A year ago during holidays I went camping with my youth group. Prior to that I had only witnessed whistles being used in football matches and since I am not a football player, the whistle sound never had a lot of  significance to me. During the one month camp, however, the whistle sound gained new significance. Meal times, were announced by use of a whistle. Whenever we heard the whistle we would take our cups or plates and gather at the dining area for meals. When camping was over, I went home. We live near a community football field. For the first one week every time I heard the whistle, I would go looking for a plate only to remember I was no longer in camp.

The above given  is an example of classical conditioning. Campers feeling hungry and going to the dining area is a natural condition and would have happened even without the whistle. However, over a one month period, the campers were taught to associate whistle with meal time. It is classical conditioning as the whistle blowers only increased the probability of a response to a neutral stimulus; hunger (Malone, 2010). Even without the whistle, hunger would have jolted the campers to visit the dining area. This is unlike in operant conditioning whereby one, tries to increase the chances of the desired response by following a desired response with a reinforcing stimulus and undesired response with a punitive stimulus (Ormrod, 1999).

In the above example of classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus is hunger. Whenever the campers felt hungry they would go check out the dining area for something to eat.  This came naturally without having to be taught by anyone.  Hunger elicits a response without conditioning; hence it’s an unconditioned stimulus (Malone, 2010). The conditioned stimulus in this case was the whistle.

When we began the camping the whistle had nothing to do with food. Over the camping period, we were taught to associate the whistle with meal times. Even after holiday the camp was over, I still associated the whistle with meal time. The unconditioned response in this example is picking the plate or cup and going to the dining area of the camp for meals whenever one felt hungry. This was a natural response stimulated by hunger. The conditioned response in the above given example is; campers going to the dining area of the camp for meals whenever they heard a whistle.  This is a response learned by associating the whistle with hunger.

One can reinforce the conditioned response by repetition. For instance, one can reinforce the idea that the sound of a whistle signifies food by blowing the whistle many times in a day and ensuring that every time the campers hear a whistle, its about food. This will reinforce the conditioned response (Malone, 2010). One can extinct the conditioned response by no longer pairing the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus. In the case of campers, one blows the whistle several times in a day when it has nothing to do with hunger or meals. Slowly the campers will learn not to associate whistle with hunger or meals.

Another way to reinforce the behavior would be through stimulus generalization. In the above example, the sound of a whistle elicits the same response that the hunger does among the campers (Ormrod, 2010). Other sounds similar to the whistle are likely to elicit the same response among the campers, for instance the sound of a flute. Generalizing the stimulus reinforces the learned response.

References

John C. Malone (2010). I.P Pavlov: Classical conditioning. Retrieved from

https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/access/content/group/8af19756-ec27-4c0e-9782-ce901fdb317f/Coss/Ch2_Pavlov.pdf

1. Ormrod (1999). Classical vs. operant conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/b/brocks/Courses/EDS%20248/10%20Operant%20Conditioning/Operant%20Conditioning%20handout.pdf

Conditioning

Order Description

You will post at least 300 words in response to a provided prompt, supporting your assertions with at least 3 citations in proper, current APA format. Required sources are the textbook and a scholarly article (no websites, newspaper articles, etc.), and you must include at least 1 biblical reference with chapter and verse

Question/Prompt: One basic assumption of behaviorism is the idea that learning is largely the result of environmental events. Behaviorists use the term ‘conditioning’ rather than learning. Discuss the basics of conditioning (see Ormond, 2012, Chapter 3) and give an example from your personal experience and the Bible illustrating conditioning in humans.

Conditioning

Order Description

You will post at least 300 words in response to a provided prompt, supporting your assertions with at least 3 citations in proper, current APA format. Required sources are the textbook and a scholarly article (no websites, newspaper articles, etc.), and you must include at least 1 biblical reference with chapter and verse

Question/Prompt: One basic assumption of behaviorism is the idea that learning is largely the result of environmental events. Behaviorists use the term ‘conditioning’ rather than learning. Discuss the basics of conditioning (see Ormond, 2012, Chapter 3) and give an example from your personal experience and the Bible illustrating conditioning in humans.