Explain the importance of antecedents and consequences for learning, and then compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning, including the role of antecedents and consequences, the type of response, the role of the learner, the nature of the learning, and the learned expectancy for each

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that understanding associative learning begins with noting what happens before and after a response. Events that precede a response are called antecedents. Events that follow a response are consequences. Classical conditioning is based on what happens before we respond. In classical conditioning, an antecedent stimulus that does not produce a response is linked with one that does. In operant conditioning, learning is based on the consequence of responding. A response may be followed by a reinforcer, or by punishment, or by nothing. Regarding the type of response made in each type of learning, a classically conditioned response is reflexive-like and involuntary, while responses learned through operant conditioning are spontaneous and voluntary. The role of the learner in classical conditioning is passive, and the response is elicited automatically, while in operant conditioning the learner is active and instrumental in gaining his or her reinforcement and voluntarily emits a response. Regarding the nature of learning in classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus through association with the unconditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, the probability of making a response is altered by the consequences that follow it. From an informational view, one comes to expect the unconditioned stimulus (US) to follow the conditioned stimulus (CS) during classical conditioning, whereas the expectancy in operant conditioning is that a response will have a specific effect.