In chapter 6, Pavlov describes how we can become conditioned to respond to a neutral stimulus that would have otherwise gone unnoticed until it is linked with another unconditioned stimulus. Which got me to thinking, have I ever been classically conditioned?
Before owning an iPhone I was unaware of the text message notifications that rang whenever some one received a text. It would go unnoticed and I would hardly react beyond being slightly disturbed by the noise. But after recently receiving an iPhone, I have been conditioned to the sound, so now when I hear the distinct ring of an iPhone text message I automatically assume it was me who received a text, along with every other iPhone user in the room. The ring started out as a neutral stimulus, then became paired with getting text messages (unconditioned stimulus), resulting in the unconditioned response to check my phone. Now when I hear the ring it has became a conditioned stimulus, that elicits a conditioned response that had previously not existed. So the next time any of you iPhone user hear the notification in a room full people and without a second thought check your phone. Pause and consider that maybe you have been classically conditioned and are no better than Pavlov's dog.
I never thought of classical conditioning in that sense, but you are right. We have become conditioned to know exactly what rings mean when it comes to our phones.
Isn't hunger the same concept though? If you eat lunch or dinner at a certain time everyday, won't you mainly get hungry when those times approach? Maybe that's a different concept, but it makes sense in the psychology standpoint.