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Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism associates two stimuli, leading to a learned response. This process involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to create a conditioned response. Over time, the neutral stimulus alone can evoke the same response as the unconditioned stimulus.
Involuntary conditioning is associated with classical conditioning, while voluntary conditioning is associated with operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association between stimuli, while operant conditioning involves learning by reinforcement or punishment of behaviors.
Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning, where behavior is influenced through the process of forming associations between stimuli and responses. In classical conditioning, the association is between two stimuli, while in operant conditioning, the association is between a behavior and its consequence.
In classical conditioning, the association between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus is important for learning, leading to a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, reinforcement and punishment are primary for learning as they influence the likelihood of a behavior being repeated in the future.
The key variables affecting classical conditioning include the timing of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, the strength of the stimuli, the predictability of the association between the stimuli, and the intensity of the response to the unconditioned stimulus. These variables can influence the effectiveness and rate of learning in classical conditioning.
Robert Rescorla and Allan Wagner proposed the contingency theory for classical conditioning. This theory suggests that learning occurs when there is a predictive relationship between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.