Classical conditioning: Examples and tips to use it

All of your professional habits and behaviors have an explanation. But more often than not, those motivations are hidden — even from you. 

For instance, a mere vibration from your phone can swiftly derail a productive streak, while the sight of a supportive colleague might inject you with the confidence to deliver a stellar presentation.

These triggers and their subsequent effects find their roots in classical conditioning theory, a cornerstone of behavioral psychology that helps us decipher familiar behavioral patterns. 

But how can an understanding of classical conditioning benefit you? Well, embracing the “Why” behind even the most ordinary choices can provide a pathway to enhanced self-awareness, encouraging you — and your team — to nurture better habits in the long run. 

What’s classical conditioning?

Classical conditioning — sometimes referred to as Pavlov conditioning or Pavlovian theory — is a type of unconscious or automatic learning process. 

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov stumbled across this human behavior theory in the 19th century while studying dogs' digestion. During his research, he noticed that the dogs’ physical responses to food changed over time. Initially, the dogs salivated just before receiving food.

But as his experiments continued, Pavlov’s dogs began associating specific noises with feeding time, like the sound of the food cart. 

Pavlov theorized that humans and animals connect neutral stimuli with positive stimuli. To test his theory of conditioned responses, he rang a bell before giving food to the dogs. Initially, the dogs didn’t respond to the bells. With repeated exposure to the neutral stimulus (the sound of the bell) and the accompanying positive stimulus (food), the dogs began to salivate with the sound of the bell. 

Although he wasn’t a psychologist, Pavlov’s experiment and theories around conditioning principles formed the foundation for modern behavioral therapy and psychiatry. To use Pavlov's conditioning theory to build better professional habits, it’s essential to understand a few basic principles of classical conditioning:

• Unconditioned stimulus: This type of stimulus triggers a natural response. When you catch a whiff of someone nearby drinking coffee, you may automatically feel thirsty for your own shot of espresso. 

• Neutral stimulus: A neutral stimulus doesn’t immediately trigger a response. Instead, you must build an association over time. For instance, when you first download a new email platform, the unfamiliar pinging sound of a new email may not immediately elicit a response or change your behavior. 

• Conditioned stimulus: Over time, neutral stimuli turn into this type of stimuli, triggering specific responses or behaviors. Let’s apply the previous example to conditioned stimuli. After a few weeks of using that new email platform, you may begin to instinctively open your inbox when you hear the telltale ping because the stimulus has shifted from neutral to conditioned. 

• Unconditioned response: These responses are often automatic and physical. The natural reflexive response triggered by the aroma of coffee (the unconditioned stimulus) might create the unconditioned response (hankering for a cup of your own).

  Other unconditioned response examples include staying hydrated in a hot office, getting nervous before a presentation, or blinking away when a bright slide pulls up on a PowerPoint presentation. 

• Conditioned response: As a result of the conditioning process, you change your behavior over time. An example of a conditioned response is the sound of a Slack notification (conditioned stimulus) prompting you to replicate a learned response (checking your notifications).

  Other conditioned responses at work might include feeling confident after consistently delivering good presentations or prepping for a meeting after receiving a calendar reminder. 

The stages of classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is very compatible with negative experiences, such as phobias or taste aversions. Seeing a spider may instill fear, or the smell of rotten food produces disgust. 

But Pavlovian theory can also be used to form positive habits, including at work. The key lies in recognizing the areas you’d like to improve in, such as overcoming procrastination habits or limiting unhealthy snacking during the workday. 

Imagine you want your team members to be more punctual to team meetings. There are three basic phases of the associative learning process: 

1. Setting the stage 

To plant the seed, emphasize and clearly communicate the importance of punctuality in team meetings. Bring your team together and explain that punctuality isn’t only a matter of compliance but a vital part of collaboration and showing respect to all team members.

You may point out that arriving on time leads to better time management and productivity, which empowers everyone to contribute and make good decisions. 

2. Generating a new stimulus

After you set clear expectations for your team, it’s time to put them into action by developing stimulus generalization. Consistently begin meetings on time, even if some team members arrive late. This reinforces the importance of punctuality and demonstrates that tardiness isn’t acceptable behavior. 

Likewise, you can set calendar reminders to go off 30 minutes before a meeting, send ahead the meeting agenda the morning of the meeting, or start meetings with fun team bonding activities. Repeating these actions will help create new associations between these stimuli and punctuality. 

3. Forming the habit 

As the conditioning process continues, your team members will likely begin associating previously neutral stimuli with the concept of punctuality. Hearing a calendar notification, seeing you walk into the conference room, or receiving the meeting agenda will turn into successfully conditioned stimuli and responses. 

