...Classical and operant conditioning are both types of learning, which can be defined as relatively permanent changes in behaviour. Classical conditioning, also known as respondent conditioning (Grivas, Down, Carter, 2004), occurs through the continual association of two or more different stimuli. Learning is evident when one stimulus constantly elicits a different response than it did before. Operant conditioning is based on the theory that an individual will continue to show certain behaviours that have a positive outcome, or that will able it to avoid negative outcomes (Grivas et al., 2004). Although both used to explain learning, classical and operant conditioning are used interchangeably to reflect the complexity of the situation. Operant...
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...Tony E. McCaffity PSY390 Learning and Cognition Individual Programmatic Assessment: Operant Conditioning October 27, 2014 Describe the theory of Operant Conditioning The theory of Operant Conditioning is developed the behaviorist B. F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning according to Skinner is based on the observing the causes of the action and its consequences. Skinner’s used this approach to study observable behavior instead of the internal mental activity. Though his study Skinner, found that behavior reinforced usually becomes repeated, and reinforced behavior will often extinguishes. Skinner believed that learning is a function of overt behavior and changes in an individual’s behavior is a result of events that occur in the individual’s environment (Morris &Maisto, 2005). B.F. Skinner focused on the observable behavior and how that act related to experimental conditions. From his studies Skinner developed several theories relating to operant conditioning. The changing of a behavior by-way of certain types of reinforcements after a response is achieved is referred to as operant conditioning. “In operant conditioning, the emphasis is on behavior and its consequences; with operant conditioning, the organism must respond in such a way as to produce the reinforcing stimulus. The principles of operant conditioning apply to a variety of situations (Olson &Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 76). According to Olson &Hergenhahn...
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...Tony E. McCaffity PSY390 Learning and Cognition Individual Programmatic Assessment: Operant Conditioning October 27, 2014 Describe the theory of Operant Conditioning The theory of Operant Conditioning is developed the behaviorist B. F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning according to Skinner is based on the observing the causes of the action and its consequences. Skinner’s used this approach to study observable behavior instead of the internal mental activity. Though his study Skinner, found that behavior reinforced usually becomes repeated, and reinforced behavior will often extinguishes. Skinner believed that learning is a function of overt behavior and changes in an individual’s behavior is a result of events that occur in the individual’s environment (Morris &Maisto, 2005). B.F. Skinner focused on the observable behavior and how that act related to experimental conditions. From his studies Skinner developed several theories relating to operant conditioning. The changing of a behavior by-way of certain types of reinforcements after a response is achieved is referred to as operant conditioning. “In operant conditioning, the emphasis is on behavior and its consequences; with operant conditioning, the organism must respond in such a way as to produce the reinforcing stimulus. The principles of operant conditioning apply to a variety of situations (Olson &Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 76). According to Olson &Hergenhahn 2009, behavior can be...
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...habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma (Dictionary, 2014). When presenting the word addiction, a person might think of something that a person needs and stresses about. For example, a person who smokes may be addicted to cigarettes. Both phobia and addiction are very common in humans. This paper will discuss how phobias can be developed through classical conditioning, how addictions can be developed through operant conditioning, the difference between classical and operate conditioning, and finally what extinction means and how it is achieved in both classical and operant conditioning. First, we will discuss how phobias can be developed through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning was the first type of learning to be studied systematically (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Ivan Pavlov, who was a Russian phycologist, started studies of the so called classical conditioning from studies with dogs and the stimulations that caused dogs to salivate. Pavlov discovered that when food was present with...
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...different learning techniques. A phobia is, “An exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situations” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). On the other hand an addiction can be defined as, “A persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). The similarity between these two behaviors lies in the compulsive and persistent fear or desire of the object or situation. Two of the well-known learning methods, classical and operant conditioning, can contribute to developing phobias and addictions. One behavior that can be developed by classical conditioning is a Phobia. The concept of developing phobia through classical conditioning occurs when one stimulus is paired with another resulting in a different response (Kowalski & Weston, 2011, p. 165). In 1920, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted a classical conditioning study that paved the way for the development of phobias. In this study, they surmised that emotional responses could be learned from the “Little Albert” experiment. They first frightened the subject, Little Albert, by making a very loud noise behind him. After many tests they were able to associate the loud noise with a white rate. They were able to condition Little Albert to be afraid of the white rat without hearing the loud noise because of the association to the noise. Phobias can be developed different ways as well, for example when a child goes ice skating for the first...
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...addictions should be fragmented into two groups of conditioning with the effects each partakes on an individual: classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning occurs when an individual discovers how to respond to a stimulus in their atmosphere. Operant conditioning is when one responds to a reward or penalty. The foremost difference between classical and operant conditioning is the response and a stimulus, which can lead to addictions and phobias. Addictions An addiction is a determined behavior in wanting and needing something. Most know it can have unsympathetic consequences, but the individual will continue this behavior because of the addictions. Furthermore, the majority of addictions start with a satisfying involvement with something and desires to prolong or recreate the act. The addictive individual will endure the behavior with very little, if any self-discipline, even when it can become damaging or has already taken over their body. A person who is addicted will familiarize with desires and cravings to connect with the behavior and this need will build up, until the behavior kicks in again, typically feeling relief, and ecstasy (Grant, Potenza, Weinstein, & Gorelick, 2010). Additionally, operant conditioning is controlled by the environment using reinforcement or punishment toward good or bad behavior. Addictions strive for instant gratification from ones drives and impulses. Operant conditioning focuses on behavior that is voluntary and there...
