Conditioned stimulus: characteristics and uses in psychology

The human being and the rest of the animals are active beings, who interact with an environment on which they depend in order to survive. But why do we do what we do? How is it explained that, for example, when a dog hears a bell it begins to salivate or why we run to seek refuge when we hear an alarm?

This how and why we act as we act is something that has always been of great scientific interest, and that different theoretical currents have studied and investigated from psychology. One of them, behaviorism, considers that it is due to a conditioning process. And within this process, the bell or alarm would be fulfilling the role of conditioned stimulus. It is about this concept, that of conditioned stimulus, that we are going to talk about throughout this article.

• Related article: "Behaviorism: history, concepts and main authors"

What is a conditioned stimulus?

The name of conditioned stimulus is any element that, being initially neutral and not causing any reaction in the person or animal by itself, acquires the property of

generate a response when associated with another stimulus that does generate a reaction.

Using the example used in the introduction, we react with fear to the sound of an alarm not because the alarm itself generates a reaction in us. but because we know that said sound is linked to the existence of danger or pain (the entrance of an intruder, an enemy attack or a fire, for example). example). In the case of the dog and the bell (part of Pavlov's experiments that gave rise to the study of classical conditioning), the dog will begin to salivate to the sound of the bell since it associates it with being brought food (the sound of the bell being a stimulus conditioned).

This relationship is produced by the ability to associate between stimuli, which the most classical conditioning considered specifically characteristic of the stimulus itself (although nowadays through other currents we know that other aspects such as will, motivation or cognition have an influence).

It is necessary that there is a minimum contingency (i.e., that the appearance of one predicts the appearance of another or that they occur largely simultaneously or followed) between the conditioned stimuli and those that have allowed them to become such a thing, the unconditioned stimuli. In addition, it is necessary that the response generated by the latter be strong, and although it is not essential that there may be some relationship between the two.

Virtually any type of neutral stimulus can become conditioned as long as it is perceptible. Perception can come from any channel or sense, and can be something visual (lights, an image, etc.), sounds (timbres, voices, specific words, etc.), tactile perceptions (texture, temperature, pressure), tastes or smells. Even in some cases, stimuli that do generate a response can be conditioned if they are paired with stimuli that generate a response that is more relevant to the subject.

Also, as we have seen, conditioning appears in a large number of living beings. It can be observed in humans, but also in dogs, apes, cats, mice or pigeons, among many others.

• You may be interested in: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments"

The birth of a conditioned stimulus

Thus, for a conditioned stimulus to exist, there must be something that conditions it: the unconditioned stimulus that itself generates a response. And the relationship established between them is what comes to be called conditioning. The birth of a conditioned stimulus occurs in what is called the acquisition phase (in which it acquires the properties that make it go from being neutral to being conditioned).

From the perspective of classical conditioning, one stimulus is conditioned by another due to the generation of a link between the appearance of the initially neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, which already generates an appetitive or aversive response (called unconditional).

little by little and according to occur together or within a short interval, the subject makes associations, causing the initially neutral stimulus to acquire characteristics appetitive or aversive and go from not generating a response to generating the same one that generated the stimulus that did cause a answer. Thus, a conditioned response will end up being generated and the neutral stimulus is considered a conditioned stimulus. Henceforth, the appearance of the conditioned stimulus will generate the same reaction as the unconditioned stimulus.

With possibility of extinction

That a stimulus is conditioned and generates a conditioned response can arise from day to day or be provoked voluntarily, but the truth is that said association will tend to extinguish if the subject observes that the joint appearance of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli ceases to give yourself Thus, the conditioned stimulus it will happen over time to become neutral again and not generate responses.

This extinction process can be more or less prolonged depending on various factors.

Among them we find how strong the association between stimuli has been or how many times it has been repeated, or if we have learned that the unconditioned stimulus always appears in all situations in which the conditioned stimulus appears or most of the time (although it may seem counterintuitive, the association takes longer to extinguish if we are used to the fact that both stimuli do not always appear jointly).

Yes, sometimes spontaneous recoveries may occur of the association.

Relationship with psychological problems

There are a large number of behavioral problems that are linked to conditioning, specifically with the fact that a stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus and generates a response conditioned.

In general the presence of any fear or even a phobia It can be linked (although a large number of factors come into play and not only these) to this type of association, if a stimulus has been associated with pain or suffering.

Thus, if we were once bitten by a dog, it is possible that we associate any dog ​​with pain, something that will make us fear new exposures and avoid them (the dog being the stimulus conditioned). And not only the fear of phobias but the fear of post traumatic stress disorders (for example, in people who have suffered a rape, fear of sex or people with characteristics similar to the aggressor may appear).

It can also happen the other way around, that we associate something with pleasure or the avoidance of displeasure and excitement or an excessive appetite for said stimulus appears, conditioned. For example, conditioning has been used in an attempt to explain some paraphilias, impulse control disorders, eating disorders, or addictions.