Tag: Pavlov

Operant Conditioning

During Dr.Wedes lecture our class discussed two different types of conditioning described as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is when an organism learns to associate stimuli.  A very popular example of this conditioning is Pavlov’s dogs. Operant conditioning happens when an organism forms an association between behaviors and resulting events. An example of operant conditioning is teaching a seal to balance a ball on its nose by feeding it fish after it does the action. The main difference is that classical conditioning associates an involuntary response and operant conditioning associates a voluntary behavior.

I experienced operant conditioning when I was around the age of two. My parents told me that they created a system of operant conditioning to help me potty train. My mom said she kept a jar of M&M’s in the bathroom and each time I came to the bathroom myself she would give me one. She said this worked for a while until I got bored of the M&M’s and I would walk to the bathroom just to eat the M&M’s and fell back into my routine of diapers. She then came up with a better idea and said that each time I went to the bathroom she would tally it on a chart and once it reached a certain number then we would go to Disney World. She had already been planning the trip but acted like I had to work for it and my two year old self was so excited and became determined to reach the goal. My mom was using a positive reinforcement to increase my behaviors by presenting a positive reaction and reward each time I went to the bathroom. She said I would practically run to the bathroom each time I had to go so I could reach the goal. She said that even after I reached the goal of Disney I still kept going to the bathroom because I associated a very positive feeling and reward with it.

Although this was just a small example, operant conditioning can be used in various amounts of ways. This type of conditioning is great for training pets and humans. Both types of conditioning are used in tv shows and everyday life.

Classical Conditioning

We as humans  learn by making associations.  Our minds connect events that happen in a sequence.  Classical Conditioning is a process where a human or animal learns by associating stimuli.  In classical conditioning there is a US (unconditioned stimulus) NS (neutral stimulus) CS (conditioned stimulus) UC (unconditioned response) and CR (conditioned response.  For classical conditioning to occur, the neutral stimulus must come before the unconditioned response because it has to predict something happening.  Acquisition is associating a neutral stimulus with a unconditioned response.  An example of classical conditioning Pavlov’s Experiment which consisted of  training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell (tone).  Extinction is diminishing of a conditioned response; this happens when the US no longer follows the CS.  Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a distinguished response after a break.  We can all relate to classical conditioning; I will give an example of how I personally relate.

All-Star Cheer competitions are very loud an noisy which can make someone anxious.  Always wearing your uniform when you feel this emotions make me associate the uniform with anxious feelings.  In the morning of the competition when I put on the uniform it would make me feel anxiety and have an accelerated heart rate.

US – loud noise at cheer competitions

US – accelerated heart rate and anxiety

CS – putting on my cheer uniform that morning

CR- accelerated heart rate and anxiety

 

Pocket Change and Classical Conditioning

My dad has had a job in the city since my brother and I were little, so he takes the train to work everyday and needs change to pay the meter to park his car at the train station. He would arrive home from work at about 5:30pm everyday, and there is a bell on the mudroom door that rings when it’s swung open, so when my brother and I were little, we would hear the bell and know dad was home. At one point, my dad began giving us the change left in his pocket from the parking meter for us to put in our piggy banks. We loved getting change for our piggy banks because that meant that we would eventually be able to take it to the bank and put it in a machine that would spit out cash. Soon enough, every time my brother and I heard the bell from the door swinging open, we equated that to dad giving us change for our piggy banks. We would run out to the kitchen were he came in from the mudroom to collect our change, even if it wasn’t actually dad or he didn’t have change. This is an example of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a phenomenon that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired and the response elected by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone. The ring of the bell by the door swinging caused my brother and I to run into the kitchen thinking we were getting change for our piggy banks, no matter if that was actually the case or not. The idea of classical conditioning was mostly developed by Ivan Pavlov, who did experiments on the physiology of digestion in dogs. Dogs would salivate simply from seeing the technician who typically fed them, rather than just from food itself. Just like the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment, my brother and I would get excited at the sound of the bell ringing, rather than just the change we would receive for our piggy banks, indicating classical conditioning.