Download Harrison Rachel Harrison September 21, 2013 7 modes: Definition

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Rachel Harrison
September 21, 2013
7 modes: Definition
Conditioning
There are many theories that are incorporated in Behaviorism. What could be
demonstrated as the main one would be conditioning. The theory of conditioning was introduced
by a non-psychologist Ivan P. Pavlov. Conditioning is a form of learning; one that focuses on a
person’s behavior and utilizes stimuli or controlled environments in order to obtain conditioned
responses from the participants (Ciccarelli). This theory is on that can be used in all areas of
psychology.
Conditioning is a behavioral process where a response becomes more frequent or more
predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement. Reinforcements are typically a
stimulus or reward for a desired response (Conditioning). This means that actions or responses
from a person or animal can be controlled or made more controllable. This process can alter a
participant’s behavior to the point where reinforcements are no longer needed for them to
perform the desired response.
This process is administered in two different ways. The first way is where a given
stimulus becomes increasingly effective in invoking a response. This means a response is
showed in correlation to a reward. The second way is a response occurs with increasing
regularity in a well-specified and stable environment. In this method the environment the
participant is put in results in the desired response, the way you control the response is
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controlling the environment. In both methods there is a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned
response. The conditioned stimulus is the factor that the psychologist or administer is
controlling. The conditioned response is the response that is developed due to the stimulus.
These processes were utilized in the Pavlov Dog experiment.
The theory of conditioning was developed in correlation to the work of a Russian
physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov. His experiment showed that a conditioned stimulus would result in a
conditioned response. He placed a dog in a harness in a sound-shielded room. On each
conditioning trial the sound of a bell was made followed by food powder blown into the dog’s
mouth. This would then make the dog salivate. After the test was proved that the dog would
salivate with feed powder, then the test was administered but the food powder was not released,
just the bell. The dog still salivated. The bell being administered was the conditioned stimulus
and the dog salivating was the conditioned response. Due to the reward administered fallowing
the stimulus the dog would respond as directed. When there was food being presented that was a
unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response because one would always obviously
fallow the other. However when the reward was taken away it became a conditioned response
because the dog only needed to hear the bell, no reward was necessary for it to start salivating.
The bell or the stimulus stayed the same, this conditioned the dog to salivate when it herd the
bell therefor changing his behavior. We learned from this and reached new lengths in Behavioral
studies.
Conditioning is a theory about the way our behavior is affected and changed due to our
environments and experiences. A form learning where the things we go through teaches us or
conditions us to act or react a certain way. Just like the dog in Pavlov’s experiment; every time
we are in a certain environment or situation something or someone tells us to act or be a certain
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way, then rewards us for doing something correctly or we receive consequences. These are the
reinforcements we receive and to receive that same reward again or to avoid the punishment we
perform the desired response.
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"Conditioning (psychology)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013.
Web. 23 Sept. 2013.
ciccarelli, saundra. PSYCHOLOGY. 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc. , 2009. 10. Print.