Compare and contrast the learning principles of Pavlovs Classical Conditioning and Skinners Operant Conditioning Free Essay Example, 2000 words

Pavlovs findings was significant to psychologists influencing a prominent American psychologist name J. B Watson who conducted an experiment aimed at demonstrating conditioning of fear responses in human beings. Using little Albert as his subject, Watson used a rat as the neutral stimulus, loud noise as his unconditioned stimulus, and observed his fearful reactions (unconditioned response). Initially, baby Albert did not exhibit fearful reactions to the rat. However, after Watson repeatedly paired the rats appearance with loud noise, Albert exhibited fearful reactions towards the rat. This marked a milestone in understanding modification of behavior in human beings through classical conditioning. B. F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Burrhus Frederic Skinner was also a proponent of behaviorism; however, his ideologies represented a more radicalized view. According to him, past experiences defined by a person’s environment (environmental histories) and reinforcing consequences influence people’s behaviors. Schedules of reinforcement are integral to operant conditioning. They encompass duration and frequency of reinforcing desirable behavior. They include continuous and partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedules, whereby the latter has other four sub-categories. i. Continuous reinforcement schedule- it encompasses reinforcement of behavior after every occurrence. We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and contrast the learning principles of Pavlov's Classical Conditioning and Skinner's Operant Conditioning or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now More often than not, this schedule proves useful during the initial stages of learning new behaviors. It allows individuals to establish a strong association between behaviors and responses. Negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement and punishments are all useful in the implementation of continuous reinforcement schedule. ii. Intermittent/partial reinforcement schedule- in this type, reinforcement occurs part of the time. This prevents display of behaviors only when the time for reinforcing the behavior draws nearer. In addition, it prevents extinction of the behavior because the strengthening of associations formed between behaviors and responses occurs is continuous. The sub-categories include: Fixed-ratio- refers to an intermittent schedule characterized by the reinforcement of behavior after a specific number of responses. Variable-ratio- refers to an intermittent schedule characterized by the reinforcement of behavior after a varied or unp redictable number of responses. Such a schedule created a high and steady rate of responding. Fixed-interval- refers to an intermittent schedule characterized by the reinforcement of the first response after its occurrence after a specified amount of time passes.