An unconditioned response arises innately and naturally, as occurs when secreting saliva when looking at food.
An unconditioned response is one that arises naturally and innately : therefore, it does not require a learning process. The case of a conditioned response is different, which requires that the subject learn to respond from a previous experience.
It should be noted that a response can be a reaction to a stimulus or a response to a request or a call. The adjective conditioned , for its part, is related to a condition.
Characteristics of an unconditioned response
The unconditioned response, in short, does not require the condition of learning to develop. These responses are part of the natural and inborn abilities that a person or animal has.
A typical example of an unconditioned response is secreting saliva when observing food . When we are faced with a food that we really like, our mouth “waters” because the body begins to prepare for digestion and needs saliva to carry out the process.
A sneeze is an unconditioned response.
Pavlov's investigations
In this sense, we must remember Ivan Pavlov 's famous theory, which was based on dogs and how they salivate when food is in front of them. But not only that, but also the fact that they also began to salivate when other stimuli related to food appeared, such as footsteps or certain noises.
For this reason, he began to work because he realized that these dogs not only behaved in this way (salivating) as a way of satisfying the biological needs they had (feeding), but also as a way of acting after learning.
Hence he proceeded to use meat and bells to work with pets. In this way he managed to ensure that they not only became able to salivate when they saw meat but also when the meat was accompanied by the sound of a bell and even when they heard only the bell.
His experiment was called classical conditioning , in which both generalization and the acquisition, extinction or discrimination of stimuli play a fundamental role.
Sneezing, an unconditioned response
Another unconditioned response is to react with sneezing when a particle irritates the nasal mucosa. In that case, the person will sneeze and expel a large amount of air through their mouth and nose.
This response is unconditioned since no human being needs to learn to sneeze: on the contrary, they are born with that type of reaction already incorporated into their scheme.
The combination with experiences and explanations
In certain cases, conditioned responses and unconditioned responses to a stimulus are combined. If a child touches boiling water, he will immediately withdraw his hand by a reflex (natural) action. That experience and the subsequent explanations from his parents will also generate a conditioned response: every time he encounters boiling water, he will move away so as not to get burned again.
On many occasions, conditioned responses are the result of dramatic situations that have been experienced at some point. Thus, for example, if a person has fallen from a boat and has almost drowned, when they are in contact with large surfaces of water or in situations that may remind them of what they have experienced, they will establish a response that will be: feel real fear.