There are two other concepts you need to learn about. The first is stimulus discrimination, which involves the ability to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli, responding differently to each type of stimulus. Stimulus generalization is the opposite of this. It involves having a conditioned response to things that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus. Habituation happens when the stimulus is repeated regularly so as to gradually lead to a decreased response. It is involved with becoming so accustomed to a stimulus that it is ignored and no longer responded to. John B Watson founded the discipline of behaviorism in the early 20th century. It is not based on the subconscious but is based on stimulus and response reactions. According to Watson, internal processes cannot be seen so the focus should be on behaviors that are observable. He worked with a baby in order to demonstrate the conditioning of fears. The baby was ultimately conditioned to fear neutral stimuli by pairing it with something aversive. The child also experienced generalized responses to related stimuli that were not initially paired with the aversive stimulus.
OPERANT CONDITIONING Operant conditioning pairs a behavior with a certain consequence. Positive consequences increase the likelihood of the behavior, while negative consequences decrease the likelihood of the behavior. This basically means using reward and punishment in order to modify behavior. BF Skinner was the main proponent of this type of learning. It is based on the law of effect, which indicates that behaviors with rewards are repeated and behaviors with punishments are not likely to be repeated. Skinner worked mainly with rats and pigeons. Rats were taught to push on a lever, while pigeons were taught how to peck on a disk. The Skinner box contained a speaker and lights that were used to elicit a response, while there was a recorder to document the responses themselves. The terms you need to know with regard to operant conditioning include positive and negative. A positive reinforcement means adding something to increase the behavior, while a negative reinforcement is removing something to increase the behavior. The 117
