When I hear "Pavlov" I think of dogs...

Many years ago I was introduced to the idea of Classical Conditioning by the story of how Ivan Pavlov trained dogs to drool when they heard a bell ring.  It is basically the same story that I tell my classes today.  And then I saw this meme:

Just like Pavlov's dogs related a sound to food, this dog related that song to being in the tub.  This happened because every time she was about to put the dog in the tub she would sing this song until an association was formed.  If we are going to get technical we could write it out like this:

The Unconditioned Stimulus automatically causes the Unconditioned Response:  The wife picks up the dog (stimulus) and the dog is in the tub (response).

After an association is formed, the Conditioned Stimulus now causes the Conditioned Response:  after many repetitions of singing before placing the dog in the tub, the song (stimulus) is finally all it takes to get the dog in the tub (response).

So this made me realize that after all these years I have formed a strong association between the word Pavlov and dogs!  Every time I have heard the name Pavlov there has been mention of his drooling dogs.  And here in this meme...a dog! 

Can we have Classical Conditioning without dogs?  Of course.  In fact, in this meme I would say that the wife has formed a strong association!  The text explains that she used to sing the song for their dog, but now the wife sings the same song for their baby.  Apparently, this woman cannot bathe anyone without singing this song.

Of course the meme does leave us with some issues.  

First:  I'm into psych but for goodness sake, if you see Classical Conditioning in action keep one hand on your baby when you snap a picture for social media.  If the baby's bathtub had tipped off of the sink, she could have formed an association with bathing and FEAR, much like how Little Albert was Classically Conditioned (by John Watson and Rosalie Rayner) to fear a white rat.

Second:  What is the mysterious bath song that the wife sings?  An association from my childhood makes me wonder if it is this.  Of course, you may have a different association from your own bath time experiences.  Any suggestions? (Keep it clean, of course.)

Further Reading:

A NY Times article on a Pavlov biography.  Who knew?  Pavlov is best known as a Behaviorist but he was pretty interested in canine mental health!

An APA Monitor on Psychology piece about what happened to Little Albert after the experiment was over (hint:  they never UN-trained him of his fear.)  The actual journal article can be purchased or accessed for free through PsycArticles at your college library.