Principles of Pavlov's Classical Conditioning and Skinner's Operant Conditioning - Essay Example

Pavlov discovered that the dogs began salivating when they heard the sound of the buzzer (metronome), which buzzed every time Pavlov gave the dogs food. This behavior intrigued him; therefore, he set out to test his findings through rigorous experimentation. With the help of his assistant also named Ivan (Tolochinov), they observed and objectively recorded the unconditioned response (salivating) portrayed by the dogs in the experiment after the presentation of an unconditioned stimulus (food).

As a control measure, they presented the neutral stimulus (buzzer) to the experimental subjects before pairing it with the unconditioned stimulus in order to verify that the buzzer did not solicit an unconditioned response (salivating) from the dogs. Afterward, they paired the neutral stimulus (buzzer) with the unconditioned stimulus (food) repeatedly then refrained from presenting the unconditioned stimulus concurrently with the neutral stimulus and recorded whether the dogs salivated.The results indicated that the dogs salivated after the presentation of a previously neutral stimulus after its repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.

From this, Pavlov posited that the learning process in organisms occurred through classical conditioning, which he defined as an organism's ability to form associations between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. Furthermore, he defined the different terms he used during his experiment. Unconditioned stimulus referred to any naturally occurring environmental changes that trigger or solicit a reflex response in an organism. Conversely, a conditioned stimulus referred to a previously neutral stimulus that triggers no response in an organism at the beginning; however, after repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, it triggers a response in an organism referred to as a conditioned response.

Finally, Pavlov defined an unconditioned response as a hard-wired, unlearnt reaction triggered by an unconditioned stimulus.Pavlov's findings were significant to psychologists influencing a prominent American psychologist name J. B  Watson who conducted an experiment aimed at demonstrating conditioning of fear responses in human beings.