The Theory Of Classical Conditioning - 1824 Words

Classical conditioning The first theory of learning is called classical conditioning and was developed by Ivan Pavlov a Russian physiologist. He started working with dogs to investigate their digestive system, they were ties to a harness and Pavlov added monitors to their stomachs and mouths to measure the rate of saliva produced. He found out that when a lab assistant came in to give the dog food before the dog tasting the food it started to produce saliva, saliva is a reflex response and Pavlov found that unusual because saliva is produced when food touches the tongue but then Pavlov learned that the dog associated food to the lab assistant and like that the he developed his theory. He learnt that food led to an automatic release of†¦show more content†¦Children are taught and are disciplined which is a bit like classical conditioning. When children are praised each time when they do good they are encouraged to do so all the time this is like classical conditioning. Operant conditioning and the importance of reinforcement This is a type of learning that is associated with the theory of Burrhus Fredric Skinner he was an American psychologist who worked with rats and pigeons to research and discover key principles of learning new behaviours, he used a device called a skinner box which is now a famous device, the box has a lever that when it has been pressed a food pellet is released therefore reinforcing a lever-pressing behaviour. When the rat is placed in the box it would run around the box and sniff all the items in the box and then in some time the rat would press the lever that would release a food pellet and after a while when the rat has to repeat the action of pressing the lever to get a food pellet it would learn this behaviour of pressing the lever for a food pellet as the food is something the rat likes this increases its probability of repeating its behaviour. There are two types of reinforcement, the first type is called positive reinforcement ant the second type is called negative reinforc ement. Skinner investigated the negative reinforcement by adding a low electric current on the floor of the box which would be deactivated if the rat would press the lever and this behaviour is seen in