Field Journal

Classical Conditioning Scenario and Psychological Components​

Mark Hoppus plays peek-a-boo with his son Jack. He covers his eyes, then tickles Jack until he laughs. The two played this game throughout the afternoon until Mrs. Hoppus arrived home later in the day. She sees Jack playing happily and asks her husband what they've been doing together all afternoon. He then explains the game of peek-a-boo and how Jack laughs whenever he is tickled. Mrs. Hoppus then covers her eyes for Jack and he begins to laugh without being tickled.

 

In this instance, Jack was conditioned to expect to be tickled when he played peek-a-boo. Even if the game was just to pass the time, psychological components conditioned Jack into laughing whenever his dad covered his eyes. When Mr. Hoppus tickles his son, he is providing an unconditional stimulus (UCS) that causes Jack to laugh. Laughter is a natural response to tickling, so laughing serves as the unconditional response (UCR). In the game of peek-a-boo, Mark would cover his eyes before tickling Jack. By covering his eyes, he creates a neutral stimulus (NS) that, alone, has no effect on Jack. However, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) once Jack associates covered eyes with being tickled. Now Jack will laugh whenever his dad covers his eyes, and his laughter is then a conditioned response (CR) to the conditioned stimulus. The effect spreads to similar stimuli, like his mother covering her eyes instead of his father. Jack will now laugh whenever either of his parents cover their eyes in expectation of being tickled. This is an example of classical conditioning in the real world. The process has also been proven in dogs using an experiment that associates salivation with a bell sound. The conditioned association gradually fades over time (a process called extinction) so the effect is not permanent, but will only occur if the Hoppus's continue playing peek-a-boo and tickling their son, or if the dog was fed following a bell sound.