Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Abstract
Through Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s findings we know that dogs have been trained to salivate under the influence of a neutral stimulus when that stimulus is paired with the conditioned response. In time the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus that draws out the conditioned response. In the same process a smoker can have conditioned stimuli that influences them to smoke.
Classical Conditioning and Smoking
As humans, we have natural responses to stimuli in the world around us. These reactions are in a sense programmed into our brain and are triggered with the influence of a stimulus. Some examples of these natural unconditioned responses are salivation at the appearance of food, being startled by a loud noise, and contraction of pupils when light is shined in the eyes. These responses required no learning to appear in our behavior, however we do have the ability to learn or condition new responses to create habits and alter our behavior. The theory behind this learning is known as Classical Conditioning. Through Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov was able to condition dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell, through the same process humans can be conditioned to smoke and quit smoking.
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist that experimented in psychology after he accidentally found a peculiar behavior in dogs that he was performing tests on. He had initially been testing to see how much dogs would salivate when food was presented, but when he found that the dogs began to salivate with no food present at all he began to study their behavior. “Unlike the salivary response to the presentation of food, which is an unconditioned reflex, salivating to the expectation of food is a conditioned reflex.”(Cherry 2012) Pavlov chose a metronome as a neutral stimulus to test his findings, a stimulus that in and of itself has no influence over a dog’s salivary reflexes. After pairing the sound of the metronome with food for several feeding periods the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the metronome.” The previously neutral stimulus (the metronome) had become what is known as a conditioned stimulus that then provoked a conditioned response (salivation).”(Cherry 2012)
Smoking is not a naturally occurring behavior, it is a behavior that is learned. A smoker is conditioned to crave a cigarette (conditioned response) with the influence of certain stimuli (conditioned stimulus). Since smoking is an unnatural behavior of itself all of stimuli have to be conditioned to produce the conditioned response. “Remember Pavlov and his dogs? It 's the same with smoking — conditioning occurs when nicotine produces states that are repeatedly paired with something neutral”. (Cohen 2010) Just as the dogs were conditioned to salivate at the sound the metronome smokers can be conditioned to smoke with the influence of their own neutral stimuli. Many common conditioned stimuli that influence smokers to smoke a cigarette are: talking on the phone, getting out bed, eating, drinking, leaving a store and returning to bed. The pairing of smoking with these and other neutral activities can in time cause these neutral activities to become conditioned stimuli. With the conditioned response of cigarette smoking to the near hourly appearance of conditioned stimuli can be a quite challenging behavior to change. However, there is a way through which the conditioned response can be terminated. The process in which the habit is destroyed is the same in which it was learned, through Classical Conditioning. Through perseverance the conditioned response can be changed or eliminated. In a stop smoking workshop put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints smokers are conditioned to replace the conditioned response of cigarette smoking with healthy habits such as, eating healthy snacks, brushing teeth after every meal along with immediately before getting in and out of bed. The object of the program is to cause the extinction of the conditioned response of smoking. Extinction is “ the weakening and eventual disappearance of the conditioned response as a result of the repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the conditioned unconditioned stimulus.”(S. Wood, E. Wood, D. Boyd 2011) However once the smoking habit has become extinct a former smoker may experience the affects of spontaneous recovery in which the conditioned stimuli will influence the former habit of smoking in a weaker form.
Through physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s findings in Classical conditioning dogs can be conditioned to salivate under the influence of a conditioned stimulus. In like manner a human being can be conditioned to smoke cigarettes under the influence of a conditioned stimulus. This same conditioning can be reversed to cause the extinction of the conditioned response. Learn to smoke or learn to not smoke? Either is possible through Classical Conditioning.
References
Cherry, K. (2010). Classical conditioning. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/classcond.htmCherry, K. (2011, March 22). About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/classicalconditioning/a/pavlovs-dogs.htmCohen, L. (2010, November 01). Strategies to stop smoking. Retrieved from http://www.deardoctor.com/articles/strategies-to-stop-smoking/page2.php
Wood, S. E., Wood, E. R., & Boyd, D. R. (2004). Mastering the world of psychology. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
References: Cherry, K. (2010). Classical conditioning. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/classcond.htmCherry, K. (2011, March 22). About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/classicalconditioning/a/pavlovs-dogs.htmCohen, L. (2010, November 01). Strategies to stop smoking. Retrieved from http://www.deardoctor.com/articles/strategies-to-stop-smoking/page2.php Wood, S. E., Wood, E. R., & Boyd, D. R. (2004). Mastering the world of psychology. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
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