Classical and Operant Conditioning

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I. Classical Conditioning

A. A neutral stimulus becomes conditioned by being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (ex: bell and food)
B. How classical conditioning works

1. Unconditioned stimuli produce reflex/unconditioned responses (ex: food -->salivation)
2. Neutral stimulus is introduced with unconditioned stimulus (ex: dish and food)
3. Neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus eliciting a conditioned response (ex: empty food dish-->salivation)

C. Ivan Pavlov

1. Experimented with dogs
2. Called dogs' learning conditioning (now known as classical conditioning)

D. Can be seen in everyday examples

1. People can be conditioned to spend time with people who make them happy, etc.
2. Can also be associated with fear or anxiety, as in accident victims becoming fearful of cars, etc.

E. Little Albert

1. Conditioned to be afraid of rats
2. Fear generalized to other furry objects
3. Unethical experiment by Watson and Rayner

II. Behaviorism vs. psychodynamic theory of neurosis

A. Behaviorists challenge Freud

1. Freud relies on unconscious desires
2. Case of Little Hans

a. Freud interpreted fear of horses as fear of the father
b. Behaviorists would say a frightening horse experience had conditioned Hans

B. Behaviorism interprets behavior externally

III. Trauma and Anxiety

A. Anxiety reactions occur after trauma and continue later in life
B. Anxiety is a learned fear reaction that can be generalized (brought on by diverse stimuli)
C. If the generalization becomes too distanced from the original traumatic stimulus, the connection between the two can seem irrational
D. Anxieties can be acquired through conditioning

1. Words, not just events, can be painful
2. Stimuli linked to emotion bring on stronger reactions

IV. Anxiety, Avoidance, and Conflict

A. People try to reduce/avoid anxiety
B. Escape and avoidance patterns

1. Can be adaptive to avoid future traumas
2. Can also cause avoidance to situations that are not dangerous
3. Reinforced patterns can have negative consequences if generalized
4. Avoidance reactions are most troublesome when the threat can't be avoided

a. Parents both love and punish children
b. Ambivalence and conflict occur when stimuli that elicit positive responses are also the sources of negative avoidance reactions
c. Anxiety reactions highest when child can't be certain of punishable behaviors

V. Higher-order conditioning

A. When a neutral stimulus becomes conditioned and is then paired with a different neutral stimulus that can then evoke response
B. In people, words can be examples of higher-order conditioning

VI. B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning

A. Studies behavior as the basic unit and seeks to know which conditions direct it
B. In personality, a person's behavior shows what they are
C. Rejection of inferred motives

1. Behaviorists analyze behavior by observable events and the conditions that vary with those events
2. Refuse idea that specific motivations exist for behavior
3. Try to instead discern events that influence and maintain behavior
4. Motivation or drive is just the effects of deprivations or satiations
5. Behavior not caused by motives but by the external environment

D. Skinner's basic strategy

1. Functional analysis-link behavior to exact determining conditions
2. Most human behavior is result of freely-given response patterns (operants)

E. Operant Conditioning

1. Operant behavior modified ny its consequences
2. Nearly all events can be reinforcers
3. Operant conditioning is learnign based on the consequences produced by responses
4. The outcomes of a particular behavior influence a person's future behavior
5. Maladaptive behavior can also be influenced in this way

F. Conditioned generalized reinforcers

1. Conditioned reinforcers are generalized when paired with more than one primary reinforcer (ex: money-->shelter, food, etc.)
2. Can be present in social relationships

G. Discrimination and generalization

1. Discriminative stimuli tell when an operant response will/won't have favorable consequences
2. Generalization is uniform reward of a response pattern under many conditions

H. Successive approximation (shaping) is the successive rewarding of closer approximations to a desired behavior
I. Schedules of reinforcement affect future occurence and strength of reinforced behavior

1. Continuous-behavior reinforced every time it happens
2. Partial-reinforcement is intermittent
3. Partial is more common and effective

J. Superstitions

1. Operant response and reinforcement is often a causal relationship
2. People develop irrationalities much in the way pigeons are affected by schedules of reinforcement

K. Punishment

1. Is an aversive stimulation
2. Variables about what is punishable for children depends on child's age and sex
3. Punishment should be quick and specific in order to teach child appropriate behavior

Reference

Mischel, W. (1993). Behavioral conceptions. In W. Mischel, Introduction to personality (pp.295-316). New York: Harcourt Brace.

If you have RealPlayer, you can go to this site to hear B.F. Skinner describe operant conditioning

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