In Clockwork Orange classical conditioning is used to cure a young criminal, Alex, of his evil ways. Convicted of raping and murdering a woman, Alex is sentenced to fourteen years in jail. Desperate to get out of his long term imprisonment, Alex is selected to be part of an experiment. This experiment features the process of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning includes an unconditioned stimulus that produces a response without prior learning. In this circumstance, the unconditioned stimulus is a shot administered after each of Alex's meals. This shot is then followed by sessions of viewing violent scenes. As the films progress, Alex feels increasingly nauseous due to the serum from the shot. Therefore, the unconditioned response is Alex's nausea from the injection. The films Alex views make up the conditioned stimulus of the classical conditioning experiment. Prior to the treatment, violent acts and rape had a neutral response in Alex, but when combined with the shot and nauseous feelings he experiences, Alex begins to associate the violence with his ill feelings. After two weeks of brutal testing, Alex acquires the conditioned response of connecting evil acts with sickness. When proclaimed "cured" and released into society once again, we observe that Alex has no inclination towards good, however is physically incapable of violence do to the extreme discomfort and illness it induces in him. By the end of the film, this classical conditioning in Alex becomes extinct due to lack of continued reinforcement, and Alex regresses to his evil way and kills yet again.
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