Approaches

Classical conditioning

Learning through association - by pairing the stimulus with something neutral

Who did this? Pavlov and his dog experiment, Little Albert John Watson

Operant conditioning

Learning through consequence - positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment

Who did this? Skinner (Skinner’s Box)

Positive - reward for behaviour (increases)

Negative - do the behaviour to avoid a bad situation (increase)

Punishment - negative consequence for a behaviour (decreases)

Pavlov’s Dog’s

Stimulus = Response

Food (UCS) = Drooling (UCR)

Food (UCS) + Bell (NS) = Drooling (UCR) → Pairing of food and bell

Bell (NS → CS) = Drooling (UCR → CR)

UCS - Unconditioned Stimulus, UCR - Unconditioned Response, NS - Neutral Stimulus, CS - Conditioned Stimulus, CR - Conditioned Response

Skinner’s Box

Rats (&Pigeons) in a small box

Plain box with treat lever & electric current box with a lever to stop the shock

Lever pulled to get treat → positive reinforcement as it increases the behaviour of pulling the lever

Lever pulled to stop the shock from the box → negative reinforcement as it makes them perform that action to avoid the bad situation, so increases the behaviour of pulling the lever