Lesson 1: The Principles of Learning

9 - Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

In 1901, Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov conducted a very interesting experiment with dogs. He had noticed that just when he was about to feed his dogs, they would drool saliva. This response was quite natural because they needed these juices to soften their food and begin digestion. But then Pavlov began the practice of ringing a bell at the same time or just before he gave them food. After a good many feedings following the bell-ringing routine, he decided to just ring the bell without immediately giving them their food. He noticed that the dogs salivated as they had done before. In other words, formerly they had made the response of salivation to the appearance of food, but they now salivated when the stimulus was merely the sound of the bell.

Conditioning refers to the learning of a particular response when a stimulus is presented. For example, when the telephone rings (stimulus), you pick it up (response). You are conditioned to answer the phone when it rings. Classical conditioning refers to a learning situation in which a certain stimulus (situation or event) produces a response it did not previously produce. The dogs in Pavlov’s experiment were subjected to classical conditioning.

In Pavlov’s experiment, the meat is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because meat is the normal, natural product that will cause saliva to flow in dogs. The flow of saliva is known as the unconditioned response (UCR) because that response occurs naturally with no learning necessary.

Classical Conditioning - The Basics

In some cases counter-conditioning may be necessary when we want an individual to learn a new behaviour. Counter-conditioning means replacing one conditioned response to a particular stimulus with a different response. It is often used to get rid of undesirable behaviour. Counter-conditioning breaks the original connection and links another response to the stimulus. For example, many people believe that smoking cigarettes is enjoyable, sophisticated, and cool. Counterconditioning could be attempted by having someone who is having severe respiratory ailments speak about the suffering cigarette smoking has brought them.

Extinction refers to the elimination of a conditioned response because the conditioned stimulus has been presented many times without the usual reinforcement. For example, an electric can opener is turned on fifty times and your pet dog never receives food after hearing that sound. The dog will eventually learn that the can opener sound is no longer linked to food. Extinction has occurred for that habit.

To eliminate well learned behaviours so difficult. Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a conditioned response after a rest period following extinction. During the period of extinction, no reinforcement has been given at all. Those conditions make a spontaneous recovery of the response amazing.

• your dog has heard the can opener fifty times without food, and he no longer reacts to the can opener as if he expects food. One day the can opener is used, and he suddenly whines for food although the can opener has been used many times without providing food for him. His whining indicates spontaneous recovery because the link in his mind between food and the electric can opener has been revived.
• a young woman witnessed a bad traffic accident. She was so upset by what she saw that, when the police officer asked her address, she automatically started giving the address from a previous residence where she had lived eight years ago.

Generalization occurs when similar experiences are presented to the individual. A conditioned response to certain stimuli is established. Other stimuli that are similar will also bring about that response. That is generalization.

• If the dog has been conditioned to whine when he hears the electric can opener he might also whine when he hears the blender or electric mixer if he perceives these sounds are similar to that of the can opener.
• A young child is shown how to pet a cat. When the child sees other animals like dogs, bunnies, and hamsters, she generalizes that she should pet these animals in the same way.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is the strengthening of a certain response by immediately presenting reinforcement if the response occurs. The word operant is used because the person’s response in some way operates on the environment.

The Difference Between Classical and Operant Conditioning