Where can i find some info of classical and operant conditioning?

Question

I'm doing psychology. ive got to include stimulus generalisation, extinction and types of reinforcement.

Answer 1

Classical and Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning. One important type of learning, Classical Conditioning, was actually discovered accidentally by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who discovered this phenomenon while doing research on digestion. His research was aimed at better understanding the digestive patterns in dogs.

During his experiments, he would put meat powder in the mouths of dogs who had tubes inserted into various organs to measure bodily responses. What he discovered was that the dogs began to salivate before the meat powder was presented to them. Then, the dogs began to salivate as soon as the person feeding them would enter the room. He soon began to gain interest in this phenomenon and abandoned his digestion research in favor of his now famous Classical Conditioning study.

Basically, the findings support the idea that we develop responses to certain stimuli that are not naturally occurring. When we touch a hot stove, our reflex pulls our hand back. It does this instinctually, no learning involved. It is merely a survival instinct. But why now do some people, after getting burned, pull their hands back even when the stove is not turned on? Pavlov discovered that we make associations which cause us to generalize our response to one stimuli onto a neutral stimuli it is paired with. In other words, hot burner = ouch, stove = burner, therefore, stove = ouch.

Pavlov began pairing a bell sound with the meat powder and found that even when the meat powder was not presented, the dog would eventually begin to salivate after hearing the bell. Since the meat powder naturally results in salivation, these two variables are called the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the unconditioned response (UCR), respectively. The bell and salivation are not naturally occurring; the dog was conditioned to respond to the bell. Therefore, the bell is considered the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the salivation to the bell, the conditioned response (CR).

Many of our behaviors today are shaped by the pairing of stimuli. Have you ever noticed that certain stimuli, such as the smell of a cologne or perfume, a certain song, a specific day of the year, results in fairly intense emotions? It's not that the smell or the song are the cause of the emotion, but rather what that smell or song has been paired with...perhaps an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, the death of a loved one, or maybe the day you met you current husband or wife. We make these associations all the time and often don’t realize the power that these connections or pairings have on us. But, in fact, we have been classically conditioned.





Operant Conditioning. Another type of learning, very similar to that discussed above, is called Operant Conditioning. The term "Operant" refers to how an organism operates on the environment, and hence, operant conditioning comes from how we respond to what is presented to us in our environment. It can be thought of as learning due to the natural consequences of our actions.

Let's explain that a little further. The classic study of Operant Conditioning involved a cat who was placed in a box with only one way out; a specific area of the box had to be pressed in order for the door to open. The cat initially tries to get out of the box because freedom is reinforcing. In its attempt to escape, the area of the box is triggered and the door opens. The cat is now free. Once placed in the box again, the cat will naturally try to remember what it did to escape the previous time and will once again find the area to press. The more the cat is placed back in the box, the quicker it will press that area for its freedom. It has learned, through natural consequences, how to gain the reinforcing freedom.

We learn this way every day in our lives. Imagine the last time you made a mistake; you most likely remember that mistake and do things differently when the situation comes up again. In that sense, you’ve learned to act differently based on the natural consequences of your previous actions. The same holds true for positive actions. If something you did results in a positive outcome, you are likely to do that same activity again.

Answer 2

Here are the basics of classical and operant conditioning:

Classical: this is a stimulus/response approach characterised by forming an association between a reflex behaviour (such as feeling fear) and a previously neutral stimulus. In classical conditioning, stimuli and responses are either unconditioned, conditioned or neutral (but these are not fixed). For example, if I hear a sudden loud bang (an unconditioned stimulus) I'm likely to get a fright (unconditioned response). A neutral stimulus is unlikely to provoke a response of fear in me-for example using a pencil. However, if everytime I pick up a pencil I hear a loud bang which scares me, I may begin to associate the bang (and fear) with using the pencil. If the presentation of the bang and the pencil occurs frequently over time, I may begin to fear using the pencil. This means that the pencil is now a conditoned stimulus and the fear I feel at using it is now a conditioned response. A previously neutral stimulus only becomes conditioned when it provokes the conditioned response in the abscence of the unconditioned stimulus (when the pencil provokes fear without the bang being heard.) Generalisation would occur if I then feared objects which resembled pencils, such as pens or sticks etc. Extinction occurs if over time I never hear the bang when using the pencil again, and so learn that I no longer need to fear the pencil, and the pencil may return to being a neutral stimulus.

Operant: this is characterised by learning through punishment and reinforcement. Reinforcement is only ever used to INCREASE a behaviour, punishment is only ever used to DECREASE a behaviour. There are 2 types of reinforcement and 3 types of punishment:
Positive reinforcement is when a stimulus is presented to increase a behaviour-for example a child at school receiving a gold star for neat work increases the chance of the child producing neat work again.
Negative reinforcement is when an aversive stimulus is removed to increase behaviour, for example 2 siblings may go and wash the dishes if it stops their parents moaning at them to do it.
Positive punishment is when an aversive stimulus is presented to decrease a behaviour, for example getting a smack for being cheeky to a parent decreases a child being cheeky again.
Time-out is when someone is isolated from something that is causing undesirable behaviour in order to decrease that behaviour. This could be sending 2 children into separate rooms if they are fighting with each other.
Response cost is when something is taken away to decrease a behaviour, such as telling a child they won't get to play their computer tonight because they have misbehaved-they may then stop misbehaving.
Punishment and reinforcement can only be effective if they are given contingently and immediately.

Hopefully this will help you a little!

Answer 3

Use an introduction to psychology book. All good ones will have this information. Case of Little Albert (Watson & Rayner, 1920) is good for generalisation (Albert was conditioned to fear rats, and generalised this fear to all things white and fluffy). With operarant conditioning be careful not to confuse punishment with negative reinforcement (my students often did!):

Punishment is used when you want someone to STOP doing something, e.g. picking their nose in public/smoking/swearing. Negative reinforcement can be used when you want someone to DO SOMETHING that they don't really want to do - you can apply a threat that they want to avoid happening, e.g. detention if they don't do their homework. The detention is negatively reinforcing - it makes a desired behaviour more likely to occur. Where the confusion arises is because detention is considered a punishment. This is only the case when it is being used to STOP you doing something school doesn't want you to do. Another way to get people to do something they don't want to do is to use the "Premack Principle". This is like a bribe - you can't go out with your friends until you've done your homework is an example. The behaviour that the child wants to engage in is contingent on them performing a behaviour that they don't choose to do, but that you want them to do.

Hope that helps somewhat. Good luck.

Answer 4

You are mixing your methods! Classical conditioning is the pavlovian school of thought - linking together two normally unassociated stimuli; whereas operant conditioning is linking together a stimulus and a consequence which is commonly known as reinforcement.

Answer 5

Read/research anything by Pavlov (CC) or B.F. Skinner (OC).

Answer 6

try an introductory psychology textbook, they always have loads. find one in your school library and check it out.

Answer 7

This website might be interesting http://nobelprixe.org/educational_game/medicine/pavlov/index.html

Answer 8

romans had a public bath

too much information?