Classical Conditioning Vs Observational Learning

There are two learning processes that are used, classical condition and operant conditioning. One learning process used is classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response. I found two TV commercials that are excellent examples for classical conditioning. The first commercial I found is an Old Spice commercial. The ad starts off with an attractive man in a bathroom telling women to compare the men in their lives to him, stating that if men would stop using girl body wash they could be like him. The ad then moves to a boat where the man in the commercial offers the women in the audience two tickets to something they would enjoy and diamonds and then states that anything is possible if men used Old Spice as a body wash to smell like a man, not a lady. The second commercial I chose is a Nike advertisement. Throughout the advertisement there are young, attractive, fit, and famous people working hard to succeed.

Most humans learn by simply watching, and then imitating the action rather than trial and error or direct experiences of the consequences of our actions (this is not to say that watching and imitating is the only way of learning). This method of learning is called observational learning. The highly recognized psychologist with observational learning is Albert Bandura. Bandura’s theory states that observational learning

Observational learning is another simple behavioral training technique. It’s as simple as its name, you learn by watching others. For example, let’s say you are trying to learn to balance a book on your head. You’ve been watching your parent do it and you try it out as well by imitating their behaviors that you previously observed. That’s a basic example of learning by observation. This helps us better understand human behavior in this way: it tells us that humans observe other behavior and try to imitate it in order to achieve the same, or a similar effect. That is another basic aspect of human behaviors that also occurs on a daily basis.

While many people may believe that learning is just a natural response that all animals are capable of, there is actually a more complex explanation on how we learn the things we do in order to survive in the world. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both basic forms of learning, they have the word conditioning in common. Conditioning is the acquisition of specific patterns of behavior in the presence of well-defined stimuli.

The social learning approach as explained in P1, suggests that learn new behaviours and information by observing other that are around them. This is also known as observational learning.

Within this perspective, there are three theories that describe different ways in which learning occurs; classical conditioning theory, operant conditioning theory, and cognitive social learning theory (Hutchinson, 2015).

The learning approach is a behaviorist theory and only observable behaviour’s are studied. The theory

The social learning theory suggests that people learn new behaviors through observation of factors in their environment, by taking note of other’s

     Observational learning occurs when a person or an animal uses observation of another’s actions and their consequences to guide their own future actions. The person being observed is referred to as a model. For this reason observational learning is also referred to as modeling. Observational learning involves four stages, attention, retention, reproduction and motivation-reinforcement. Attention is when the learner observers the actions of the model (The higher the status of the model the more attention the learner will pay and the closer their imitations will be to the models actions). Retention is when the learner retains in their memory what they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner will reproduce or imitate the actions of the model that they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner reproduces or imitates what they have just observed. Motivation-reinforcement can come in various ways. External reinforcement, through praise for doing something well, self-reinforcement, through the

A. Basic Concepts 1. Observational LearningThe Social Learning Theory says that people canlearn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learningexplains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behaviorof the people around them, and eventually, imitating them. With the ―Bobo Doll‖ experiment(s) , Bandura included an adult who is tasked to actaggressively toward a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later,Bandura let the children play inside a room with the Bobo Doll.

Albert Bandura’s social learning theory expresses that people learn best by viewing others. Positive reinforcement such as praise or financial reward encourages repeat behavior while negative reinforcement such as punishment or monetary fines discourages it. Because of such, when training new employees, modeling is the best form of demonstration. The training demands are best suited when observing an experienced employee and then model his or her behavior. This cost-effective method takes place right in the workplace environment.

Learning can happen in numerous ways, but all fall under the category of being either classical conditioning or operant conditioning when we are dealing with Psychology terms. These two habituation methods are very comparable in nature, but do possess very specific distinctions in their differences. The major difference between classical and operant conditioning is the type of behaviors being conditioned. Classical is focused more on reflex and automatic actions whereas operant deals more with voluntary actions. Classical and operant conditioning are also different in the way they are taught. Classical conditioning involves introducing the subject to a neutral signal before reaction. Classical conditioning has four basic principles

Classical conditioning says that we learn behaviours by associating the response to the stimulus. An example of this can be found from the work of Ivan Pavlov. In the 1890s Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, carried out some experiments with a dogs. He noticed that when a dog eats food, they salivate: this is an unconditional response to an

In regards to social cognitive theory, one is looking at the fact that people learn by observing behavioral

Learning theories are the structural foundation used to label how information is processed, stored and encoded during learning. Retention of knowledge is subjective and influenced by outside factors such as, an individual’s cognitive ability to process or retain information. Other influences are environmental, emotional or preexisting experiences or associations (Andreassi, 2000). To gain a better understanding of behaviorism in correlation to learning theories it is crucial to understand and grasp the meaning of associative learning. This process involves the association between two stimuli or a behavior and a learned stimulus. Associative learning is divided in to two central techniques, classical conditioning and operant condition. Classical and operant conditioning are basic methods of learning and conditioning is used to adapt a behavior or association through a stimuli or consequence (Ciccarelli, 2012). While classical conditioning and operant conditioning are key elements in associative learning, they have significant differences. A clear contrast between the two theories is whether the behavior or response produced is considered to be voluntary or involuntary.