Compare And Contrast Classical And Classical Conditioning

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Behaviorism was developed to study observable behavior. Because behaviorism describes the learning process it is also known as the learning theory. Behaviorists indicate that learning and development progress over time, and that the process is due to natural behavior guidelines that control responses and actions. Behaviorism theorists explain conditioning as a response that is paired with a specific stimuli, and thus learning begins. The two types of conditioning are classical and operant. These two types of theories are different in many ways, but are also extremely similar. Classical conditioning was discovered by a Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Classical conditioning involves placing an impartial stimulus before a reflex. Operant conditioning …show more content…

Both operant and classical conditioning was used in my household. For example an act of operant conditioning was when I would ignore my chores my mom would say that I could not watch television until my chores were finished. She did this negative reinforcement to motivate me to complete my duties. However, this negative reinforcement did not encourage my brother to do his chores because he did not enjoy watching television. Because a certain consequence might not be the same for each individual, I believe that for operant conditioning to be successful the reinforcement or the consequence must correlate with the subject in order to increase or decrease a certain behavior. An example of classical conditioning in my life would be when my father opens the garage door when he arrives home. When he does this the door makes a distinct sound, and eventually my dog started to associate the sound of the garage door and his appearance. Now every time the door opens my dog gets excited expecting my father’s arrival, whether or not he is actually there. This example teaches me that my dog is experiencing classical conditioning. My dog is having an involuntary response to the sound of the garage door because of an association with my father’s

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