Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Neobehaviorism in Learning

Introduction to Learning Psychology

The psychology of how we learn involves many different aspects such as thoughts, feelings, environment, associations, reinforcements, punishments, stimuli, and responses. It encompasses how people and animals behave when presented with these elements. Psychologists have tested and debated many theories stating that behavior is predictable. Determinism claims that our behavior is determined by heredity and our past experiences. Free will is determining your own fate and choosing your own destiny. When it comes to learning, both play a significant role. Several theorists and researchers have studied the methods in which we learn. Three major principles that have explained learning are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and neobehaviorism.

Classical Conditioning: Principles and Applications

Classical conditioning is one of the most influential principles of psychology. This principle stems from behaviorism and involves associations between environmental stimuli and naturally occurring stimuli. In classical conditioning, it is thought that a person's environment shapes their behavior and that thoughts, emotions, and feelings do not contribute to behavior or the predictability of behavior. Some of the basic concepts of classical conditioning involve unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response.

The unconditioned stimulus "is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response" (Cherry). The unconditioned response is "the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus" (Cherry). The conditioned stimulus is "previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response" (Cherry). The conditioned response is "the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus" (Cherry). Classical conditioning is used for many different reasons: by teachers in schools to control phobias and anxiety problems, and to create fear responses.

Ivan Pavlov was one of the most influential contributors to classical conditioning through his experiment with dogs. He found that dogs began to salivate at the sight of or sound of footsteps from the experimenters. His experiment involved pairing a tone with the presentation of food to create an association, which in turn created a conditioned response. Every time the dog heard the tone, it would salivate. "The entire procedure, in which the pairing of a CS with a US results in increased responding to the CS, has come to be known as Pavlovian or classical conditioning" (Lieberman, 2012).

John Watson, the founder of behaviorism, was another major contributor to classical conditioning. "Watson believed that psychologists should be concerned with overt behavior rather than the hidden processes of the mind, and he argued for a greater concern with practical applications" (Lieberman, 2012). His famous experiment involved conditioning fear in a boy named "Little Albert" by pairing certain objects with a frightening noise.

Classical conditioning illustrates how humans and animals can be conditioned to learn something by forming associations. When the brain makes an association between one thing and another, a stronger memory forms. For example, when a child touches a hot iron and feels pain, that pain causes the child to fear the iron and not touch it again.

Classical conditioning can work to permanently change behavior by forming associations in the brain between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. Research supports that behaviors such as fear, pain, hunger, drug cravings, and sexual arousal have been changed due to conditioning. For example, if you become sick after eating a particular food item, from that point forward, you might be conditioned to think of the nausea and vomiting that food caused and avoid eating it again.

One practical example of classical conditioning occurs when you take your child to the doctor for shots. Right before the nurse gives the injection, they say "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit." However, shots do hurt. By the nurse telling the child that it would not hurt, but it did, the child eventually assumes that every time someone says "it won't hurt," it actually will hurt.

Operant Conditioning: Learning Through Consequences

Operant conditioning is another important principle of psychology. Operant conditioning involves a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. An association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. It is when "an important event follows a response rather than a stimulus; the result is often a change in the response's probability" (Lieberman, 2012). For example, if you give your child a treat for every good grade they receive, they will probably spend more time studying and doing homework.

Edward Thorndike was one of the first psychologists to contribute to operant conditioning. He formulated the law of effect theory, which stated that "actions that are closely followed by satisfaction are more likely to recur, whereas actions followed by discomfort are less likely to reoccur in that situation" (Shteingart, Neiman, & Loewenstein). He also developed a puzzle box to test animal intelligence. His box was a small wooden box with a door and a visible dish of food on the outside.

B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential contributors to operant conditioning with his "Skinner box" experiment. This box, much like Thorndike's puzzle box, had a major impact on how we obtained information about reinforcements and how it affects learning. Skinner is also credited with the development of reinforcement schedules.