As a manager, consistency is key to reaching your objective. Sticking to an established schedule and repeating stimuli will help your team members make positive associations between punctuality and smoother team collaboration, facilitating better habits. 

Once your team has developed the desired behavioral change, they’ll arrive punctually to meetings without reminders and cues. However, you can automate cues such as calendar notifications to nurture sustainable habits and keep up the desired behavior.

Classical conditioning versus operant conditioning

Classical conditioning is focused on involuntary behaviors, using invisible stimuli to create positive or negative involuntary responses. Operant conditioning is a learning method that uses reward and punishment to improve or deter certain behaviors. 

Using classical and operant conditioning together can strengthen any personal or group development strategy. Let’s return to the example of encouraging punctuality with your team. Here are operant conditioning techniques you could use: 

• Establish a team effort: When you present a new expectation to the team, keeping your message positive and team-oriented may stimulate an extrinsic motivation to be a good team player. 

  Making punctuality a team objective rather than singling out individuals for tardiness could make your communication more impactful by prompting everyone to feel a shared sense of responsibility. 

• Use fear as a motivator: While a fear response motivates behavioral changes, using discipline rather than reward may not garner the intended response. Associating the objective with curbing bad behavior rather than building good habits might encourage people to change only when they’re punished, causing them to be tardy for other commitments.

  While you might mention that excessive tardiness could lead to disciplinary actions, keeping the tone positive will encourage people to take control of their desire to build healthy habits. 

• Try fear conditioning: Rather than using public negative reinforcement to address team members who are excessively or frequently tardy, pull them aside in 1:1 discussions to reiterate the importance of punctuality and address underlying issues affecting their attendance.

  Empathetic leadership may have the added benefit of employees associating positive emotions with other areas of self-improvement. 

• Show gratitude: When meetings conclude, show gratitude to team members who consistently arrive on time. Recognize their punctuality with positive reinforcement techniques, like expressing appreciation in front of the entire team, sending a personal note, or mentioning the positive behavior during performance reviews.

  Publicly acknowledging everyone’s efforts strengthens positive associations, encouraging team members to continue to strive to be more punctual. 

Classical conditioning examples at work and in life

Although Pavlov’s original experiments focused on automatic physical responses in animals, classical conditioning informs many of your professional habits and behaviors. Understanding how and why you respond to specific stimuli is the first step to changing and strengthening your behavior. 

Here are five everyday examples of classical conditioning:

Example 1: building positive associations with good work

Whenever team members turn in exceptional work, you send them a “kudos” recognizing a job well done. Studies show that employees, particularly millennials and Gen Z, feel more engaged when they feel appreciated. Seeing the word “kudos” may trigger positive feelings, motivating them to continue to deliver their best work. 

Example 2: Receiving too many notifications

Hearing a ping from your messenger app, feeling a vibration from your phone, or seeing a push notification on your computer lets you know there’s a message or update to pay attention to.

Although prompt communication helps move teamwork along, it can also break your concentration and interrupt your workflow. Focus apps and “do not disturb” mode can encourage you to set aside time and push through important tasks in your workday. 

Example 3: craving nutritional snacks during an afternoon slump

You’ve probably experienced the post-lunch afternoon slump. Pay attention to your response. Water and healthy snacks likely reinvigorate you, while unhealthy food and drink could make you crash and burn.

Repeatedly practicing good nutrition habits to regain energy can stimulate a conditioned response to hydrate and grab a healthy snack when you start to feel tired. 

Example 4: Developing healthy sleep patterns

Your bedtime routine directly impacts the quality of your work, but it may be hard to unplug from your cell phone or go to sleep early. To counter this, consider setting up an automatic sleep mode on your phone.

Seeing your phone switch to sleep mode will eventually signal you to start winding down, whether that means crawling into bed to read or kicking off your nighttime skincare routine. Waking up refreshed and ready to start your day will help cement the conditioning. 

Example 5: Fearing difficult conversations

If a higher-up or difficult coworker has unhealthy communication habits, such as excessive negativity or unconstructive criticism, you may feel nervous or anxious when you hear, “We need to talk.”

Their physical presence during 1:1 meetings, brainstorming sessions, or team presentations may condition you to inhibit your behavior. This kind of conditioned response can negatively impact your mental health or exacerbate anxiety — and is likely a sign to seek support and leave a toxic work environment. 

Classic conditioning for success

It’s always a good idea to improve your professional capabilities, whether that entails building stronger team habits or working to be a better leader. Learning the principles of classical conditioning and how to combine them with extrinsic motivations is an excellent strategy for improving self-awareness — the cornerstone of self-improvement. 

And as a leader, you can — and should — distill those positive habits in your staff. Understanding what empowers or discourages certain behaviors benefits your work environment, encouraging productivity and efficiency in your team.