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...Addiction is compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance. Both phobias and addictions are learned by association and by learning methods such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Some phobias are believed to be developed through classical conditioning. If a neutral stimulus is paired with and unconditioned stimulus that creates an unconditioned response that causes fear, a conditioned stimulus of fear will occur every time you encounter the neutral stimulus. In a study performed by JohnWatson, the founder of American behaviorism, he tested the theory of phobias developed through classical conditioning. Choosing a healthy nine month old baby, Little Albert, he experimented with a rat and loud banging of a steel hammer. After being presented with the rat, Little Albert played with the rat and had no fear. After being presented with the steel being banged, he became scared. After a few months of combining the rat with the loud banging, Little Albert became very fearful of the rat. Little Albert learned to associate the loud banging with the rat. This classical conditioning produced a conditioned stimulus or an emotional response of fear and a phobia. Addiction is a learned behavior because the initial pleasure or enjoyment is rewarding. According to the principles of operant conditioning, rewarded behaviors will increase with usage of certain substances. Drugs are substances that cause addictions in humans. Drugs are mostly addicting because they cause...
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...phobias and addictions in relation to classical and operant conditioning. I will research and explore how phobias can be developed through classical conditioning, and how addictions can be developed through operant conditioning. I will also explain what extinction means in psychology and how it is achieved in both classical and operant conditioning. The first thing you need to know is what exactly a phobia is. A phobia is an uncontrollable fear of an object or situation that is unreasonable and can develop in many ways; one of these ways is through conditioning. People have fears all the time, but a phobia affects a person’s daily life. Phobias for some people make it to where they become reclusive, or they cannot leave the comfort of their own homes, or their safe place. There are two main types or categories of phobias; they are specific phobias and social phobias. A specific phobia is an uncontrollable fear of a specific thing or a specific stimulus. There are animal phobias where a person is afraid of a certain animal or insect, for example the fear of spiders is called arachnophobia. There are environmental phobias like a fear of storms or heights. There are phobias of medical procedures as well as situational phobias like small spaces or flying. A social phobia is an uncontrollable fear of a particular situation such as giving a presentation in front of a large crowd or going to a party. Classical conditioning can be used to create a phobia or to help to get rid...
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...Addiction as it Relates to Classical and Operant Conditioning Social phobia is also known as social anxiety which is a persistent phobia from negative assessment of others. Most people suffering from this type of phobia or social anxiety would turn to drugs and alcohol to lessen the anxiety (Lak, Sedaghat, and Almadv, & 2012), and then the self-medicated or self with illegal drugs leads to addiction. The paper essay will focus phobias and addictions as related to classical and operant conditional. Phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Phobias can be developed through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is learning by stimulus from the environment. In layman’s term, a toddler learns that a pot on the stove is hot and should not be touch. The toddler then develop phobia that hot stove burn the skin and as a result stay away from it. Following Pavlov’s observations, John Watson a behaviorist and his associate Rosalie Rayner (1920) did studies on how classical conditioning relates to phobias. Watson and Rayner selected a white rat to be in their experiment and proceeded to condition a fear response in Little Albert and each time Albert would reach out to touch the rat, they struck the steel bar. After doing this a few times, Albert learned to fear the rat. This is all true in adults as well because I have a friend who goes in panic when they see the police or anything that is connected to the police. If he hears a police siren,...
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...in behavior or mental processes because of practice or experience.” (Cherry, 2013). During the early 20th Century, psychologists became interested in turning psychology into a more scientific endeavor. It was argued that more needs to be more studies conducted with results that could be quantified. This is where learning theories began and were able to be applied to, a useful behavior, but also could be applied to emotions such as hatred, or even to bad habits. The three theories that are most common are the Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Social-Cognitive Conditioning. Classical Conditioning is a form of learning in which the conditioned stimulus comes to signal the occurrence of a second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus. Researchers have used “many model systems that have been developed to explore classical conditioning, including conditioned eye blink, conditioned taste aversion, and conditioned approach/avoidance.” (Domjan, 2003). An example of this type of conditioning would be someone who has been involved in a bad accident at a certain intersection. As a result of this accident, every time they drive through this intersection they become exceedingly uncomfortable and nauseous. This particular case has an unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and a conditioned response. The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is the car accident while the unconditioned response (UCR) is nervousness and anxiety. The conditioned stimulus...
