Classical conditioning and phobias

Classical Conditioning and Phobias
Classical conditioning is a type of learning, discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, which occurs between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. The first stage of classical conditioning involves placing an unconditioned stimulus which produces an unconditioned response in an organism. In basic terms this means that a stimulus in the environment has produced an unlearned behaviour or response which is natural and has not been taught or learned yet. This stage also involves neutral stimulus (NS) which has no affect on an organism since it does not produce a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus. During conditioning, the neutral stimulus is associated the unconditioned stimulus which still produces an unconditional response. Often during this stage the UCS must be associated with the CS on a number of occasions for developing this learning. After relating the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus the neutral stimulus eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response and therefore called a conditioned stimulus, now this could alone produce a conditioned response after the conditioning and doesn’t need the unconditioned stimulus. However, when a conditioned stimulus is presented alone, it no longer predicts the coming of the unconditioned stimulus hence the conditioned responding gradually stops.
One of the most famous experiments of classical conditioning was John B. Watson's experiment in which a fear response was conditioned in a young boy known as Little Albert. The child initially showed no fear of a white rat so it was a neutral stimulus, but however what did startle him and cause him to be afraid was if a hammer was struck against a steel bar behind his head (unconditioned stimulus). The sudden loud noise would cause him to burst into tears (unconditioned response). Then the presentation of the rat was paired repeatedly with loud, scary sounds by the hammer. This was done for weeks and he showed signs of fear. By now he only saw the rat and he immediately showed every sign of fear (now the conditioned stimulus). He would cry (whether or not the hammer was hit against the steel bar) and he would attempt to crawl away (now the conditioned response).
This experiment illustrates how phobias can form through classical conditioning. But we can use treat phobias by counter conditioning. The sufferer can be taught or conditioned to produce a non-fearful emotion to the phobic stimuli. Just as little Albert was conditioned to be fearful of certain stimuli; people can be reconditioned to be fearless and unafraid instead.

By Syed Owais