Operant Vs Classical Conditioning

Learning is a process, it starts from the moment we are born. As infants, we learn by seeing and touching, since we are not yet able to talk. As we grow, learning becomes a continuous process. According to Meyers (2014) , “one way we learn is by association, our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence” (pg.#). By linking two events that occur close together, we are exhibiting associative learning. This process of learning associations is conditioning, and it has two forms. This paper will briefly discuss more of how we learn and become conditioned in our thinking and responses.

As previously stated, conditioning is the process we learn by association. There are two forms of conditioning; classical and operant. In classical

His objective was to demonstrate how we learn by associating stimuli to a certain response. For example, I typically take my lunch break around 12:30 pm. When I look at the clock and see that it is going on 12:00, my mind naturally starts thinking about food and anticipating eating. I associated this specific time of day with eating. These types of processes in classical conditioning are called stimuli. A stimulus is any event or situation that evokes a response.

The types of responses that Pavlov’s named in his experiments, unconditioned stimulus, in my case eating lunch is something expected, therefore this would be an unconditioned response. Neutral stimuli would refer to me seeing one of my co-workers passing me in the hallway with there lunch. A Conditioned response, would be me looking at the clock knowing that my lunch time is almost near and the conditioned stimulus is smelling food coming from the breakroom.

Most of us are probably familiar with, but unaware of the impact they have on our daily lives. Some can have a positive effect, while others a negative effect. Both classical and operant conditionings are forms of associative learning. In both, we acquire behaviors that may later go away, and then spontaneously reappear. We have also seen that classical and operant conditioning are different. Through classical conditioning, we associate different events that we do not control, and we respond automatically. Through operant conditioning, we link our own behaviors that act on our environment to produce rewarding or punishing circumstances with its consequences. (Myers and DeWall,