Classical conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning, means learning through association. People or animals are repeatedly exposed to two stimuli, and they learn to associate the two so that they exhibit a new learned response when in the presence of the stimuli.
During the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov studied how dogs salivate in response to being fed. During his studies, he found that the dogs not only salivated as they were fed, but they began to salivate as they heard the approaching footsteps of the people feeding them. This experiment led him to the development of the classical conditioning theory.
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The principles of classical conditioning help understand the classical conditioning process. Those principles are acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, and stimulus discrimination.
Acquisition
Acquisition is the first stage of classical conditioning, where the response to a stimulus is established for the first time and begins to strengthen gradually over time. A stimulus is paired with another stimulus repeatedly until the presence of the stimuli elicits the same response. When this happens, the desired response has been acquired. For example, in Pavlov's experiment, he repeatedly paired the presence of food with the sound of a bell. The presence of food already caused the dogs to salivate, but the bell did not. As he repeatedly paired them together, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell.
Extinction
Extinction happens when the conditioned response is no longer present. For example, if Pavlov stopped ringing the bell at the presence of food, eventually, the sound of the bell ringing would not be associated with being fed.
Spontaneous Recovery
Spontaneous recovery happens when a conditioned response comes back after being extinct for some time. For example, if the salivation when ringing a bell stopped, and later a bell rang and salivation occurred again, this would be considered spontaneous recovery. If spontaneous recovery occurs, extinction usually happens quickly after.
Stimulus Generalization
Stimulus generalization occurs when a person or animal has the same response to a stimulus that is similar to the original stimulus. For example, if the dogs are conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, they may also salivate at the sound of other things that sound similar.
Stimulus Discrimination
Stimulus discrimination is the ability to discriminate between different stimuli. For example, if the conditioned stimuli were the ring of a bell, that particular bell would be the only sound that would elicit salivation. The dogs would be able to discriminate between that bell and all other sounds.
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There are five key elements of classical conditioning: neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, and conditioned response. Understanding these elements is necessary for understanding classical conditioning.
Neutral Stimulus
A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that does not cause a reaction at first. However, when it is continually repeated, it will cause a reaction and eventually become a conditioned stimulus. The bell in Pavlov's experiment would be considered a neutral stimulus.
Unconditioned Stimulus
An unconditioned stimulus is an element in the experiment that elicits an automatic response. In Pavlov's experiment, the unconditioned stimulus was the food because the dogs automatically salivated when food was in their presence.
Conditioned Stimulus
The conditioned stimulus is the stimulus that is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus until it eventually causes the same response. For example, in Pavlov's experiment, the bell before the food was the conditioned stimulus because the dogs eventually began to salivate at the sound of the bell.
The difference between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus is that an unconditioned stimulus causes an automatic response, while a conditioned stimulus must be paired with the unconditioned stimulus to elicit a reaction.
Unconditioned Response
An unconditioned response is a response that naturally occurs. In Pavlov's classic experiment with his dogs, drooling was the unconditioned response because it happened naturally as a response to the smell of food.
Conditioned Response
A conditioned response is a response that is taught through the experiment. In Pavlov's experiment, it would be the dogs learning to salivate at the sound of the bell just as they do in the presence of food.
The difference between unconditioned responses and conditioned responses is that unconditioned responses are naturally occurring, and conditioned responses are learned behaviors through exposure to stimuli.
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Operant conditioning describes how people or animals will behave in ways that cause them to be rewarded instead of punished. Classical conditioning is based on naturally occurring reflexes, while operant conditioning uses non-reflexive behavior shaping.
For example, B.F. Skinner designed an experiment that led to the development of operant conditioning. He placed a rat inside a box and waited for it to discover the lever inside that would release food when pushed. The rat eventually discovered the lever, pushed it, and was fed. After a while, the rat would continually return to the lever over periods of time as it desired food. Eventually, he found that after rats understood that the lever gave them food, they would immediately push the lever when they entered the box.
Operant conditioning has two main elements: reinforcers and punishments. Reinforcers are things that the subject wants. They can be positive or negative. Food is desirable to rats; therefore, it is a reinforcer. It is a positive reinforcer because it was presented, or given, to the rats when they did something Skinner wanted. Negative reinforcers are things that increase the likelihood of the negative consequence being removed. For example, applying sunscreen when outdoors decreases the chance of the negative consequence of being in the sun, which is being sunburned.
