Classical And Operant Conditioning Comparison Essay

How Classical and Operant Conditioning are Different Even though they have similarities, there are vast differences in how classical conditioning and operant conditioning are performed. First is how the learning is performed. In classical conditioning, it is the process by which a stimulus that does not produce an action is directly linked to one that does. Operant conditioning is the process by which the likelihood of a response is governed by the consequences of responding. The timing of when learning occurs is also different. For classical conditioning, learning occurs before response, while operant conditioning has the learning take place after response. While classical conditioning is a passive form of learning, operant conditioning requires
the learner to actively participate. The expectancies differ between the two, as classical conditioning has the US follow the CS, operant conditioning states that the response will have a specific effect. These are just a few of the basic differences between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
How Classical and Operant Conditioning Have Affected me Throughout my life, classical conditioning and operant conditioning have affected my learning in a mostly unconscious way.
For the most part, I must say that classical conditioning and operant conditioning have affected me on a relatively even level, in their own respects. Learned fears are a product of classical conditioning, which I have acquired over time. Conditioned emotional response (CER) is a learned fear that is the beginning of phobias, something I struggle with. Some of my phobias can be attributed to observing the reactions of my peers, others I do not remember what caused them to occur. As I have been affected by classical conditioning, I have also been affected by operant conditioning. Even though operant conditioning is recognized as active participation, I find that I was largely unaware of my habits being formed. An example of this would be social media, for a time when I was in high school, I learned to over use it as a resource. I found that using social media would lead to positive responses from my peers; thus, I was more likely to use it. Of course, like a large majority of people today, I have also been conditioned through token reinforcers. These being money or gold stars during my primary school years to reward and shape my behavior. Until this course, I cannot say I could tell or identify when I was being conditioned; however, I could see a correlation between events at
times.
Conclusion
Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Skinner’s operant conditioning are forms of associative learning and are largely unconscious to the subject when being practiced. As with most topics, there are similarities and differences that can drawn between them. As from my personal experience, we can go throughout our daily lives without noticing just how much our behavior is being adjusted by everyday events. Truly, we live lives that are influenced and actively shape our behavior more that we ordinarily believe.