There once was a little boy who believed he had no fears. He thought that nothing could hurt him or ever would. However, one day, when he saw a spider in his garage. Being the fearless boy that he was, he walked over to the spider and decided to pick it up. Shortly after he had picked it up, it was crawling around his hand and tickling him with his hairy legs. The little boy wanted to show the spider to his parents, but as soon as he began to walk from the garage into the house, the spider bit him. He immediately shook his hand, causing the spider to fall off of his hand, screamed in pain, and began to cry. Ever since that tragic event, this little boy has had a fear of spiders that hopefully one day will cease to exist.
This story
connects to classical conditioning because the young boy modified his behavior
because of a stimulus. The boy,
originally not afraid of spiders, was bitten by a spider and became arachnophobic. Similar to the females in Trauma As Classical Conditioning, the
little boy gained the fear after just one exposure to the stimulus, because of
how traumatizing the one spider bite was to him.
You have an interesting tale, because many people who are terrified of spiders often have no event originating their fear. The fact that your tale has an origin reminds me of my dog tale.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, I was mounted/ tackled by a big dog, a had another negative experience with a dog, and I had never really considered it but, I had a fear of dogs for a long while. I've always liked dogs, or the idea of them, but I use to feel really uneasy/ uncomfortable around them. I completely healed now, though, I'm really comfortable around dogs, and don't feel that emotional barrier, especially with my own pup.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I have a dislike of spiders and all things bug-like. I do not know what unconditioned stimulus caused this feeling, yet it still affects me to this day. When I notice a spider or bug high up on a wall, I immediately become conscious of it, and cannot forget it.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteI too fear spiders despite the fact that I have never been bitten by one but I think that is a very good example of classical conditioning. Similarly, ever since I was three and stung by a was, I flinch every time one flies near me; this also correlates to perception in the sense that we know the pain that the creature could cause so we react in a way to prevent such pain from occurring.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteYour story of the boy with arachnophobia reminds me of John Watson's experiment with Little Albert. To Little Albert, each of the furry creatures posed a neutral stimulus, but he learned to fear anything that resembled white and fur by correlating it with the bang. I find it amazing how objects that seem harmless at first can have lasting harmful effects.