Essays on Classical Conditioning

Differences between Classical and Operant Conditioning

In Behavioral Psychology, the term ‘conditioning’ is used to refer to a theory that learning can allow a human being or animal to modify the response (reaction) to a stimulus (event/object) (Hill, 2001). There are two types of conditioning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning with distinct characteristics. When the two types are contrasted, it is easily noticeable that both approaches involve diverse learning patterns. As far as classical conditioning is concerned, it involves “learning by association, and refers to the conditioning of reflexes – how animals learn to associate new stimuli with innate bodily reflexes” (Hill, 2001). According to operant ...

Learning allows our brains to record and preserve beneficial behaviors and know how to avoid harmful ones. The consequences of the experiences we have or observe are stored in our memory as knowledge to influence our future behavior. The paper explores behavior change through a focus on the learning theories; classical and operant conditioning.

Operant Conditioning

It is a form of learning in which the response to a voluntary behavior influences whether or not the behavior will recur; this occurs through the use of reinforcements and punishment. Following the experiments of B. F. Skinner, we can conclude that a person or ...

Conditioning

1. Classical conditioning is a learning technique that occurs when a potent stimulus like food is paired with a neutral stimulus to elicit a response like salivating. (McLeod, 2014) When I was in high school, my mother used to cook meat every Friday and it was always ready by the time I got home. Immediately I reach the door of the main house, I could start salivating due to the smell of the meat. The practice continued and whenever I reach the door of the house every Friday, I could start salivating due to the smell of the meat. ...

How did the fear develop?

Suppose that a young girl is terrified of bugs, fear may have developed through classical conditioning by developing a kind of nervous disorder. This may have started through an early experience that transpired when she was younger. One day, she was out riding on a bike and when she started to get tired, she bowed her head down and that was when she saw a bug right at the center of the road. As the young girl looked at the bug, she failed to see a motorcycle that was coming right at her and so she lost her balance ...

Understanding one’s behavior is essential to the maintenance of proper communication channels. In fact, lack thereof compromises the possibilities of understanding the actions of individuals lacking the capacity to express themselves vocally. In many cases, verbal communication does not fulfill all the interaction requirements, therefore, creating the need to appreciate the essential concepts of behavioral psychology. Specifically, the operant and classical conditioning are essential concepts that seek to explain the nature of the behavior of people and animals. A Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, first proposed classical conditioning and it emphasizes the placement of a neutral action before a ...

My informal learning experience is connected with the death of close relatives form cancer. Given the rise of cancer and the deteriorating environment, the use of carcinogens in the food industry, fear of cancer cannot be considered unreasonable. In my case it went beyond common sense and became a phobia. My cancerophobia is very closely linked with the fear of death. Everyone knows that according to the statistics, cancer takes the third place among the causes of death (after injuries and cardiovascular diseases). So my informal learning experience is a manifestation of psychogenic reaction to the death of loved ...

Q1 People, especially children, internalize what they see in the environment and imitate it. In this regard, a child will behave the way adults do in the environment. Moreover, one can learn by the process of association (classical conditioning) or adopts behaviors depending on reinforcement. Q2 The emotional learning system focuses on one’s understanding of the immediate experiences. In this regard, one chooses how to behave based on critical and constructive thinking. Events that may lead to emotional responses may include reaction to stressful environments or happiness. Q3 Emotion determines one’s way of reacting to events. It ...

Human relations and behavior play fundamental roles in a human service setting. They act as determinants for the business failure or success based on the employees’ readiness to pursue human service objectives. Also, the concepts control the culture of the firm that can either create a conducive or an uncomfortable business surrounding that will be replicated into the company’s productivity. Some behavioral approaches include the cognitive social model that proposes reinforcements by learning from observing others, the concept of reasoned action that engages behaviors at a particular place and time, and the social action theory that focuses on ...

Ivan Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia, in the year of 1849, in the family of the Orthodox priest. In 1875, he graduated from the University in St. Petersburg with the Life Sciences degree. After graduation, Pavlov studied medicine and was admitted to the Institute which specialized in Veterinary. He was in Germany and Belarus. There he was making experiments in the laboratories, researching digestion. But after coming back to Russia he began to study glandular secretions. His experiment animal was the dog. Pavlov applies surgical techniques to those dogs that is why it was difficult to make the ...

Introduction

The true nature of classical conditioning lies in the responding with some action for some stimulus caused by artificial cause. The earliest researches of classical conditioning were conducted by Russian scientists Pavlov, who proved that if we ring the bell every time before we feed the dog, it associate the bell with the process of feeding, so in some period of such a repeated action the dog starts drooling as the same stimulus make him think that he is going to be fed now (Schmajuk, 2008). So in simple words, the classical conditioning is about attaching one stimulus from ...

Posttraumatic stress disorder

Introduction The aim of this paper is to provide a thorough review of a scholarly article. Thus, this assessment of the article will illustrate how fear conditioning is at the core of the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an anxiety-related, mental disorder that can result from experiencing a life-threatening stressor (e.g., a car accident, natural disaster, war and combat, and all forms of abuse (Meyers et al., 2013).The source chosen are used to support how the formation of PTSD symptoms such as fear, anger, and anxiety are a product of classical conditioning (fear conditioning)(Duits ...