Conditioning Classical and Operant Conditioning Are Types

Conditioning

Classical and operant conditioning are types of behavioral learning. Subsets of behavioral psychology, classical and operant conditioning show how a subject (animal or human) can exhibit relatively permanent changes in behavior due to certain types of experiences. According to Cryver (2000), learning is a "fundamental process" in all animals.

Classical conditioning is also known as "learning by association." Association in this sense refers to the association of a behavior with a stimulus: otherwise known as the stimulus-response effect. Pavlovian learning is the core of classical conditioning, or learning by association. The stimulus can be, for example, a dog treat. The response is salivation. The dog treat is an unconditioned stimulus. In other words, the dog needs no conditioning to start salivating at the smell of meat. Its biology, genetics, and physiology makes it so that the smell of meat automatically and innately evokes the unconditioned response (reflex) of salivation.

If a bell is rung at the same time that the treat is delivered, the bell is called a neutral stimulus. The bell ringing is a neutral event, something that the dog does not necessarily associate with food, water, affection, or anything else. However, if the bell is rung in accordance with the delivery of the treat, then the dog starts to associate the sound of the bell with the presence of a meat treat. As Boerce (2009) puts it, "at first the bell is a neutral stimulus, but after conditioning, it becomes a conditioned stimulus and salivation becomes a conditioned response." Conditioning to associate a bell sound with salivation creates a type of learning called learning by association: classical conditioning that was highlighted by Pavlov in his experiments. The subject associates two otherwise unrelated events, because they happen at the same time.

Learning by association is the root of the types of learning that lead to the irrational association of certain stimuli with emotions like fear. As Beorce (2009) notes, learning by association can explain aversions to certain foods as well. Using classical conditioning, a person can learn to associate a neutral stimulus with a response in the central nervous system: such as the startle reflex (Boerce, 2009). The subject generalizes the stimulus, too. For example, researcher John Watson built upon the experiments performed by Ivan Pavlov. In 1920, Watson observed a child who was conditioned to fear a cute white rabbit because the sight of the rabbit corresponded with the presence of a loud, undesirable noise. After the conditioning became a learned response, the child started to generalize the stimulus from white rabbits to all fuzzy things: even cotton (Boerce, 2009). The subject has ceased to discriminate or differentiate between stimuli, instead associating all white fuzzy things with loud noises.

A process of de-conditioning shows how learning can un-do the associations created between rationally disparate events. However, the same techniques of classical conditioning are used to create another type of learning by association. Instead of pairing the neutral stimulus with a loud noise, the neutral stimulus can be paired with something pleasant such as cookies. Thus, the subject learns to associate fuzzy soft things with cookies instead of loud noises. In cases in which learning by association only has a temporary effect, the response becomes extinguished over time (Boerce, 2009). It is as if the subject starts to replace the basic brain stem, autonomic nervous system response with reason. Even among animals that do not seem to rely on reason for learning, extinction removes the learning by association: "If a dog learns to associate the sound of a bell with food and then the bell is rung repeatedly, but no food is presented, the dog will soon stop salivating a the sound of the bell," (Cryver, 2000).

Operant conditioning is similar from classical conditioning in that it is a type of learning by association. Studied in depth by B.K. Skinner, operant conditioning involves rewards or punishments that are associated with types of behaviors. When Skinner designed his experiments, he showed how rats would come to associate the pressing of a bar in their cage with receiving food rewards. The food reward reinforced the behavior of pressing on the bar. If the food reward was stopped, then the behavior would be extinguished. Especially when the reward was given on a specific time schedule, learning by association would take place.

Skinner's research also showed how children learn using operant conditioning, because they come to associate a reward such as praise, with a behavior, such as finishing their homework. Likewise, a child can come to associate a punishment, such as being grounded, with a behavior, such as staying out past curfew.