Punishments are given when the subject makes the wrong choice in the experiment. It could be a shock, the withholding of rewards, or other undesirable actions. For example:
- Scolding a child is used to reduce bad behavior. It is "positive" because the parent is making loud uncomfortable noises and saying things that the child does not wish to hear.
- Negative punishment requires taking something away to make the behavior likely to occur. In this case, the video games were taken away to make the teenager not want to be late for curfew again.
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Classical conditioning can be seen in many activities. Some classical conditioning examples are:
- When a child sees a TV cart roll into their classroom, they automatically think they are having a movie day.
- When a dog sees their owner stand by the door with a leash, they think they are going to the park.
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Conditioning is the theory that a person or animal's response to a stimulus can be conditioned. Classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning) is known as learning through association. There are five key elements of classical conditioning: neutral stimulus (stimulus that does not cause a response), unconditioned stimulus (stimulus that causes an automatic response), conditioned stimulus (the stimulus that is paired with the unconditioned stimulus and eventually gets the same response), unconditioned response (the response that naturally occurs), and conditioned response (the response that is taught through exposure to stimuli). The principles of classical conditioning are:
- Acquisition: The first step; repeated exposure to stimulus eventually causes a conditioned response
- Extinction: When the conditioned response goes away.
- Spontaneous recovery: When the conditioned response goes extinct and then comes back.
- Stimulus generalization: The subject will respond to different stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimuli.
- Stimulus discrimination: The subject will be able to discriminate between different stimuli.
Operant conditioning is the way that people or animals behave in ways that cause them to be rewarded instead of punished. Classical conditioning is based on naturally occurring reflexes, while operant conditioning uses non-reflexive behavior shaping. B.F. Skinner's experiment with rats demonstrated this idea. Food was used as a positive reinforcer in this experiment. Pavlov worked with classical conditioning. Dogs in his experiment had an unconditioned response to food (salivating). Some other operant conditioning examples are scolding a child to reduce bad behavior using positive punishment (the parent is making loud uncomfortable noises and saying things that the child does not wish to hear) or taking video games away to make a teenager not want to be late for curfew again (an example of negative punishment which requires taking something away to make the behavior less likely to occur).
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Association
Learning by association is one of the most common types of learning. Learning by association happens in humans and animals. Let's use a young girl named Sally as an example to explain learning by association. Ever since she's been old enough, Sally's father has brought her on enjoyable outdoor activities in the winter. Before starting the fun, Sally's father always puts strawberry lip balm on his daughter to protect her from the cold. Many years later Sally buys a strawberry lip balm for her trip to the beach. But when she pulls the cover off, all she can think of is snow. What happened?
Sally has learned by association. Sally's consistent experiences with strawberry lip balm and winter fun with her father have made her associate that very fruity scent with something that it isn't commonly associated with; cold, snowy winter. Sally might also think of her father, snowshoes and a number of other things that were paired together, or associated, when she was younger.
In the early 1900's, psychologists were starting to make their own associations about learning. They found that they could elicit responses in animals by particular methods of association called conditioning. Since then, we have also found that it works for humans too! So how does conditioning work?
Ivan Pavlov's Dogs
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Ivan Pavlov was a famous psychologist of the early 20th century who performed an experiment that resulted in the creation of the term classical conditioning.
Although Pavlov did the thinking, his dogs did the work. Pavlov experimented with his dogs by first presenting them with food. The dogs would naturally salivate. Then, Pavlov began to present food to his dogs only after ringing a bell. This combination of bell with food went on for a while until Pavlov found that the bell, presented alone without food, also made his dogs salivate.
Terms in Classical Conditioning
A stimulus is anything that causes a response in a human or animal. The original stimulus used by Ivan Pavlov was the bowl of dog food. This stimulus did not need to be associated with anything to produce an effect; drooling was a reflex for the dog, a natural, unlearned response to the sight and smell of food. Therefore, the food is called the unconditioned stimulus, as it already produced an effect without association. The natural response of the dog, drooling, is called the unconditioned response. Just remember that unconditioned means naturally occurring before the experiment.
Now Pavlov added a bell to his experiment. A bell by itself is just a stimulus, and for Pavlov's dogs, the sound of a bell was not attached to any particular significance. Once the bell was rung with the presentation of food over and over again, the bell became a stimulus for drooling! Remember, a stimulus can be anything that creates a response. The bell became a conditioned stimulus once it was a signal to the dogs that food was coming. Salivation to the sound of the bell was a response that was conditioned to happen by Dr. Pavlov. Therefore, salivation was the conditioned response as well.
