The 6 differences between classical and operant conditioning

When talking about behaviorism, there are two terms that inevitably come to mind: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Many are those who confuse these ideas, sometimes seen as practically the same thing. Naturally, they are not and therefore let's delve into the differences between classical and operant conditioningNot without first seeing in detail what each one refers to.

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How to distinguish between classical and operant conditioning?

Among the most famous currents of thought in psychology we find behaviorism, which takes learning as its main object of study and the reason for its theories. Two of the main forms of associative learning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning, two learning modalities that are sometimes confused when talking about them in the form of an inseparable binomial.

The most basic of the two is the classic one, which consists of an implicit associative learning in which two stimuli are associated, an unconditional stimulus and a conditioned one. The operant, first described by the psychologist E. Thorndike at the beginning of the 20th century and deepened by the radical behaviorist B. F. Skinner, the individual learns to associate a response to a stimulus important to him.

What is classical conditioning?

The story of how classical conditioning was discovered is well known. It happened at the beginning of the 20th century, in Tsarist Russia. A physiologist named Ivan PavlovFrom the objectivist-reflexological tradition, he was researching salivation in animals, wanting to discover its function and composition. He was doing his experiments on dogs and one day he noticed that the dogs began to salivate before even seeing the food. How could dogs know that food was coming without seeing it?

Pavlov realized that dogs behaved like this when they heard his footsteps. The dogs had associated the noise that Pavlov made when approaching them with food, for that reason they began to salivate before even seeing it. It was enough for them to hear the Russian scientist's footsteps to know that they were soon to receive a succulent delicacy. This is how Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, also called associative learning and, thanks to this, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1904.

The main concepts of classical conditioning are:

• Unconditioned stimulus (US): stimulus with sufficient intensity to produce a response. It does not require prior experience on the part of the body to issue a response.
• Unconditioned response (IR): it is the response triggered by the unconditioned stimulus.
• Neutral stimulus (NE): it is a stimulus that does not produce any effect on behavior.
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): after a repeated association between the US and the NE, the second acquires properties of the first and causes a response similar to the IR to be given.
• Conditioned response (CR): it is the response that occurs to the CS, being basically IR caused by what was previously a NE but is now a CS.

Principles of classical conditioning

An unconditioned stimulus (EI) elicits an unconditioned response (IR). If a neutral stimulus (NE) is added to that US, after several joint presentations of both stimuli, the NE is it will become a conditioned stimulus (CS), that is, without the need for the US, it will cause the conditioned response to be emitted (RC).

In the case of Pavlov's dogs, the US would be the food and the IR would be the salivation. The EN / EC would be the sound of Pavlov's footsteps that, accompanied by the presentation of food, would make the dogs associate both stimuli and the moment would come when it would be enough to hear such steps for the dogs to salivate (CR), without the need to see meal.

Classical conditioning explains the acquisition of primary behaviors such as fear of pain, hunger when seeing food, salivation when seeing a lemon ...

This mechanism explains the acquisition of primary behaviors such as fear of pain, hunger, etc. Its use allows the induction of alarm reactions (cardiac acceleration, activation of the nervous system, etc.) but is inappropriate for building articulate behaviors, such as hazard elimination and risk prevention.

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What is operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning is what causes an organism to associate a response with a stimulus, initially neutral and then conditioned.. However, this type of conditioning is very basic and primitive, and its main limitation is that response emitted itself was not new, but was already present before being conditioned to a stimulus determined.

Operant or instrumental conditioning, on the other hand, is the situation in which the organism, when it performs a new behavior, receives as a consequence a different stimulus. This type of learning refers to the process in which the frequency of a behavior is modified or altered due to the consequences that behavior produces. Consequences are always the result of a response to a specific stimulus.

A consequence can be positive (reward) or negative (punishment) for the body that carries out the response. If the consequences are positive, the probability that the behavior that caused them will be repeated will increase, while if they are negative, this probability will be reduced. Reinforcement is used to induce a repeat of the desired behavior, while punishment is used to prevent or extinguish unwanted behavior.

Among the fundamental concepts of operant conditioning we have:

• Reinforcement: any event that increases the probability that a certain behavior will be done. This can be positive or negative. A positive reinforcement implies something that the organism that performs the behavior likes, while a negative one implies something that it dislikes.
• Punishment: is any procedure used to eliminate a certain behavior. This can be positive or negative. We say that a punishment is negative when something that displeases the experimental subject is supplied, while it is negative when something that he liked is withdrawn.
• Extinction: it is the reduction in the frequency of the subject's response when it is no longer reinforced or is punished.
• Acquisition: it is the increase in the frequency of a behavioral pattern, usually when it is reinforced.

Principles of operant conditioning

The most important figure regarding operant conditioning is that of B. F. Skinner. In fact, the experiments of this behavioral psychologist are so important that one of the main elements used to apply operant conditionings receives his surname: the box of Skinner.

In that box, Skinner put mice that were free to move randomly. At one point, the rodent activated a lever designed to drop food. In no time the mice began to repeat that behavior over and over again, learning that if they pressed the lever they would get food, their reinforcement. Learning of this type was called by Skinner operant, since the organism operates on the environment knowing that it will bring it a certain consequence.

Thus, in this specific case of operant conditioning we have an animal that, by accidentally pressing the lever, receives food (positive reinforcement). As he pushes that lever more and more, he associates that action with receiving something he likes., and therefore he will not stop doing it.

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Main differences between classical and operant conditioning

Now that we better understand what classical conditioning and operant conditioning are, let's address what their main differences:

1. Definition

Classical conditioning is a type of learning that involves the association between two stimuli, one being the one that indicates the appearance of the other.

However, operant conditioning implies that living organisms learn to behave in a particular way due to consequences that has triggered a certain action done by them in the past.

2. Conditioning process

In the classic, the conditioning process occurs when the experimental organism associates two stimuli, one that provokes an involuntary response and the other that, originally, did not provoke anything. After being exposed to both frequently, he ends up emitting involuntary behavior in the face of a stimulus that was previously neutral.

On the other hand, in operant conditioning, the behavior of the organism will be modified according to the consequences that this same behavior entails.

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3. Behaviors involved

Classical conditioning is based on involuntary or reflexive behaviors (reflexes) such as physiological and emotional responses of the body. Also in emotions, thoughts and feelings.

In the case of operant conditioning, this is based on voluntary behavior, active actions of the organism that carries out a behavior to obtain a consequence later.

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4. Control of conditioned responses

In classical conditioning, the body's responses are under the control of the stimulus, whereas in the operant, the control of responses is exercised by the experimental organism.

5. Definition of stimulus

In classical conditioning we speak of a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus. In the operant, the conditioned stimulus is not defined, but we speak of operant response, reinforcement, punishment, extinction and acquisition of a certain behavior.

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6. Role of the organism

The organism plays a passive role in classical conditioning, the occurrence of the unconditional stimulus being under the control of the researcher.

Contrary to this, in the operant the appearance of reinforcement is under the control of the organism, who exercises an active role carrying out a certain behavior that he assumes will involve some kind of consequence.