conditioned response

American  

noun

Psychology.

1. a response that becomes associated with a previously unrelated stimulus as a result of pairing the stimulus with another stimulus normally yielding the response.

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conditioned response British  

noun

1. Also called (esp formerly): conditioned reflex.  psychol a response that is transferred from the second to the first of a pair of stimuli. A well-known Pavlovian example is salivation by a dog when it hears a bell ring, because food has always been presented when the bell has been rung previously See also classical conditioning unconditioned response

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conditioned response Cultural  

1. In psychology, the response made by a person or animal after learning to associate an experience with a neutral or arbitrary stimulus. Conditioned response experiments by Ivan Pavlov (see Pavlov's dogs) paired a neutral stimulus (sounding a bell) with a natural response (salivating) by associating the bell with the presentation of food. Conditioned response experiments by B. F. Skinner and other behaviorists (see behaviorism) associated an arbitrary action (an animal's pressing a lever) with a positive reward (presentation of food) or a negative reward (an electric shock).

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Response conditioning is used in behavior modification. Stop-smoking clinics, for example, may use an electric shock whenever a patient lights up. The patient will then associate smoking with the unpleasant experience of the shock.

Etymology

Origin of conditioned response

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Thus, the ringing of the bell became the conditioned stimulus and the salivation became the conditioned response.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

"Create a gap between impulse and conditioned response," she advises.

From US News • Mar. 24, 2016

It might be their habit, their nature, or a conditioned response, but either way, they will complain about speeding.

From Forbes • Apr. 4, 2014

Even as late as the mid-twentieth century, B. F. Skinner dismissed anxiety—not at all surprisingly—as a conditioned response to learned fear.

From Scientific American • Jul. 23, 2012

This, in turn, sets up a conditioned response and a favorable emotional reaction which is necessary.

From A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis by Powers, Melvin