Classical Vs Operant Conditioning

Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.
~Mason Cooley

Learning is one of the most fundamental, influential, and reoccurring processes that humans use to make sense of their daily lives. Whether this learning comes in the form of reactions or reflexes to certain outside influences or cues, or it is a voluntary action that has developed because of some form of reinforcement, we engage daily with the principles of both classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning was incidentily discovered and studied by Russian Psychologist Ivan Pavlov with help from his dogs in the early nineteenth century and spurred psychologists around the world to study the processes of learning.

Classical conditioning focuses on the association of an involuntary behavior with a neutral stimulus, operant conditioning studies the correlation between voluntary behaviors and an associated reward or consequence. Our introduction to psychology book states, " In classical conditioning, the organism's responses depend primarily on the automatic nervous system. In operant conditioning, the organism's responses depend primarily on the skeletal muscles."( Pearson, 2013, 216)This means that classical conditioning tries to draw out or associate an involuntary behavior with a previously innocuous and neutral item or sound. By relying on the stimulus that elicits a natural and uncontrolled response and presenting it shortly after the neutral stimulus psychologists are able to create a conditioned response. This differs from classical conditioning in that operant conditioning is searching for a certain behavior and will reward or punish the subject until the behavior is achieved, classical conditioning is not concerned with the reward or unconditioned stimulus, as long as the behavior is exhibited. As Kendra Cherry states, " One of the simplest ways to remember the difference between classical and operant conditioning is to focus on whether the action is voluntary or involuntary."(Cherry,

There needs to be something to occupy the original stimulus that will eventually decrease the urge to bite their fingernails. By giving them sunflower seeds, and constantly reminding them to use the seeds instead of their fingernails you may be able to help them break this habit. This positive punishment approach may also be helpful in working with a client that wants to exercise more regularly and lose weight. By giving them a strict nutrition plan, an easy to follow work-out guide, and an attainable goal, you should be able to add enough to put a stop to the behavior that brought them to you. By adding these positive and influential things to their lives, you are able to get them to stop being lazy, enjoy more energy, control their diet, and reduce their health risks immensely. These examples stand to prove that operant conditioning and that learning can be found in all of our lives on a daily