Classical conditioning refers to the pairing of two kinds of external stimuli to cultivate the same response to both. This can be used to develop phobias by simultaneously exposing a subject to one kind of stimuli that doesn't cause a fear response and to another stimuli that does, so that the fear response will eventually emerge with the second stimulus alone. An example of classical conditioning used to develop fear in humans is an experiment performed on a 9-month-old baby by researchers Watson and Rayner in 1920. The researchers exposed the baby to various types of animals and masks and recorded no fear response to any of them. The stimulus that did cause the baby to express distress was the sound of a hammer hitting a steel bar behind him. To classically condition a phobia of the animals, the doctors showed the baby a rat while making the sound that he was afraid of. In response, the child showed signs later in life of having a phobia of rats and animals that shared characteristics with rats.
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