ItiswellknownthatRussianphysiologistIvanPavlovprovedclassicalconditioningwith

hisexperimentsonsalivatingdogs.Dogssalivateatthesightandsmelloffood.Thefoodis
knownasanunconditionedstimulusandsalivationisknownasanunconditionedresponse.
Pavlovintroducedabellsoundeverytimethefoodarrived.Aftersometime,thedogswould
begintosalivateatthesoundofthebelleventhoughnofoodarrived.Previouslythebellwas
neutraltotheexperimentbutonceitelicitedasalivatingresponse,thesoundofthebellbecame
aconditionedstimulus.Thatthesoundofabellcausedthedogstosalivateisknownas
classicalconditioning(Heffner,2001).
Othertheotherhand,wehaveoperantconditioning.Operantconditioningdiffersfrom
classicalconditioninginthatreinforcementsandpunishmentselicitcertainbehavior.Therecan
bepositivereinforcementsandnegativereinforcementspunishmentsandextinctions(Heffner,
2001).Operantconditioningwouldexplainwhyapigeonpressesalevertogetapieceoffood.
Thepigeonhaslearnedthathisactionrewardshimwithapieceoffoodand,thus,isknownas
positivereinforcement.Thepigeonislikelytorepeatthisaction,especiallywhenhungry.
Bothtypesofconditioningcanoccurintheclassroom.Anexampleofclassical
conditioningmighthappenwhenasubstitutecomestoteachoneday.Thesubstitutemaygive
theentireclasscandyandchoosetosinganddancealldayinsteadofdoingwork.The
substitutedoesthisthreedaysinarowandthestudentsbecomeveryexcitedaboutschool.
Monthslatertheclasssteacherinformsthemthatasubstitutewillbeteachingthenextday.
Thinkingthattheyllgetcandyandsongs,thestudentsareveryhappyandexcitedgoingto
schoolthenextday.Unfortunately,thestudentsquicklyrealizethatitsadifferentsubstitute
requiringthemtostudyandtheywontbegettingcandy.Thefactthatthestudentsbecame
excitedforasubstituteisconsideredclassicconditioning.
Incontrast,operantconditioningisseeninmanyclassroomsquiteoften.Anexampleof
positivepunishmentmightbewhenastudentscoresa100%onaspellingtestand,asaresult,
doesnthavetotakeaspellingtestthefollowingweek.Thestudentismorelikelytokeepgetting
100%sontheirspellingtestsinordertoearnoptouts.
Lastly,wellknownbehavioristB.FSkinnersaidthatstudentsdropoutofschoolbecause
ofdamagedsocialclimatesintheirlives,notbecausetheyrerebelliousorbored(Skinners
Utopia,1971).IdontembraceallbeliefssupportedbyBehavioralPsychologists,especially
thoseofB.F.Skinner,howeverhedidsuggestvalidexplanationthatthereisabigger,underlying
reasonenablingstudentstodropoutofschool.

References
Heffner,C.L.(2001).Psychology101.AllPsychOnline.RetrievedOctober18,
2013from: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/index.html

Skinnersutopia:Panacea,orpathtohell?(1971,September20).Time,4753.