A Historz of the Study of Classical Conditioning and Its use

A Historz of the Study of Classical Conditioning and Its use Classical Conditioning Each day, people are conditioned without even realizing it. This may include being productive at work to avoid losing a job or associating a gas station with anger because it is right next to that one light that never turns green. Whatever it may be, what people have been conditioned to think and do affect them everyday. One form of conditioning is known as classical conditioning. This form of conditioning includes an unconditioned stimulus combined with an conditioned stimulus to create a conditioned response. Through classical conditioning, people find themselves automatically responding in ways that are not natural to them due to stimuli that they have been conditioned to respond to. Classical conditioning began in the early nineteen hundreds when Ivan Pavlov observed that dogs salivate when they see food. This was an unconditioned response. He decided to experiment with this by ringing a bell, a conditioned stimulus, every time he brought food, an unconditioned stimulus, to the dogs. At first, when he rang the bell without food, the dogs had no reaction. However, after sometime of ringing the bell before giving the dogs food, the dogs began to associate the bell with food. As a result, the dogs had been conditioned to respond to the bell with salivation, even if food did not come afterwards (Myers, 2013, p. 269). Within classical conditioning there are two types of learning: signal and evaluative. In signal learning, there is an â€Å"if-then† relationship between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus. In classical conditioning where evaluative learning is used, the subject is unaware of the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, and th e subject subconsciously connotes positive and negative feelings with the stimuli (Pornpitakpan, 2012, p. 282). Classical conditioning is seen in practice nearly every day. For example, at my grandfather’s funeral we sang the hymn â€Å"Nearer, My God, to Thee†. While before his funeral, this hymn was just another song from church, now whenever I hear the song I get sad as it reminds me of my grandpa’s absence. The unconditioned stimulus was that my grandpa died, and this created the unconditioned response of sadness. The neutral stimulus, the song, when matched with the unconditioned stimulus created the same unconditioned response. Soon, the neutral stimulus of the hymn became a conditioned stimulus and created the conditioned response of sadness. This situation is an example of evaluative learning. I was not aware of the conditioning that was happening, instead I was feeling a response to a related stimulus. Another example of classical conditioning in my life is my from my junior year in high school. I had a concussion that year and had a tutor coming to my house everyday to help me manage my school work. After I recovered, whenever I saw that tutor around town or in school I began to experience a headache much like I did when I had a concussion. The unconditioned stimulus, my concussion, created the unconditioned response of my headache. A neutral stimulus, my tutor, become associated with the unconditioned stimulus of my concussion, and I soon became conditioned to respond with a headache whenever I saw my tutor, or the conditioned stimulus. This is an example of signal learning as it resulted into the situation where if I saw my tutor then I would get a headache. Without anyone’s knowledge, classical conditioning occurs all the time. Sometimes it happens in a lab, like with Pavlov and his dogs, but most the time it appears naturally as seen in my life. With a true grasp of classical conditioning, a person can come to understand their life and the reasons they do certain things and react in certain ways to certain stimuli.

McDonaldization of Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

McDonaldization of Society - Essay Example Mcdonaldization of society is an explanation of a good society and is becoming more efficient. Max states that McDonald is the vehicle by which current civilization is becoming more proficient technique for people to go from an ailment of hunger to a state of satiety. However, McDonaldization and efficiency have negative effects (Ritzer 167). The Imminent side effects must be documented and appreciated in order to fully comprehend the effect that Mcdonaldization has on today’s culture. Max also believes that McDonaldization is a social logical thesis that reinforces the current trends of culture and society. Ritzier describes the rational spare of society and his procedures of routine and settled procedures for dealing with situations which can occur in an orderly fashion. I do agree with ritzier sociologist this is because the eating habits greatly influence the cultural behavior of people (Ritzer 200). People easy forget the past about their past practices and begins to follow the new way of eating which is more affordable at consumes less of our

The Similarities and Differences of Two Early Civilizations Essay

The Similarities and Differences of Two Early Civilizations - Essay Example There are various characteristics of civilizations, including the type of subsistence, form of government, economic system, education, social stratification, and human settlement patterns. Moreover, civilizations are characterized by religious beliefs, art, and architecture among other aspects (Trigger, 2007, pp. 57-65). This paper is a critical examination of the Nile valley and Mesopotamia ancient civilizations. Discusion The Nile valley civilization existed back in the 3000 BC and it consisted of three major civilizations, namely Nubia, Egypt, and Kush (Ikram, 2009). Geographically, the Nile valley civilization was located in the Lower Egypt in the river Nile’s delta and in the Upper Egypt along the river in Africa’s interior. The rich alluvial and silt deposits of River Nile provided the Nile valley civilization with rich agricultural land for farming along the banks and the delta. The inhabitants dug complex channels to irrigate their crops from the waters of the r iver. The government of the Nile valley civilization became theocratic after the unification of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms in 3100 BCE (Ikram, 2009). Pharaoh became the ruler of the unified Egyptian kingdom after establishment of the first dynasty in the civilization. Theocratic government implies that pharaohs were regarded as gods, and they served as political and religious leaders (Scarre & Fagan, 2007). Egyptians believed that pharaohs were omnipresent and continued ruling after death. Consequently, their bodies were mummified, preserved, and buried in special tombs enclosed in huge pyramids. The Nile valley civilization was polytheistic and believed in life after death. The society of ancient Nile civilization was stratified and consisted of four classes, namely the royal family (Pharaoh), upper, middle, and lower classes. The upper class consisted of priests, government officials, landowners, and military leaders while the middle class consisted of traders and other skilled people. The peasant farmers and other unskilled people belonged to the lowest class (Trigger, 2007). Nile valley civilization provided social mobility – people from the lower class could rise to middle and upper classes through hard work or marriage. Men and women had almost equal rights, sharing privileges such as education, seeking divorce, and property ownership (Ikram, 2009). According to Scarre and Fagan (2007), Mesopotamia was located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Persian Gulf and it is the oldest recorded civilization. The rivers provided water for irrigation and fertile silt, which formed rich agricultural land for the Mesopotamians. These favorable conditions amidst the harsh desert climate in the region attracted the settlement of Sumerians. Sumerians are credited for the creation of the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia and for introducing city-states, education, and better technology in addition to foundation of organized institutions. Though city- states shared the same culture, they were autonomous. Each city-state had its own government that was led by its own leaders (Trigger, 2007). Temple priests led early Sumerian governments. In an economy that relied heavily on agriculture, farmers believed in appeasing the gods to enhance agricultural production. Therefore, the priests were regarded as the appropriate leaders to mediate between the farmers and the gods. However, military rulers later took over the leadership of Mesopotamia civilization