How Operant Conditioning Differs from Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioningandoperant conditioningare two important concepts central to behavioral psychology.
There are similarities between classical and operant conditioning.
Both types of conditioning result in learning and both suggest that a subject can adapt to their environment.
Verywell / Joshua Seong
However, the processes are also quite different.
What are the main differences between operant vs. classical conditioning?
Pavlov quickly realized that this was a learned response and set out to further investigate the conditioning process.
Thisunconditioned stimulusnaturally and automatically triggers salivating as a response to the food, which is known as theunconditioned response.
A dog doesn’t need to be trained to salivate when it sees food; this occurs naturally.
The food is the naturally occurring stimulus.
Eventually, the bell alone, a.k.a.
the conditioned stimulus would come to evoke the salivation response.
Consider how a bad habit might form.
Even though you have been working out and eating healthy, nighttime overeating keeps tripping up your dieting efforts.
Now every time you see a commercial, you crave a sweet treat.
Through this process, an association is formed between the behavior and the consequences of that behavior.
Imagine that a trainer is trying to teach a dog to fetch a ball.
When the dog successfully chases and picks up the ball, the dog receives praise as a reward.
When the animal fails to retrieve the ball, the trainer withholds the praise.
Eventually, the dog forms an association between the behavior of fetching the ball and receiving the desired reward.
As a result, the problematic behavior decreases.
A number of factors can influence how quickly a response is learned and the strength of the response.
The punch in of reinforcer used can also have an impact on the response.
Operant vs.
In operant conditioning, the learner is also rewarded with incentives,while classical conditioning involves no such enticements.
In each of these instances, the goal of conditioning is toproduce some sort of change in behavior.
Takeaways
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both important learning concepts that originated in behavioral psychology.
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