B.F. Skinner's Rats
Around the same time that Pavlov was making dogs salivate, another very famous psychologist named B.F. Skinner was helping rats learn to do something that rats don't often do: push levers. Skinner made a device that is now known as the Skinner box. This device was a rat-sized box with a lever in it. The lever would release a pellet of food, which is a great teaching tool for any animal. Skinner would put a rat inside the box and help it learn how to push the lever for food. How did he help the rats learn? He used a procedure that we call shaping. Since rats don't care about levers, Skinner would reinforce any behavior that got the rat closer to the goal, pressing the lever. It was very much like a game of 'hot and cold' using the universal language of food! Eventually, the rats associated the lever with food and began to learn that pressing the lever was what they needed to do when they were in the box. Skinner no longer reinforced them for behaviors close to what he wanted - the rats had learned what they needed to do. And operant conditioning was born.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning, as first performed by B.F. Skinner, is defined as a type of learning where a voluntary behavior can be changed by its consequences. As we know, most every behavior has a consequence. When we study, we get good grades. When we work, we are rewarded with money. These consequences are reinforcers of our study and work behavior because they make us work and study more frequently. Would you work for free? Most likely not. If the reinforcer of the paycheck stopped, most likely you would stop working. Unlike the dog who can't help but salivate when presented with food, we can decide to stop working if we are not getting reinforced with money.
B.F. Skinner was able to use reinforcements to lead and shape the rats' behavior until it worked the way he desired. The reinforcer was the rats getting food. So, a reinforcer is a positive or rewarding event that will increase the chances of the reinforced behavior happening again. The example of the rats being given food for pressing the lever is called positive reinforcement. This simply means that a reward is given to the rats. We use positive reinforcement with dogs when they learn to sit and we give them a bone. But it is also positive reinforcement when they speak or shake and we pet them for it. In petting, we are doing something to the dog that it likes and will make the dog speak or shake again the next time we ask.
There is also a term called negative reinforcement. It sounds nonsensical, but really it is just another type of reinforcement. This time, by adding the word 'negative', it simply means that we are increasing behavior by removing something that is unpleasant. Skinner found a way to add a very loud noise inside his box that the rats didn't like. When the rat pressed the lever, the noise would stop. Therefore he was using negative (taking something bad away) reinforcement (to increase the rat's behavior).
Here is another example of negative reinforcement to help clear things up. At Jack's house, Jack is required to do the dishes every night after dinner. One day, Jack is very unmotivated to do his homework project. His mother really wants Jack to do well in school. She says to Jack 'Just this once, if you finish your project you won't have to do the dishes tonight. I'll do them.' Mom has just reinforced the behavior of doing homework by taking something away that Jack doesn't like - doing dishes. So when you think of conditioning, remember that the word 'negative' isn't necessarily a bad thing!
That leads us to something that is unpleasant: punishment. Punishment is simply the opposite of reinforcement. Punishment occurs to reduce the frequency of the behavior.
- Reinforcer - a rewarding event that makes the behavior more likely
- Punisher - a negative event that makes the behavior less likely
- Positive - something is given or done
- Negative - something is taken away
So there is such a thing as positive punishment and, of course, negative punishment. If we remember that positive means giving or doing something and negative means taking something away, then finding examples of both are easy. Positive punishment can be lightly shocking the rat when it tries to get out of the box. Another example of positive punishment is spanking a child. It doesn't sound very positive, but remember, in conditioning, these words only mean giving or doing (positive) and taking away (negative). Spanking is called a positive punishment only because it is something done to the child that will stop that child's behavior, such as running in the road.
So that leaves us with the last of the conditioning combinations, negative punishment. Can you think of an example of negative punishment? Taking away a child's favorite toy if the child is doing something bad would be an example of negative punishment.
As psychologists have found out, reinforcements and rewards for good behavior are much stronger conditioners than punishment. Punishment has to be used as gently as possible and only when necessary. Using the tools of stimulus association and shaping, from classical conditioning, as well as reinforcement, from operant conditioning, are the best ways to teach associations.
Learning Outcomes
After reading through the lesson, your goal should be to:
- Explain what it means to learn by association
- Relate Pavlov's dogs to classical conditioning
- Recall some of the terms important to classical conditioning
- Discuss B.F. Skinner's rats as they relate to operant conditioning
- Differentiate between positive and negative reinforcement as well as between positive and negative punishment
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