Monday, October 19, 2009

Understanding Classical Conditioning - A Clockwork Orange




The doctors from the movie, "A Clockwork Orange" use the technique of Classical Conditioning to "cure" Alex of his violent tendancies. Alex is transferred from jail to the Ludovico Medical Facility where he is experimented on. After every meal Alex is given an injection of a mysterious medicine, then during the day he is taken to a theater where he is straped to a chair that secures his entire body including his eyelids which are held open with clamps. While in the theater he is shown very violent movies with rape and murder and the only sound playing is classical music which is his favorite. As Alex continues to watch the violent films he begins to feel very sick because of the medicine that is kicking in. This routine is continued everyday and as time goes on Alex begins to associate the violence that he is witnessing with sickness. When the conditioning is over the doctors test Alex by setting up a demonstration. They bring out a a series of people one being a man who abuses Alex and tries to fight him but Alex is unable to even think about fighting back without becoming sick.


The UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS in this experiment is the SHOT OF MEDICINE. The CONDITIONED STIMULUS is the VIOLENCE and the UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE is the NAUSEA.


This is a short video clip from the movie to show the process of classical conditioning that Alex was put through.



Although it seems like the treatment has worked and Alex is unable to commit violence, he is not actually good. He behaves like a good member of society but it is not by moral choice, his goodness is involuntary. Alex's conditioning from the Ludovico technique dehumanises him because he is not able to make choices for himself and this is why the conditioning ultimately fails in the end.

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