The Structure of Learning

CHAPTER  2

Classical Conditioning

In their attempts to discover the most basic form of learning, early experimenters discovered two procedures, one called classical or Pavlovian conditioning, the other called instrumental or operant conditioning. Beginning in the 1930s traditional theorists, such as Skinner (1938), maintained that the two basic procedures represent two distinct forms of learning. This view dominated research and theory throughout the century even though hard evidence frequently contradicts the traditional theoretical distinction. The procedural distinction, however, remains useful as a way to describe experiments in this field. Accordingly, chapter 2 describes the experimental operations that define classical conditioning and ...