Classical and Operant Conditioning

This article explains classical and operant conditioning, the processes of learning by association and behavior modification. Classical conditioning refers to a process of learning by association, while operant conditioning involves learning to associate behaviors with consequences. Classical conditioning helps in daily functioning and can be observed in behaviors like associating a bell with lunchtime. Operant conditioning is commonly used in behavior modification and involves positive reinforcement and punishment. The article provides examples and references for further reading.

Running head: CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING
Classical and Operant Conditioning
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING 2
Classical and Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning refers to a process of learning by association. Naturally, certain
unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response. For instance, bacteria in a
person’s stomach (unconditioned stimulus) would naturally produce nausea (unconditioned
response). With time, a person may learn to associate the nauseating feeling with certain
foods, say chocolate. When this happens, the sight of chocolate (conditioned stimulus) would
produce nausea (conditioned response). For classical conditioning to occur, the conditioned
stimulus should occur before the conditioned stimulus and not together (McDougall, 2015).
Alternatively, the two may occur simultaneously. Operant conditioning refers to a type of
learning that occurs when a person learns to associate certain behaviors with certain
consequences (Burman, 2016). The consequences are either rewards or punishments.
Reinforced behaviors are likely to be maintained while punishing ones are likely to be
avoided.
Operant conditioning is the one that is mostly used in behavior modification. This is
because it has the ability to explain and modifying complex behavior. Although classical
conditioning is observed in the daily behaviors of people it has been regarded as too
simplistic when it comes to behavior modification (Sternberg and Sternberg, 2016). Let us
take an example with a parent who wants their child to perform well at school. The parent
may promise to buy the child ice cream or something else that the child loves if they pass
their exam. When the parent provides some ice cream to the child after performing well, the
child will be motivated to perform well in the future. This is because they know that if they
do, they will receive a reward. This kind of rewarding is positive reinforcement. Therefore,
operant conditioning is the best-suited method for behavior modification.

CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING 3
Classical conditioning would help a person in their daily functioning by helping them
do certain things without forgetting (Thibaut, 2017). For instance, a person may be used to be
taking important documents to their boss every working day at 10 am. Suppose that there is a
bell that rings every 10 am in the organization to notify employees of a break. With time, the
employee would learn to associate the bell with the delivery of files. This will help ensure
that the files are always delivered on time. The kind of conditioning that is likely to be most
common in a class set up is classical. For instance, students may learn to associate mid-day
bell with lunch.
Here is an example of classical conditioning. Suppose a person feels good
(unconditioned response) due to the smell of a particular perfume (unconditioned response).
With time, this person may learn to associate the good feeling (conditioned response) with
the person (conditioned stimulus) who applies that particular perfume. The generalization
made here is that there are no external factors affecting the stimuli. Spontaneous association
will occur every time the bell is rang. Extinction may occur if the bell is not rung for a long
time. The following is an example of operant conditioning. Suppose a child cleans the house
and the mother rewards the child by buying her a chocolate bar. The child is likely to do the
cleaning again because of the reward that they received. The child's behavior has been
positively reinforced through rewarding her with a bar of chocolate. If the same child is not
rewarded for failure to clean the house, then she is likely to clean it next time so that she can
be rewarded (negative reinforcement). If the mother canes the child for failure to clean the
house, the child would learn to clean the house to avoid caning (punishment).

CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING 4
References
Burman, E. (2016). Deconstructing developmental psychology (2nd ed). New York:
Routledge.
McDougall, W. (2015). An introduction to social psychology (3rd ed). New York: Psychology
Press.
Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2016). Cognitive psychology (3rd ed). Los Angeles: Nelson
Education.
Thibaut, J. W. (2017). The social psychology of groups (2nd ed). New York: Routledge.