Q No: The behaviorist claim that learning takes place through an association between stimuli

response process, results in specific habit formation.

Explain the concept of Pavlovian conditioning and operational Conditioning with reference to
the behaviorist view:

Behaviorist movement begins with John Watson in 1913. It is also known as psychological
approach it claims that Learning takes place through an association of between stimuli ---
response process results in specific habit formation.

consequence stimulus

rResponse

S R
Stimulus Response

Classical Conditioning:

One of the most revealing studies in behavioral psychology was carried out by Russian
psychologist Ivan Pavlov.

Pavlov’s experiments with dogs demonstrated that our behavior can be changed using
conditioning .the Pavlovian conditioning follows:

UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (food)>UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (salivate)

Pavlov’s dog experiment:

Pavlov came across classical conditioning unintentionally during his research into animal’s
gastric systems. Whilst measuring the salivation rates of dogs, he found that they would produce
salvia when they heard or smelt food in anticipation of feeding. This is a normal reflex response
which he would expect to happen as salvia plays a role in the digestion of food.

However, the dogs also began to salivate when events occurred which would otherwise be
unrelated to feeding. By playing sounds to the dogs prior to feeding them, Pavlov showed that
they could be conditioned to unconsciously associate neutral, unrelated events with being fed.

The dogs would demonstrate a similar association between these events and the food that
followed.
NEUTRAL STIMULUS (NS, e.g. Tone)>UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS e.g. food)

Repetition leads to:

CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS e.g. Tone)>CONDITIONED RESSPONSE (CR e.g.

.salivation)

The implications for Pavlov’s findings are significant as they can be applied to many animals
including humans.

For example when you first saw someone holding a balloon and a pin close to it, you may have
watched in anticipation as they burst the balloon after this had happened multiple times ,you
would associate holding the pin to the balloon with the “bang” that followed .like Pavlove’s dogs
classical conditioning leading you to associate a neutral stimulus (the pin approaching a balloon)
with bursting of the balloon, leading to a conditioned response (flinching, winching or plugging
one’s ears) to this now conditioned stimulus.

Similarly Clraik and Lockhart’s levels of memory suggests that deep processing (e.g. repeated
rehearsal)of a piece of information can lead to an increased likelihood that it will enter a person’s
long- term memory and the response that can be recalled at a later date.

Operant Conditioning:

The term “operant conditioning “originated by the behaviorist B.F Skinner, who believed that
one should focus on the external ,observable causes of behavior (rather than try to unpack the
internal thoughts and motivations). It is also known as instrumental conditioning. In operant
conditioning learning refers to changes in behavior as a result of experiences that occur after a
response.

Operant conditioning can be described as a process that attempts to modify behavior through the
use of positive and negative reinforcement. In operant conditioning an individual makes an
association between a particular behavior and a consequence.

Example: A school teacher awards points to these students who are the most calm and well-
behaved. Students eventually realize that, they voluntarily become quieter and better behaved,
that they earn more points.

Positive reinforcement encourages learning a new behavior.

Punishment in contrast, is a negative reinforcement and discourages learning.