Classical and Operant
conditioning are two important types of learning that have been studied since
the late nineteenth century. This essay intends to exemplify and explain both
learning types, as well as negative consequences that may be related to both classical
and operant conditioning, such as phobias and addictions.
Classical conditioning was first studied by Ivan Pavlov,
a Russian psychologist who started to study the digestive system of dogs.
Pavlov noticed that a dog would not necessarily salivate or demonstrate
interest in food when a bell would ring. However, if the sound of that bell
would occur while the dog was being given food, that repeated combination of
sound and food would change the dog’s perception. That animal would start
salivating just by hearing the sound of the bell, even if no food was presented
to him. This experiment was able to show the meaning of an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS, or in this case the food), and an unconditioned response (UCS,
or in this case, salivation). The unconditional response, as explained by
Pavlov, does not need to be learned, because it is natural, as the salivation
is to dogs when food is presented. The experiment also showed that a
conditioned response (CR), which must be learned, was able to be stimulated by
pairing the sound of the bell, which now became a conditioned stimulus (CS),
with the food.
Operant condition, which was first studied by Edward
Thorndike, had the premise that consequences will encourage or discourage a
behavior. Thorndike experimented with a cat trapped in a box, and food placed
outside of the box. When the cat accidently rubbed against a latch, the box opened
and the cat was able to reach the food. By repeating that experiment many
times, the cat finally realized that by rubbing against the latch, he could
reach the food. That resulted in the cat being able to open the box almost
immediately as the food was placed outside. This way, the cat’s behavior was
conditioned, and it learned how to reach the food. This reaction exemplifies the
main difference between classical and operant conditioning. The first entails
that a stimulus comes before a response, or a behavior. On the second, the
event that conditioned the behavior is a consequence of that behavior, which
happened in the first place.
Classical conditioning can explain phobias, which are
persistent and irrational fears. In 1909, Freud published a study about a
little boy who was terrified of horses. He was never attacked by one, but one
day he witnessed a horse falling on the street and having some kind of attack.
After that, the boy was so scared that a horse would bite him that he would
refuse to even leave the house. This is a classic example of a conditioned
stimulus (the sight of the horse), an unconditioned stimulus (the horse having
an attack, which would have scared any child), an unconditioned response (the
reflexive scare caused by this unusual situation) and a conditioned response
(the learned distress immediately associated with the sight of horses). Although
it is impossible to know if there was any other factors prior to that traumatic
experience that could have started the boy’s fear for horses, this classical
conditioning is a very plausible explanation.
The problem of addiction is another negative consequence
that may be explained by a learning theory, in this case the operant
conditioning. Addiction can be defined as a chronic disease characterized by
the inability to control the use of a substance, but other than that, it can
also be applied to compulsions not necessarily related to drugs or alcohol,
such as gambling, internet, video games, etc. These last ones can be
categorized as behavioral addictions, which the American Psychiatric
Association has recently added to the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders. Having an addiction means to have a recurring
compulsion to engage in a harmful activity, and to relate that with the operant
conditioning, the example of gambling can be used. A person can be stimulated
by gambling, which is the behavior, and receives occasional reinforcements when
he wins. Even though that doesn’t happen very often, the person experiences a
“high” sensation when it does. After that, he wants to have that feeling again,
causing him to increase the frequency in which he gambles, becoming addicted to
it. His behavior is positively reinforced according to the operant conditioning
idea, which explains that if a behavior is followed by a pleasant stimulus,
that behavior will become more frequent.
Both classical and operant
conditioning can be reversed by using extinction. In classical conditioning,
extinction occurs when the conditioned response is weakened by a disassociation
between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Going back to
the example of Pavlov’s god, extinction could hapen when the bell would be ringed
without the presentation of food. Because of that, the dog would no longer
assimilate the bell with the meal, and would no longer salivate just by hearing
the noise. In operant conditioning, extinction happens in a similar way, but
this time with a lack of the consequence associated with the behavior. If that
behavior no longer produces a consequence, either positive or negative, it will
eventually stop being performed. Using the example of Thorndike’s cat, if the
cat would no longer find food after opening the box, it would eventually stop
trying to do that.
REFERENCES
Kowolski,
, R., & Westen, D. (2011) Psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
McSweeney, F., &
Bierley, C. (1984, September). Recent Developments in Classical
Conditioning. Journal of
Consumer Research, 11(2), 619-631.
Poling,
A., Weetjens, B., Cox, C., Beyene, N. W., Bach, H., & Sully, A. (2011).
Using Trained Pouched Rats to Detect Land Mines: Another Victory for Operant
Conditioning. Journal Of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(2),
351-355.
sccpsy101.com. (2012). Retrieved
from http://sccpsy101.com/home/chapter-4/section-10/
Reef,
K., & Chaudhri, P. (2012, Jan-Mar). Behavioral Addictions: An
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