Advertisers have been using the principles of classical conditioning for years in attempts to associate pleasant feelings with their products. One particular genre of ads (for beer) is particularly famous for doing so by placing scantily clothed women holding beer bottles on large billboards. What are the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response in this example? What are the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response?
I see two stimuli in this ad: the scantily clothed women and beer bottles.
What are the responses to these stimuli?
This site should help you.
http://psychology.about.com/od/uindex/g/uncondstim.htm
unconditioned stimuli is men attracted to women
In this example, classical conditioning is being used to associate pleasant feelings with the beer product. Let's break down the components of classical conditioning to identify the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response in this scenario:
1. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): The unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior conditioning. In this case, the unconditioned stimulus is the sight of the scantily clothed women holding beer bottles on the large billboards. The UCS is something that typically elicits a response without the need for any prior conditioning.
2. Unconditioned Response (UCR): The unconditioned response is the natural and automatic response that occurs as a result of the unconditioned stimulus. In this case, the unconditioned response could be feelings of pleasure or positive emotions that are naturally activated upon viewing the billboard with the women and the beer bottles.
3. Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that, through association with the unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response. In this example, the conditioned stimulus could be the image of the beer bottle itself, which initially may not have had any inherent arousing or pleasurable qualities.
4. Conditioned Response (CR): The conditioned response is the learned response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus after a period of conditioning. In this scenario, the conditioned response would be the positive feelings or associations that are triggered by the sight of the beer bottle, which have become linked through classical conditioning to the original unconditioned stimulus - the billboard with the women and the beer bottles.
To summarize:
- Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): The sight of the scantily clothed women holding beer bottles on the billboards.
- Unconditioned Response (UCR): Feelings of pleasure or positive emotions triggered by the billboard with the women and the beer bottles.
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The image of the beer bottle itself.
- Conditioned Response (CR): Positive feelings or associations triggered by the sight of the beer bottle, which have been linked through classical conditioning.