5.1.2 Classical & Operant Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning (CC) (learning via association) is one of the core assumptions of the behaviourist approach
• CC occurs when a neutral stimulus is substituted for the original unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response 
• An unconditioned stimulus is one which produces a natural, unforced response i.e. no animal or human has to learn how to feel hunger
• The mechanisms of CC were stumbled upon accidentally (known as a 'serendipitous' discovery) by Pavlov, a physiologist who was measuring the volume of specific enzymes in dog saliva
• Pavlov had been working with dogs in his lab: the dogs were attached to apparatus which held them in place and collected their saliva
• Pavlov noticed that the dogs began to salivate before they saw or smelt their food - in fact they began to salivate when they heard the footsteps of the lab assistants approaching (the dogs had learned that these footsteps = food!)
• Pavlov was astounded by this discovery: the dogs should only salivate when presented with the unconditioned stimulus - food - rather than a neutral stimulus (footsteps)
• In order to test what he had just stumbled upon he set up the following procedure:
  • The dog is given food as usual (unconditioned stimulus)
  • The dog salivates when it sees and smells the food (unconditioned response)
  • A bell is sounded (neutral stimulus) every time the dog is given food (unconditioned stimulus)
  • A bell is sounded every time the food is presented (the pairing of neutral and unconditioned stimuli)
  • After repeated pairings of the dog salivates when it hears the bell
  • The bell has become the conditioned stimulus
  • The dog salivating to the sound of the bell has become the conditioned response
  • The dog would continue to salivate to the bell however when Pavlov stopped pairing the bell and the food he found that the conditioned response decreased and gradually disappeared (known as 'extinction')

Pavlov's Dogs - now that rings a bell...

• Operant conditioning (OC) (learning via consequence) and is one of the core assumptions of the behaviourist approach
• OC assumes that some behaviours will be repeated based on their positive consequences e.g. 'That burger was yummy, I'll certainly be paying another visit to Junkfood Shack!' 
• OC assumes that some behaviours will not be repeated (and may be extinguished) based on their negative consequences e.g. 'That's the last time I'm getting my lunch from Kale City!' 
• Consequences are learned through 3 types of reinforcement:
  • Positive reinforcement: performing a behaviour to experience the positive consequences e.g. completing homework in order to gain praise from the teacher 
  • Negative reinforcement: discontinuing a behaviour to avoid unpleasant consequences e.g. completing homework to prevent being given a detention
  • Punishment: a type of deterrent which can be positive (i.e. direct) e.g. a detention, or negative (indirect) e.g. not being allowed to attend a party 
• The consequence is called the reinforcer e.g. praise from the teacher is a positive reinforcer; a detention is a negative reinforcer
• Research using animals (particularly rats and pigeons) by Skinner demonstrates the principles and mechanisms of OC:
  • A rat is placed in a specially designed box (known as a 'Skinner box')
  • The box contains a lever which the rat can press
  • When the rat presses the lever a food pellet (the reward) is dispensed
  • The rat learns to press the lever via ratios e.g. every 10th press dispenses food or intervals e.g. food is dispensed after every 5 minutes (known as 'schedules of reinforcement')

Evaluation of classical & operant conditioning

Strengths

• It is more ethical to use animals in research than it is to use humans (although some would disagree with this)
• OC has good application to educational settings and prisons (e.g. the use of token economies draws directly from OC)

Weaknesses

• Whilst conditioning may explain some forms of behaviour, it cannot explain all behaviour for example:
  • behaviour which is spontaneous or original e.g. dyeing your hair bright blue
  • behaviour where no reward is sought e.g. self-destructive behaviour such as self-harm
  • behaviour which goes against what has been learnt via the environment e.g. someone with alcoholic parents becoming teetotal (a non-drinker)
• Conditioning experiments are often performed on animals, the findings of which cannot be generalised to human behaviour