The basic principle behind operant conditioning is the use of positive and negative reinforcement if you want the behavior to increase, and positive and negative punishment if trying to discourage the behavior. Reinforcement schedules are used to support or discourage a particular behavior. Continuous reinforcement is when the reinforcement happens constantly and predictably. Partial reinforcement schedules such as ratio and interval schedules depend upon the number of responses necessary to achieve the reinforcement and the time in between reinforcement.

Operant conditioning affects learning by teaching a person or animal that there is a reward or punishment that occurs when a specific behavior is exhibited. For example, operant conditioning is often used when training pets. A simple reward such as a verbal cue indicating approval or a treat may be used as reinforcement. Scolding the animal or use of corporal punishment, such as a spanking, can be used as punishment. However, according to some researchers, operant conditioning does not always have a predictable outcome. "The science behind operant conditioning, while detailed, sound, and very useful, is not a complete model, missing biological and psychological principles beyond the behavioral principles developed that may help further our understanding of the origins of behavior. For example, in dogs, it may fail to fully explain why one dog may relate more to one trainer than another, despite both trainers using the same operant techniques" (Starling, Branson, Cody, & McGreevey).

Operant conditioning is often used by teachers at schools and by parents trying to teach their children good behavior. It seems to be successful with children because they can comprehend behavior and the consequences of punishment for bad behavior. When a child keeps all of their video games neatly stacked and takes care of them, they may get rewarded by getting to pick out a new video game. The new video game is the reinforcement. On the other hand, if they do not take care of their games and leave them spread around on the floor, they might get their video game playing privileges taken away. Taking away privileges is the punishment.

Neobehaviorism: Integrating Mind and Behavior

Neobehaviorism is another important principle of psychology. Neobehaviorism is a broader, more flexible form of behaviorism. It incorporates experimental research along with scientific analysis to study behavior and things that cannot be directly measured, such as dreams, stress, love, and personality. Psychologists eventually came to the conclusion that "learning could not be described solely in terms of visible behavior" (Lieberman, 2012), and the principle of neobehaviorism was introduced. Neobehaviorism "differs from behaviorism in allowing the postulation of unobservable events at a theoretical level, provided that the theory leads to testable predictions about overt behavior" (Lieberman, 2012).

Clark Hull was considered one of the more well-known and followed neobehaviorists. He was credited with developing the law of stimulus generalization theory. According to Hull's law, "a response could be called forth by an unconventional stimulus as long as that stimulus was associated, either temporally or in character, with the stimulus that usually called forth the response. As long as the unconventional stimulus was similar enough to the usual one, it could elicit the response."

Edward Tolman was another major contributor to neobehaviorism. He argued that "with experience, an organism builds up expectancies about the environment, and those expectancies are one of the determinants to responding. In essence, organisms learn what leads to what." Unlike Hull, Tolman did not think that reinforcement was an important factor in learning.

Neobehaviorism stresses the interaction of the individual and environment. It examines how the person, the behavior, and the environment correlate and affect each other. It is "based primarily on logical positivism which supported the development of comprehensive theories and frameworks which could be applied to behaviors observed." Animals were typically used as test subjects. Neobehaviorists believed that animals had the same capacity to learn as human test subjects.

Neobehaviorism makes use of prior experience in explaining how people learn by factoring in the behavior exhibited and the environment in which it is observed. It takes into consideration what the person is thinking and feeling. It involves emotions and things that are not necessarily visible and recordable. It is more of a mind-and-body approach. It takes into account not only observable behaviors, but also behaviors that cannot be observed. An example would be if a boy was having trouble sleeping because the demands of schoolwork were causing him anxiety and leading to nightmares. Getting the boy a tutor and rewarding him with a treat while doing the work could ease the anxious feelings.

Conclusion: The Complexity of Learning

How people and animals learn is complex and multi-faceted. Different situations, mindsets, stimuli, rewards, and punishments may have a factor in determining behavior and learning. Sometimes what an object is associated with could cause us to learn to fear or dislike it. How we respond to a particular stimulus has a lot to do with how we learn. In other words, how we change our behavior because of our experiences is what it means to learn.