Final answer:
An example of classical conditioning therapy is systematic desensitization, a method used to cure phobias through gradual exposure and relaxation techniques. Pavlov's experiment with dogs salivating to the ringing of a bell exemplifies classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a response due to repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus.
Step-by-step explanation:
An example of classical conditioning therapy is systematic desensitization. This therapy is commonly used to treat phobias. It involves the gradual exposure of a patient to their feared object or situation while employing relaxation techniques to reduce the fear response. Over time, the patient learns to associate the feared stimulus with a state of relaxation instead of anxiety, effectively weakening the previously conditioned response.
The most commonly cited example of classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov's experiments with dogs. In this case, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was the food, and the unconditioned response (UCR) was the dogs salivating upon seeing or smelling the food. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was the sound of a ringing bell, which, through repeated pairings with the food, led to the conditioned response (CR) of salivation in the absence of food. This illustrates how a neutral stimulus can come to evoke a response that was originally provoked by another stimulus.
In real-world applications, classical conditioning can be seen in various scenarios, such as patients developing nausea simply by entering a doctor's office because they associate it with past experiences of chemotherapy. In this example, the chemotherapy represents the UCS, the vomiting is the UCR, the doctor's office becomes the CS, and the nausea is the CR.