“Classical and Instrumental Conditioning”;
Many behavioural psychologist would suggest that all behaviours are learnt. Through Bandura’s (1961) study with the Bobo doll, it was found that behaviours can be learnt through imitation which allowed him to propose the idea of the Social Learning Theory which suggests that overall, behaviours can be learnt through association, reinforcement and imitation. This may occur through the processes of classical and instrumental conditioning. These are considered very important learning processes and are consider fundamental in behavioural psychology (Pearce, 2008). When we learn certain behaviours, we are acquiring new information. This new information is used to increase animal’s chances of survival. In this essay, both classical and operant conditioning will be evaluated on how well they can provide an explanation for learning.
Classical conditioning also referred to as Pavlovian conditioning is the process in which humans and animals acquire new information through association. Classical conditioning was discovered by Ivan Pavlov. During classical conditioning, animals learn to anticipate events which allows them to increase their chances of survival. Pavlov’s (1927) famous experiment involving dogs demonstrated and supports the idea that humans and animals can learn through classical conditioning. Before the experiment, the food (unconditioned stimulus) produced a salivation response (unconditioned response). During the experiment, the presentation of a bell (neutral stimulus) and the food was repeated. This caused the dog to salivate (unconditioned response). By the end of the experiment, when the bell was presented on its own, Pavlov (1927) found that the dogs salivated even though no food was presented hence suggesting that the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus) had created salivation (conditioned response) as the dog anticipated the arrival of food. This demonstrates that an association has been formed between the sound of the bell and the food. This describes learning as the dogs acquired new information about the bell. They had learnt that when the bell was presented, food was also presented which was shown by their salivation. After classical conditioning has occurred, the conditioned stimulus can increase or decrease in the magnitude of a behavioural response. This is referred to as excitatory and inhibitory conditioning, respectfully.
As well as classical conditioning, the other fundamental learning process in psychology is known as instrumental conditioning. Instrumental conditioning also known as operant conditioning is the process in which we learn through positive or negative reinforcement. Behaviour is affected by whether it is rewarded or punished. For instance, if a certain behaviour is followed by a negative response, that behaviour is unlikely to be repeated, hence the stimulus-response connection is weakened. However, if a behaviour is positively reinforced, this behaviour is more likely to reoccur as the stimulus-response connection is strengthened. Thorndike (1898) referred to this strengthening as the Law of Effect. Thorndike (1898) conducted a study involving cats to observe how behaviour is learnt through instrumental conditioning. This experiment involved examining the cats to see how they would escape from the puzzle box, in order to gain access to the food, and how long it took them to do so. Thorndike (1898) noted that the cat managed to escape due to trial and error and not due to the cat seeing the solution. The cat understood the consequences of its behaviour; once the lever is pressed, the cat can escape. After many trails, the cat had managed to escape quicker than the previous trial. The lever pressing had led to a positive consequence which enabled the cat to adopt this behaviour. Hence this is how behaviour is leant – through its consequences. The study illustrates that behaviours can be stamped into an animals mind once it has been reinforced. In this case, the cat had learnt the consequences of its actions and continued to display this behaviour to gain the reward.
Certain principles that occur during classical conditioning are also common in instrumental conditioning. They are both processes which lead to the acquisition of new information. In classical conditioning, the more an animal is presented with a stimulus, the more the response weakens which could lead to an extinction of the response. Similarly, in instrumental conditioning extinction occurs when the reinforcer no longer reinforces a learnt behaviour. During extinction, the animal learns new information about the stimulus. As well as extinction, stimulus generalisation is another factor which affects conditioning. This is when a similar stimulus creates the same or similar response to the conditioned stimulus. Once a conditioned response has become extinct, it could reappear after a delay between the presentations of the conditioned stimulus. This is known as spontaneous recovery.
In instrumental conditioning, the presentation of the reinforcement is dependent on the animal doing a particular response whereas in classical conditioning, the presentation is independent. Classical conditioning involves the presence of a neutral stimulus before a conditioned stimulus-response pairing is made whereas in instrumental conditioning, a stimulus-response pairing is made without a neutral stimulus.
Both classical and instrumental conditioning take a behaviourist perspective as they suggest that learning occurs through interaction with the environment. This therefore follows the nurture side to the nature-nurture debate as the processes fails to explain how genes as well as the environment interact hence failing to explain behaviour that may have been inherited.
Also these processes can be generalised to the wider population as they are not cultural specific. Classical and instrumental conditioning also give a useful application to everyday life. For example, the effect of reinforcement and punishment can be used to reduce crime. Once a criminal is punished for their crimes, they would learn not to do it again.
As classical and instrumental conditioning takes a behaviourist approach in psychology, it can be criticised as being reductionist as it doesn’t take into account other explanations of learning and influences of behaviour. A more holistic explanation will involve how our biological functioning and cognitive processes influences the way animals and humans learn.
To conclude, classical and instrumental conditioning may not provide a significant amount of explanation for learning. Some behaviourist psychologists believe that classical conditioning is too simplistic to explain behaviour so instead, instrumental conditioning provides a more thorough explanation. Skinner (1938) believed that behaviour should be explained in terms of its consequences and conducted further research into instrumental conditioning based around Thorndike’s Law of Effect. Individually, classical and operant conditioning may be limited in providing a full explanation to learning but by combining these concepts together and evaluating how they interact, this may provide a deeper understanding to the process of learning. However, the principles, such as extinction, generalisation and recovery, are present in both classical and operant conditioning which may suggest that they are both equally capable at providing a full account to learning.