How do we account for most soft drink advertisements showing the drink being consumed in association with friends having a great time, celebrations, music and exciting adventures? This marketing approach leverages a simple principle, first discovered and described by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, called classical conditioning. Pavlov was engaged in the study of digestion in dogs when he discovered the conditioning principle. As expected, food, when given to the dogs, elicited an automatic salivary response (unconditioned response to an unconditioned stimulus).
Now, Pavlov rang a bell immediately before giving food to the dog. Repeated presentations of food to the dog after he rang the bell gradually caused the dog to salivate in response to the bell ringing alone, even without the food being present. Here, the bell became a conditioned stimulus, and the salivary response to the bell is called a conditioned response. The learning resulted in an acquired response through a sustained pairing of a previously neutral conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.
In this case, the positive emotional value of a product like a soft drink being repeated in close association with exciting events like celebrations would lead the consumer to evoke the same kind of positive emotional response to the product even before the product is tried.
In practice, we can also use this same principle to understand some behaviours we might see in the clinics. For example, an individual struggling with alcohol addiction might begin to feel a very intense craving just from the sight of a bar, the clink of glasses, or meeting friends with whom he or she used to drink, or even smelling alcohol. Each of these stimuli was once neutral in terms of eliciting such craving for alcohol, but repeated associations with the act of drinking alcohol have caused them to elicit such a conditioned craving response, which contributes to relapses.
Classical conditioning also helps explain how we develop fears, cravings for particular foods, or even why certain places, smells, or songs instantly change our mood. Although we may not always realise it, our experiences are constantly teaching us what to expect and how to respond. Understanding this simple form of learning helps us appreciate both how behaviours are acquired and how they can, with appropriate interventions, be modified.
Dr. Rashmi Dhakad
Consultant Psychiatrist
Bhopal
