In class, we discussed the concepts of classical and operant conditioning.  Classical conditioning involves pairing a stimulus that was previously neutral with an unconditioned stimulus. An example of this theory can be given using my cats.

For this example, we need a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. These happen to be the sound of a bag of cat treats being shaken (the neutral stimulus) and the delicious taste of the treats to my cats (unconditioned stimulus).  When my cats were in the room, I gave them a treat and then shook the bag. After doing this many times, they associated the sound of the bag being shaken with the yummy taste of a treat. Now, when I shake the bag of treats and they are in another room, they come running. It doesn’t even have to be the bag of treats. If anything is shaken and sounds at all similar to the treats being shaken, my cats come running because they want to be given a scrumptious tuna flavored snack. This has turned the sound of the treats being shaken into the conditioned stimulus and the running into the room has become the conditioned response.

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner developed the theory of operant conditioning to explain how voluntary behavior is learned. Our textbook explains that, “in this theory, behavioral responses that are followed by pleasurable consequences are strengthened, or reinforced. An example of this has to do with me. Last semester for Educational Psychology, we were given an extra credit opportunity to conduct an operant conditioning study on ourselves. I had wanted to drink more water, so I made it my goal to drink four bottles of water a day. To condition myself to do this, I had to reward myself to reinforce the behavior. I chose my reinforcer to be a West cookie. So, every time I drank four bottles of water in a day, I had a West cookie for dessert. After the experiment period was over, I found myself drinking more water in a day than I had before. This semester I still drink more water than I used to, and this is because my behavior was reinforced enough to make this behavior stick.

Bibliography:
Cherry, Kendra. “Classical vs Operant Conditioning.” About.com Psychology . About.com, n.d. Web. 4 Feb 2014.
Ciccarelli, Sandra K., and J. Noland White. Psychology. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2012. 14. Print.