Prompt: In Pavlovian Conditioning organisms learn to predict one stimuli from the presentation of another. That’s Pavlovian (Classical) Conditioning in a nutshell. In this assignment, you will take on the role of a therapist who has a young patient that has developed a phobia of the dentist and desperately needs help to overcome this fear. Using your knowledge of learning processes you’ll discuss how Pavlovian Conditioning could both account for and possibly alleviate this young girl’s fear.

To earn full credit on this assignment students should:

Restate the immediate problem experienced by the young girl
Define Pavlovian Conditioning in your own words and explain how this form of learning could account for the young girl’s fear
Identify the possible conditioned stimuli, unconditioned stimuli and unconditioned responses that the young girl is experiencing when she goes to the dentist
Define extinction (as a learning term, not a kill the dinosaurs term) in your own words and create a plan for reducing the girls fear of the dentist using this process
Define in your own words spontaneous recover, reinstatement, or renewal  and explain how this effect could cause a relapse in the young girl’s phobia even after treatment