What are the similarities and differences between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Strengths of the Behaviourist Approach

Behaviourism provides simple, easily testable predictions about behaviour. For example, the effect of reinforcement on behaviour can be easily quantified.

Treatments based on classical or operant conditioning have been effective in treating some disorders. For example, systematic desensitisation can be used to treat Phobias (Wolpe, 1958).

Behaviourism played a key role in making psychology more scientific. For example, most researchers now accept that laboratory experiments with measurable variables are the best form of research.

Limitations of the Behaviourist Approach

Behaviourism’s assumption of a general process of learning does not account for biological predispositions. For example, it is easier to learn phobias of some objects than others (Seligman, 1971).

Behaviourism's assumption that learning takes place through gradual S-R association cannot explain how animals can learn without reinforcement. Tolman & Honzik (1930) showed that rats could learn maps of mazes without operant conditioning.

Behaviourism finds it difficult to explain how humans construct new solutions to problems. For example, children can generate the plural forms of nouns they have never encountered before and could not have learned (Berko, 1958).

What are the similarities between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Classical and operant conditioning are both similar because they involve making association between behaviour and events in an organism's environment and are governed by several general laws of association - for example, it is easier to associate stimuli that are similar to each other and that occur at similar times.

What are the similarities and differences between classical and operant conditioning quizlet?

Both classical conditioning and operant conditioning are processes that lead to learning. Classical conditioning pairs two stimuli, while operant conditioning pairs behavior and response. The learning occurs before the response in classical conditioning and after the response in operant conditioning.

What are the key difference between operant and classical conditioning?

The main difference between classical and operant conditioning is the way the behavior is conditioned. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, a desired behavior is paired with a consequence.