Among the schools of thought typical of psychology, behaviorism has learning as the preponderant field of its own research and as the foundation of its own theorizations. Classical conditioning and operational conditioning represent the two main forms of associative learning. The first is a form of associative implicit learning and consists of the association of two stimuli, an unconditional stimulus and a conditioning. In the second, the operant, first discovered by the psychologist E. Thorndike at the beginning of the 20th century and deepened by the behaviorist B. F. Skinner, the individual learns to associate a response to a highly significant stimulus.
In this Psychology-Online article we will then see what are the differences between classical and operant conditioning with examples from both sides.
In the early years of the 20th century, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scholar, was researching the salivation of animals, wanting to discover its function and composition. During the experiments he was conducting, he noticed that the dogs, his experimental subjects, began to salivate when they heard him arrive, even before they saw the food. This phenomenon intrigued him: how could he know that, after Pavlov's footsteps, a meal would arrive, what would justify salivation? Driven by this unknown, he began to investigate in this regard and discovered
Principles of classical conditioning
So Pavlov, observing the behavior of dogs in his studies of physiology, came to theorize the principles of classical conditioning:
- An unconditional stimulus elicits an unconditional response.
- If a conditioned stimulus is added to the unconditional stimulus, after a few stimulations, there will be a response to the mere presentation of the conditioned stimulus. This response is the conditioned response.
This mechanism explains the acquisition of primary behaviors like fear of pain, hunger, etc. Its use allows the induction of alarm reactions (cardiac acceleration, activation of the nervous system, etc.) but it is inadequate for constructing articulate behaviors, such as eliminating danger and preventing risk. Discover the classical conditioning process.
Examples of classical conditioning
Here are some other examples of classical conditioning in everyday life:
- The sight or smell of a particular food makes you feel nauseous.
- The sight or smell of food that reminds you of your childhood makes you feel hungry and aroused.
- You dream like the phone or an alarm clock rings makes you alert or anxious.
- A familiar smell makes you happy because you remember someone you like.
- Being in your room with soft lights will makes you drowsy.
- Waking up in the middle of the night makes you think you have to use the bathroom to urinate.
- Listening to some songs that remind you of old friends / experiences you makes you feel emotional.
- The thought or sight of alcohol, cigarettes, or other medicine they give you a craving if you have developed an addiction. Drug users can also have cravings when they are in a drug-related environment or around people who associate previous highs.
Thanks to classical conditioning, the subject can propose a reflective response as a consequence of a stimulus, initially neutral and then conditioned, of our choice. However, the limit of this procedure refers to the fact that the answer itself is not new, but was already present before conditionality in response to a stimulus unconditional. How can you learn a new behavior through conditioning?
Principles of operant conditioning
In the famous Skinner box experiment, devised by the scholarly namesake, the mouse inside the cage was free to move at random. At one point, the rat activated a lever designed to drop food at full pressure. Before long the animal began to repeat the behavior over and over again: it had learned that it was the means to gain an advantage called reinforcement. Learning of this kind is due to a conditioning that Skinner calls operative, that is, influenced by consequences. In this article, we tell you what is operant conditioning.
Examples of operant conditioning
Conditioning is something that can continue throughout a person's life, because learning behavior does not end at a certain age. Here are some examples of observable operant behavior in children and adults:
- A boy learns to clean her room after being awarded TV time every time she cleans herself. It's a positive reinforcement.
- After hitting a classmate, the child sits separately and is not allowed to speak to anyone. In this way, he will not hit another partner again. It's a positive punishment.
- A person who decides to take a different path during the morning walk to avoid a spillway and then increases running speed and distance traveled. It's a negative reinforcement.
- A person stops teasing her girlfriend about an issue after she asks him to shut up. It's a negative punishment.
In this article, you will find more information about types of reinforcement: concept and rates of reinforcement.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
