, the loud noise is presented again, and the startle reflex returns. The rat quickly habituates once again. What is spontaneous recovery? How might it be useful in a classroom setting?
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How Do We Decide
In this interview from The Early Show, Jonah Lehrer discusses his book How We Decide. He discusses the relationship between decision-making and delayed-gratification, as well as decision-making through fear. Do you think its possible to teach yourself to be calm under pressure?
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Pickle Phobic Girl
This video clip from the Maury Povich show presents a woman who has an intense fear of pickles. Her phobia is discussed, and then they confront her with pickles in the studio. What type of early experiences with an object or substance would lead to someone developing a phobia?
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Does Aversive Conditioning Work?
This video summarizes three years of working in Whistler investigating the utility of aversive conditioning and conditioned taste aversion to reduce the need for lethal bear management. The idea is that if they can condition the bears to be more afraid of humans, they will wander into dangerous areas less frequently, and thus limit the need to put them down.…
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