Classical conditioning is type of learning where a stimulus gets the capacity to arouse a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.

Ivan Pavlov studied the role of saliva in the digestion processes of dogs when he discovered that the dog he was using started to salivate when a device that delivered meat to it clicked. (Weiten Wayne, 2001).

Fascinated by the finding, Pavlov paired meat with simpler auditory stimulus such as the ringing of a bell. After the meal and the bell were presented together several times, the bell was used alone. Pavlov’s dog salivated (Learning-theories.com/classical-conditioning-pavlov.html).

Following the phenomenon, he considered meat the unconditioned stimulus and the dog’s salivation unconditioned response. The bell became the conditioned stimulus after the dog learnt to associate it with food. It start conditioned stimulus that produced the conditioned response; salivation by the dog in absence of food (Learning-theories.com/classical-conditioning-pavlov.html).

Ivan Pavlov denoted the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response as UCS, UCR, CS and CR respectively.

B.F Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism and Operant Conditioning

Skinner used a rat in an enclosed cage which had a lever that when pressed, maize seeds fell for the rat to feed on. When the rat accidentally pressed the lever, maize seeds fell prompting it to press the lever severally for more seeds (Feldman S., (2002) Understanding Psychology)

He named this type of learning “Operant Conditioning” because it is a condition that results from a behavior which operates from an environment to produce certain results. (Learning-theories.com/classical-conditioning-pavlov.html)

The Theories’ Relation to Personality

According to Weiten, Wayne 2001, how people behave today may have been shaped by pairing of a stimulus. It has come to be established that some people elicit intense emotions when they hear songs or smell certain perfumes. It is not the music or the smells that cause the emotions but what the people in question have paired the stimuli with. For example they might have paired them with the loss of loved ones or the day they parted ways with their spouses. Such behaviors are as a result of Classical conditioning.

As demonstrated by Skinner B.F, people adopt behaviors that are followed by admirable results and tend to shun those responses which evoke neutral or unfavorable consequences. This way, good behaviors are reinforced. For example, a mother may praise her son for spreading his bed one morning. This triggers the son to spread his bed every morning so that he can receive more praise from his mother. This is positive reinforcement. (Friedman, Howard S., Schustak, Miriam, W., (2005). Negative reinforcement occurs for instance, when a child stops watching television to study, for better grades at school. Punishment is administered when negative behavior occurs.

Response To Joy’s Post.

A good trial there Joy,although I must add that your essay is too casual and looks like it is not intended for studies’ use.You have made reference to youtube.com which is not a study site.You too have included information that is not necessary in your work,such as the period the two experimenters lived.

Response To Megan’s Post

Hello Megan,you gave your opinion too early about dog’s and human’s similarities and exaggerated the essay.Use of Latin abbreviation is also evident in your work. Using a video,especially from youtube, is not recommendable.