This essay discusses phobias and addictions as related to classical and operant conditioning. Phobias and addictions are two emotional difficulties which learning theorists can account for under behaviorist conditioning theory. I begin by explaining classical and operant conditioning, and what extinction means.
Pavlov, a physiologist, used what is called "classical conditioning" in his famous experiments with dogs. He first presented dogs with food and measured their salivary response. Then he began ringing a bell just before presenting the food. After some repetitions of this, the dogs began to salivate when only the sound of the bell was presented. The dogs' behavior (physiological response) had become conditioned to respond automatically merely to the sound of the bell; the sound became associated with the presentation of the food. Through this conditioning, the dogs learned automatic responses, without using the stimuli that would naturally create such a response. The food was the unconditioned stimulus, the sound of the bell was the conditioned stimulus, and salivation was the conditioned response.
Inspired by the ideas of Pavlov, John Watson advanced the psychological theory of behaviorism, a learning theory, according to which all behaviors are acquired through a process of response conditioning. Skinner's work developed out of Pavlov's and Watson's.
Skinner rejected the reflex as a model of all behavior. He introduced a new type of conditioning, called "operant conditioning" which became the basis for his entire system. It can be illustrated by the famous "Skinner Box". The idea is very simple. A rat is placed into a box in which there is a lever. As rat moves around (operates) within this environment, it will at some point accidentally hit the lever. If this produces food, the hungry rat will typically repeatedly press the lever thereby receiving food. The rat's behavior of pre
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