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The Use of Classical Conditioning

One could approach propaganda with the psychological perspective of classical conditioning to examine its nature. Propaganda is information used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Generally, propaganda is biased and misleading. More information can be found here:

https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-2-what-is-propaganda-(1944)/defining-propaganda-ii

For instance, in the image below, lady liberty is realizing the power behind classical conditioning, information discovered and accredited to Ivan Palov. The canine’s anticipatory salivation resulted from the anticipation to the continual presentation of dog food. Dog food previous to this salvation was presented in repetitions. A bell was rung in conjunction to the presentation of food (the bell is considered a neutral stimulus). Now the canine will salivate when the bell is rung, without any presentation of food. A general historical background can be found on the website Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html

This site condenses information taken from research articles by:

Pavlov, I. P. (1897/1902). The work of the digestive glands. London: Griffin.

Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158–177.

Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3(1), pp. 1–14.

Watson, J. B. (1924). Behaviorism. New York: People’s Institute Publishing Company.

Homer Simpson is seen salivating instead of a canine. He represents the general population.