In the case of an adventuresome 2 year old, classical conditioning can be used to make her more fearful to run across a busy street near her house. Just like the dog, that Ivan Pavlov conditioned to salivate every time the bell rung, the two year old can be conditioned to fear the busy street (Moore, 2012). Firstly, I need the 2 year old (US) to stop running across a busy street (US), by associating the habit with unpleasant thing. To condition the child, I can use pinching as the neutral stimulus (NS). Each time she goes near the busy street (CS), she will associate it with pinching ( Chan & Harris, 2017) . In return, she will respond by associating the pinch with fear (UR). Once she is conditioned, the two year old will associate the habit of running across the street with fear, without necessarily having to pinch her (CR).
Classical condition can be used on a preschool child who is afraid of dogs to enjoy playing with a neighbor’s friendly dog. I would classically condition the child to play with the friendly dog by triggering a nice feeling whenever the toddler plays with the dog (Carlson, 2010). In this case, whenever the child plays with the dog, I shower him with praises. In return, the preschooler will feel happy (Pelar, 2016). I will continue praising him every time he plays with the pet until he gets used. The happy feeling is neutral stimulus (NS). The dog’s presence is the unconditioned response (US), and the fear the preschooler has towards the dog is the unconditioned response (UR). Following the continuous praise, the happy feeling is the conditioned response (CR), and the dog is the conditioned stimulus (CS).
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References
Carlson, N. (2010). Psychology the Science of Behaviour [4th Canadian ed.] Toronto, On. Canada: Pearson Canada Inc. p. 423.
Chan, C.K., & Harris, J. A. (2017). "Extinction of Pavlovian conditioning: The influence of trial number and reinforcement history". Behavioural Processes. SQAB 2016: Persistence and Relapse. 141 (Pt 1): 19–25.
Moore, J. W. (2012). A Neuroscientist's Guide to Classical Conditioning. Springer Science & Business Media.
Pelar, C. (2016). Kids And Dogs: A Professional's Guide To Helping Families. New York, NY: Dogwise Publishing
