Pavlov (1927) Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is learning by association

Aim

To demonstrate that animals learn by association

Design

Laboratory

Procedure

A dog was placed in a harness and fed food in a bucket. Each time the dog ate a bell rang. A salivation recording device measured salivation

Results

The dogs started to salivate before the food bucket arrived, often at the sights of the food bucket or the sound of the bell. The dogs had learnt to associate new external stimuli (e.g sights and sounds) with the original stimulus (food). This shows us that animals can learn by association.