What Is The Difference Between Classical And Instrumental Learning

In this essay I will include detailed explanations of what classical and instrumental conditioning are, and I will define similarities and differences between each to outline their effectiveness in explaining learning. There are many definitions and explanations of learning, an example has been outlined by Domjan (1988, pg 13) as “…a relatively permanent change in the reaction to a situation…” Both classical and instrumental learning come from the same approach – behaviourist, although they have slight differences in their explanation regarding the process in why, and how we learn things. These two approaches of learning fall under the category of associative learning; much research has been performed in this area for more than 100 years, much

His aim was to assist the animal in learning a response to gain access to a reinforcement (possibly food.) He used cats and placed them in boxes which required a string to be tugged to open the door, food was noticeable outside the box to increase motivation to escape. The first time the animal carried out the behaviour was by chance, but from repeating the process many times they learned how to escape and the response became quicker. The behaviour had changed because of the consequences which it provided; this is known as the law of effect. Instrumental conditioning involves three stages: firstly, R is an instrumental response like pressing a lever, this is followed by rf, a reinforcement which could be the access to food. Finally, the discriminative stimulus tells the animal about the availability of the reinforcement. In this type of conditioning, the animal is an active agent in the process of learning, unlike classical conditioning. Learning is connected to changes in the central nervous system, nodes respond to stimuli in the external environment. Gaining food by chance in the first trial creates an association between the behaviour and the reinforcement, therefore creating an auto response upon presentation of the instrumental

The fundamental difference is the role of the learner, during classical conditioning, the reinforcement is external to the behaviour of the animal howbeit instrumental conditioning is dependent on the animal’s response in order for them to obtain the reinforcement, it is therefore voluntary. Classical conditioning entails a response which is involuntary, so this could also be considered as a reflex. This difference between the two may suggest the superiority of instrumental conditioning which involves proactive learning performed by the animal. Instrumental conditioning offers an enhanced theoretical explanation regarding the contribution of cognition in each type, it required the acquisition of laws rather than merely associating two