Classical conditioning can naturally occur in our lives without our consent and can shape our emotional response towards something in either a positive or a negative way. Our experiences can change our perspective towards things and much of it is mediated unconsciously. Without even realizing we could develop an association between objects or people that can either lead to recurrent pleasant conditioned response or a negative conditioned response such as phobias, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder etc. Most of us have an unexplained fear of something. Some have a fear of heights, elevators or spiders. Feeling weak at the knees when looking down a building, have a racing heart at the thought of elevators or congested places or cringing at the sight of spiders or anything that
A fragrance of a certain perfume could work as a conditioned stimulus if it reminds someone of someone they fell in love with at a random place and every time they smell the fragrance it would send butterflies in their tummy. The unconditioned stimulus would be that special someone and the conditioned response would be feeling in love. Other more prevalent examples of classical conditioning in our everyday life could include the fact that we assume something to taste a certain way or someone to act a certain way because of the way the media exposes them. People often mistake raisin cookies to be chocolate chip cookies because they look similar and the latter is more popular and loved. Cakes and other deserts could make someone instantly happy and make them crave it even if they can’t smell or taste it because people have associated them with celebration and having a delightful taste. Food from other cultures that you have never tasted could make you want to have it if it looked similar your favorite