FREE ESSAY ON CLASSICAL CONDITIONING VS. OPERANT CONDITIONING

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING VS. OPERANT CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning vs. Operant conditioning 
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are different learning methods. What
exactly is conditioning? Conditioning is the acquisition of specific patterns of behavior
in the presence of well-defined stimuli. Both classical and operant conditioning are
basic forms of learning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an
organism learns to transfer a natural response from one stimulus to another, previously
neutral stimulus. Manipulating reflexes does this. Operant conditioning is a type of
learning in which the likelihood of a behavior is increased or decreased by the use of
reinforcement or punishment. Operant conditioning deals with more cognitive thought
process. These two forms of learning have similarities and differences. Their
similarities are that they both produce basic phenomena. One such phenomenon is
acquisition. Both types of conditioning result in the inheritance of a behavior. 
One of the most famous of experiments that illustrates classical conditioning is Pavlov's
Dogs. In this experiment, Pavlov sat behind a one-way mirror and controlled the
presentation of a bell. The bell was the conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus was
an originally neutral stimulus that could eventually produce a desired response when
presented alone. Directly after the ringing of the bell, Pavlov gave the dog food. The
food was the unconditioned stimulus. This means that the food caused an uncontrollable
response whenever it was presented alone. That response would be the salivation of the
dog. A tube that was in the dog's mouth then measured the saliva. When the unconditioned
stimulus (US) was paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS), it eventually resulted in a
conditioned response. Extinction results if there is a decrease in frequency or strength
of a learned response due to the failure to continue to pair the US and the CS.
Extinction can also occur in operant conditioning. The key to operant conditioning is
reinforcement. Reinforcement is when a stimulus is presented that increases the
probability that the preceding response will recur in the future. If reinforcement is
withheld, extinction will occur in operant conditioning. Another factor that is involved
in conditioning is spontaneous recovery. That is the reappearance of an extinguished
response after the passage of time, without further training. If Pavlov's dogs did not
hear the bell for a few years, and if when they heard it later they drooled, it would be
an example of spontaneous recovery. Something similar occurs with operant conditioning.
If an animal was conditioned to behave in a certain manor, but then their reinforcement
was stopped, that animal may still have a reaction to the stimulus at a much later date.

Organisms that are being conditioned through operant or classical conditioning can go
through something that is known as stimulus generalization. This is when there is a
transfer of a learned response to different but similar stimuli. An example would be if
one of Pavlov's dogs salivated to the sound of a bell that was different from the one
that they were originally conditioned with. Stimulus discrimination is another phenomena
that occurs with classical and operant conditioning. Discrimination is when an organism
learns to respond to only one stimulus and inhibit the response to all other stimuli. It
is the reverse of generalization. If an organism hears many different sounds, but is only
given reinforcement for responding to only one of the sounds, it learns to discriminate
between the sounds. Some of the differences between operant and classical conditioning
lie in the extent to which reinforcement depends on the behavior of the learner. In
classical conditioning, the learner is automatically reinforced. That is how it learns to
respond to a once neutral stimulus. In operant conditioning, the learner must provide a
correct response in order to received the reinforcement. Another difference between the
two forms of conditioning is the type of behavior to which each method applies. Classical
conditioning applies to a behavior that is always wanted. It was Pavlov's purpose to have
the dogs salivate on command. In operant conditioning, a behavior can be learned or
extinguished. If you wanted to train a dog not to do something, you would use a form of
punishment. 
Classical and operant conditioning are similar, but they do differ in a few ways. Both
are fairly reliable ways to teach an organism to act in a specific manor.