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...thinking and creative mind- Behavior Modification Experimental report | Creating a behaviour using operant conditioning Creating a behaviour using operant conditioning ABSTRACT The study aims to increase a desired behavior using operant conditioning. The subject of this study is a female American staffy, four years of age and the desired behavior is sitting unasked when entering or leaving a house, when entering a car and before crossing roads. The subject was involved in a three-week study, one week observing the usual behavior and two weeks of reinforcing the desired behavior. The desired behavior was achieved before the two weeks of reinforcing were completed. It shows that the study was successful, although the subject cannot give feedback or rate their mood towards the succession. Introduction: Operant conditioning is a kind of learning in which an animal or human performs some behavior, and the following consequence (reward or punishment) increases or decreases the chance that the same behavior will be performed again. Enforcing operant conditioning takes learning and memory, Learning is defined as ‘the cognitive process of acquiring skills or knowledge’ such as learning how to sit or walk, memory is defined as ‘an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information’ such as remembering the consequence of a behaviour. A previous case of conditioning is the case of Little Albert conducted by john Watson in which a nine month old infant was confronted by a series...
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...Phobias and Addictions Victor Soto PSY/300 February 22, 2012 Dr. Amy Loder Psy.D Phobias and Addictions A textbook definition of phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object or situation. How does such an irrational fear begin can probably be explained through classical conditioning. In other words fears are learned. Learning is any relatively permanent change in the way an organism responds based on its experience. The famous experiment of Watson and Rayner with “Little Albert” shows clearly how classical conditioning can account for irrational fears, or phobias. This example of classical conditioning as well as Aristotle’s laws of association which account for learning and memory that describe the conditions under which one thought becomes connected or associated with another can perhaps help shed light on the genesis of phobias. Another term for classical conditioning is respondent conditioning; it is a procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits a response. In the Little Albert experiment, Watson and Rayner used an unconditional reflex, through an unconditional stimulus to produce and unconditioned response one that occurs naturally without any prior learning. Albert was presented with a variety of objects, including a dog, a rabbit, a white rat, a Santa Claus mask, and a fur coat. Albert...
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...Operant Conditioning in the Criminal Justice System Christine Morton Psychology of Criminal Behavior CCJS 461 Instructor: David Bierie June 02, 2015 There are many theories of behaviorism that started in the year of 1920 and continued through the 1950’s. Behaviorism is a scientific study of behaviors when in the midst of thinking or feeling where explanations of behaviors are the focus. The main focus is to observe behaviors with a common denominator of stimulus-response for individuals to learn. John B. Watson is remembered for his views and theories of behaviorism. The focus for his study was on the behaviors alone and not combining the mind, body, or consciousness. John B Watson had theories that were referred to as “learning through stimulus substitution.” The theory of John B Watson was to use substitution of one stimuli for another stimuli. John B Watson believed that behaviors can be trained, measured, and changed regardless of personality or traits. He was the Father of psychology. Behavioral theories are behavior observations that are brought upon by conditioning which happens through human interactions with the environment. The most famous research study done by John B Watson was the study of enabling a child to fear the white rat. This was a conditioned experiment where a loud clanging noise would emit whenever the white rat was brought into notice. Edward Thorndike is famous for his study in psychology of learning that was...
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...or addictions and sometimes even both. A phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object or situation. Addiction is a need or enslavement to a substance, an object, an activity, or a habit that is psychologically or physically habit-forming such as narcotics are, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma and most often an interruption in a person’s life (Robinson & Berridge, 2003). For the most part, addiction is a disease. When we are born, we start experimenting and learning for survival among other things. Phobias can develop through learning. The two most common and prominent ways or styles of learning are classical and operant learning. Classical and operant conditioning are psychological processes in which a person learns. Therefore, phobias and addictions are associated to classical and operant conditioning. Learning theorist, Edward Thorndike and Albert Bandura can account for two emotional difficulties, which are phobias and addictions. Learning theorist also include behaviorist Edward Tolman, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, and British naturalist Charles Darwin. Phobias and addictions are emotional issues or difficulties that many people have to cope with daily. Phobias are irrational fear. These fears can be powerful and at times devastating yet they are unfounded and are not based on fact or reality. In addition, addiction most often involves a psychologically or physically need for a substance or object, which a person, cannot control in...
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...The Great Northern American Case Study Patrice Pace Professor: Dr. Debra Sherry Business 520 Leadership and Organizational Behavior November 25, 2012 Discuss why Joe’s employees need to understand the importance of how people form perceptions and make attributions Great Northern American is a 35-year old company operated by President, Mr. Joe Salatino. The company is responsible for selling more than $20 million in office/promotional supplies to more than 60,000 businesses nationwide. The company is a sales, telemarketer based operation and focuses on a fun environment, large commissions and bonuses in order to keep the sales team focused, while being in a competitive market (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). The company prides itself on the bonuses and commission that they are allowed to provide as motivation to the top sellers in the company and uses different gimmicks within the company to keep employees motivated. Mr. Salatino believes that when employees establish relationships with their customers, they earn more income than those who do not create and/or maintain those types of relationships with customers. Along with top-performing incentives, Mr. Salatino attempts to be efficient in noting key factors for success (excellent communication skills, self-motivation, and self-starters) when hiring an individual for the telemarketing positions to continue the company’s success. Description and insight will be provided on how employees are responsible for knowing...
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