Psychology: classical conditioning

Self-tutoring about psychology: the tutor mentions classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning means one stimulus causes the same response as another, due to experience. In the Pavlov example, the sound of a bell caused the dog to salivate in the same way putting food in front of it did, because several times Pavlov had rung the bell simultaneously as he had served the food.

With classical conditioning, the response is typically not behavioral, but involuntary. Hence, classical conditioning is the reason anxiety can manifest in people from seemingly harmless causes. In particular, if a harmless stimulus routinely happens at the onset of stressful one, then the harmless stimulus, by itself, may come to cause the person to become anxious. Such would be classical conditioning.

Source:

Weiten, W. (1992). Psychology: Themes and Variations (2nd edition). Wadsworth Inc.