Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and Neo Behaviorism

Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and Neo Behaviorism

Introduction

Conditioning in psychology, as a matter of fact, has unearthed many of the realities and mechanisms that have diversified implications. The importance of conditioning can be attributed from the notion that its usage has shifted the paradigms of the human psyche. The usage of this concept has widely been adopted in many of the organizational as well as correctional settings, where the behavior of people is molded and motivated by dint of these revolutionary concepts. The concept of classical conditioning involves the development of particular responses through external stimuli, whose association with the particular response triggers the desired response. Primarily this concept was ascertained with an accidental experiment with a dog, but its implication on human became visible enough.

Moreover, the association of the stimuli with the response serves the very purpose of this notion On the other hand the concept of operant conditioning is based on the rewards and punishments to mould the behavior. This type of conditioning builds the associate between the consequence and the behavior (Heffner, 2001). The concept of neo-behaviorism is the modern amendment of the classical behaviorism discovered by Pavlov, this concept exclude the learning through observable behavior and focus on inner mechanisms of learning.

Discussion

Classical Conditional

The discovery of the classical conditioning happened accidentally when a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, was conducting a research on the digestion system of a dog. During his research on the dog, he used to put meat powder in the mouth of dog to measure the response of various organs. It was discovered in those experiments that the dog started to salivate prior to the presentation of the meat powder. After a certain period of time, the dogs started to salivate as soon as a person enters the room. This phenomenon gained the attention of the Pavlov over the salivation mechanism, so after realizing this fact, the abandoned his original research, and started to work on the new observation, which ultimately came to be known as Classical Conditioning (Heffner, 2001).

To further elaborate the concept, Ivan Pavlov, associate the tone of a bell with the presentation of food, the bell was rung before the presentation of food, this occurs many a times. Eventually, conditioning occurs in dog, and it salivates to the sound of bell, Pavlov carried forward this concept in terms of unconscious learning that takes place in everyday life. Following are the elements of the classical conditioning (Bouton & Moody, 2004):

Elements of Classical Conditioning

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that initially does not trigger the response, i.e. bell.

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that triggers a response this stimulus is natural, i.e. meat powder/food.

Conditioned Stimulus

The stimulus that started to stimulate the response due to its association with a neutral stimulus, i.e. bell.

Unconditioned Response

A response stimulated by unconditioned stimulus, i.e. salivation.

Conditioned Response

A learned response triggered by conditioned stimulus, i.e. salivation.

The mental processes involved in this type of conditioning lie between the stimulus and response. Primarily, three processes of the brain are involved in this process ...