Operant and Classical Conditioning Explained
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is when a subject performs an activity to get something in return. The subject is more likely to repeat the behaviors reinforced (reinforcement is what is offered to the subject to change the behavior that prompted it). These behaviors are actions on the environment to obtain rewards or eliminate punitive stimuli. In the learning process, results lead to response reinforcement. Primary reinforcers are related to basic needs like food, drink, and sexual satisfaction. Secondary reinforcers are learned.
If the reinforcement at the end of the experiment is highly satisfactory, there will be a greater likelihood that learning takes place. Negative reinforcement occurs when what is produced is the *elimination* of unsatisfactory stimuli to the subject. Punishment is a stimulus that decreases the likelihood or frequency of a behavior. It is used to extinguish unwanted behaviors. Punishments may be positive or negative:
- Positive Punishment: A behavior is accompanied by a painful stimulus to the subject.
- Negative Punishment: Involves the loss of a pleasant situation as a result of behavior.
It is very important to choose adequate reinforcement for the shaping of a behavior. There are different schedules of reinforcement:
- Constant Reinforcement: When the desired response is reinforced every time it appears.
- Partial or Intermittent Reinforcement: When responses are reinforced sometimes, and others are not.
Skinner, in the field of school education, attempted to show that positive results are achieved with positive reinforcement, with much fewer and less severe side effects than with threats and punishments. The best-known application is programmed learning, in which success in certain tasks acts as reinforcement for further learning.
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning consists of changing behavior in response to a situation. It is a combination of two factors: stimulus and response. It reflects a basic concept: a single unit of innate behavior, in which there is an inevitable response to a modification of the environmental situation. According to *unconditioned conditioning*, a stimulus (the presence of some environmental satisfier is necessary for the body and triggers or activates a reflection of the body) results in an unconditioned response (the body triggers a reflection in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus). Through a process of conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (any environmental stimulus, originally neutral, after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus, becomes a new trigger for some reflection of the body) produces a conditioned response (the response that is activated in the presence of the conditioned stimulus).
The time interval between the neutral stimulus and the conditioned stimulus is an important factor that makes the existence of learning possible. Conditioning occurs very quickly because only a few repetitions are needed for the neutral stimuli to become conditioned stimuli and produce the conditioned response. By lengthening the time, if it is short, learning occurs, but the number of repetitions will be greater to get the answer. Increasing the time for too long will make learning impossible, as the neutral stimulus loses its ability to be noticed and cannot be associated with an unconditioned stimulus that follows, and the unconditioned response does not occur.
If the time interval is extended gradually, the conditioned neutral stimuli become capable of provoking a response regardless of the presence or absence of the unconditioned stimulus. When a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly associated without the unconditioned stimulus, it ceases to elicit a response; this is called an extinction of behavior.