Classical Conditioning
💡 Classical Conditioning is when a neutral stimulus elicits a response after being paired with a stimulus that elicits that response
If I had to guess you, the user, most likely noticed the rectangles on the side which change position by scrolling, and decided to fiddle around with the scroll a little bit for fun. I placed these rectangles as an example of classical conditioning.
| Feature | Definition | Button Example |
|---|
| Neutral Stimulus | Stimulus that triggers no response | Scrolling |
| Unconditioned Stimulus | Stimulus that triggers a response without any conditions | red, green, and blue rectangles moving in a satisfying way when scrolling |
| Unconditioned Response | The response to the Unconditioned Stimulus | Satisfying feeling when rectangles move |
| Conditioned Response | The learned response to the conditioned stimulus | Scrolling more |
Classical Conditioning: Being Aware of Applications in the Web
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Companies nowadays are utilizing classical conditioning in order to advertise and keep retention on their apps. A prime example can be seen by looking at TikTok - a social media company that focuses on short-form content, and reads user interaction in order to gauge what they should recommend in order to keep the user on for longer. This forces a neutral stimulus (scrolling) to be paired up with entertainment, keeping the user's attention on the app.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Another example is Fortnite, a game that recently started collaborating with big name franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Anime which invoke excitement in fans without prior conditioning. By featuring these characters, fans of these franchises will likely start to associate these same feelings towards the game.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Phishing scammers may also use classical conditioning by pairing their fraudulent emails with trusted brands in order to gain the user's trust and increase the likelihood of a user getting scammed.