The dogs had learned to associate the bell tone with food. The results of Pavlov's experiment indicate that responses to certain stimuli are learned, and that we make connections which can cause responses from a naturally occurring stimulus to be elicited by a neutral stimulus. In the above example, the food is the unconditioned stimulus, and the unconditioned response is salivating to the food, because food naturally results in salivating. A ringing bell does not naturally cause dogs to salivate, therefore before conditioning; the bell is the neutral stimulus. However, when the dog learns to associate the bell with food, the bell becomes the conditioned stimulus, and salivating to the bell is the conditioned response. This is called a conditioned relationship.

K-mart shoppers and the blue light special is a good example of classical conditioning in people. Shoppers will naturally buy sale items because they are sold at a lower...
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