This essay outlines the basic principles of classical and operant conditioning and considers the similarities and differences between these two models of learning.

Classical conditioning is so named after the experimental procedure devised by the physiologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), when he changed his focus from the digestive system to conditioning, after noticing a dog salivate when it saw the bucket in which its food was kept.

Pavlov devised an instrument to measure the salivation of the dog when giving it meat powder. The meat powder was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the response was salivation, an unconditioned response (UCR). 'Unconditioned' means that the response is automatic, based on instinct. He then rang a bell, the neutral stimulus, and directly afterwards gave some meat powder (UCS) to the dog. The dog responded by salivating. Pavlov repeated this several times a day for 1 week and discovered that if he rang the bell but did not give the dog meat powder it still salivated. He now saw the bell as a conditioned stimulus (CS), and the salivation as a conditioned response (CR), as it had been learned.

Another use is 'Aversion Therapy', which tackles addiction. Administering an emetic drug, which would make them vomit whenever they imbibed alcohol, would treat an alcoholic.

Some common words found in the essay are:
BF Skinner, Ivan Pavlov, Conditioning Classical, Classical Operant, EL Thorndike, DIFFERENCES Classical, Stimulus Discrimination, Law Effect', Stimulus Generalisation, CR CS, operant conditioning, meat powder, classical conditioning, neutral stimulus, introduction psychology, classical operant conditioning, classical operant, paired ucs, produce response, schedules reinforcement, rc smith bem, 'pleasant consequence', atkinson rc smith, smith bem dj, bem dj hilgard,
Approximate Word count = 1621
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)