Prior to beginning work on this assignment, Read Chapter 4 from Essentials of Psychology.? Read How to Read a Scholarly ArticleLinks to an external site.. Watch Evaluating sou

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 1 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn Is compulsivity with pornography a learned behavior? Posted October 19, 2020 Reviewed by Lybi Ma

I have written previously about the fact that in today’s increasingly digital world, not every person who is compulsive with pornography is a traditional (trauma-driven) compulsive person. (See my post, Pavlov’s Porn.) I have chosen to refer to this new and emerging category as conditioned compulsivity. But what, exactly, do I mean when I use the word conditioned.

In the field of psychology, there are two primary types of conditioning that impact human behavior – classical conditioning, and operant conditioning. Neither fully explains the human condition, which is also influenced by genetics, free-will, environmental impacts, and a host of other issues. That said, both classical and operant conditioning are clearly in play when it comes to porn usage.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is learning through association. Stated simply, two unrelated stimuli are paired to produce a new (learned) response.

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered this pattern while experimenting with dogs. Basically, Pavlov noticed that when dogs are presented with an unconditioned stimulus (like tasty smelling food) they have an unconditioned response (they salivate). When presented with a neutral stimulus, however, like the tinkling of a small bell, there is no response. But if the bell rings every time food is presented, dogs learn to

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 2 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

associate food and the bell. Before long, just hearing the bell is enough to make them salivate.

Psychologist John Watson, based on Pavlov’s experiments, initially proposed the model of classical conditioning as an explanation of human behavior. He got a bit carried away with his theory, however, when he rather famously wrote in his 1924 book, Behaviorism:

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors.

Watson obviously overstepped when he argued that the complexity of human behavior is entirely based on conditioning (learning that is based on environmental inputs). Nevertheless, he did unquestionably provide us with some useful, scientifically verifiable insight into one aspect of behavioral development.

Operant Conditioning

By the late 1930s, B.F. Skinner (Burrhus Frederic, if you’re wondering) had expanded Watson’s ideas, developing the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is learning that occurs through rewards and punishments in response to a particular behavior. Basically, behavior that is followed or accompanied by something pleasant is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed or accompanied by something unpleasant is unlikely to be repeated.

Skinner’s term for rewards and punishments associated with a particular behavior is reinforcement. Behavior that is reinforced by something positive is strengthened and likely to be repeated. Behavior that is not

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 3 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

reinforced by something positive (or is punished in some way) is weakened, and not likely to be repeated.

Perhaps the most enlightening example of operant conditioning is one of Skinner’s own experiments. Skinner placed a lab rat in a box with a lever and a couple of lights. If the green light was lit and the rat pressed the lever, it would get a pellet of food. If the red light was lit and the rat pressed the lever, the rat received a mild electric shock.

Rats are not stupid. In fact, they learn through operant conditioning rather quickly.

Green Light + Lever = Food Red Light + Lever = Pain

People are similar in this regard. If we’re rewarded for a certain behavior, we remember it. If we’re punished for a certain behavior, we remember that as well.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Related to operant conditioning, Skinner also studied schedules of reinforcement. For this, he placed a rat in the same basic box, but altered the schedule through which food was dispensed. For example, five green light pushes would deliver a food pellet, or a random number of green light pushes would deliver a food pellet. What he wanted to know was how quickly a rat (or a human) will push the lever in an attempt to elicit reward, and how many times a rat (or a human) will push it before giving up.

Skinner referred to these concepts as the response rate and the extinction rate.

Response Rate: The rate at which the lever is pressed. Extinction Rate: The rate at which lever pressing dies out.

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 4 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

What he found was that random reward disbursement had the highest response rate and the lowest extinction rate. Apparently, the uncertainty of the reward adds to the excitement of receiving it.

Continuous reinforcement (getting a reward every time the condition is met):

Response Rate – Slow Extinction Rate – Fast

Fixed ratio reinforcement (getting a reward after meeting the condition a set number of times)

Response Rate – Fast Extinction Rate – Medium

Variable ratio reinforcement (behavior is reinforced at an unpredictable rate)

Response Rate – Fast Extinction Rate – Slow

Interestingly, the extinction rate with variable ratio reinforcement is not just slow, it’s almost nonexistent. If we know that a reward might come at any time, we find it hard to walk away.

Pornography

The theories of classical and operant conditioning are far more complex than the simplified discussion presented above, and neither classical nor operant conditioning are the be-all, end-all in our understanding of human behavior. That said, there is no doubt that both types of learning impact our thinking and behavior. In fact, our conditioned behaviors can overrun our rational minds, and we sometimes find ourselves behaving in ways that don’t serve us.

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 5 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

For a quick example, think of a small child who often hears the bell on a neighbor cat’s collar as the cat wanders around outside. Soon, the child looks for a cat whenever he hears a bell. That is classical conditioning. Then, when he finally meets the cat, he inadvertently scares it or annoys it and gets a quick scratch on the arm. There is no blood and no damage; the cat was simply saying please don’t pull my tail, but the child feels attacked. At that moment, the child learns through operant conditioning that cats should be feared. Many years later, as an adult, that same individual might feel an irrational, seemingly unexplainable fear every time he hears a bell – a combination of classical and operant conditioning.

OK, so what does this have to do with porn?

Let me first digress with a brief discussion of video games. I’ll use Pokémon Go as an example. In case you can’t remember all the way back to 2016, Pokémon Go was (and still is, I assume) a phone app that provided a real-world scavenger hunt. Players pointed their smartphone cameras at the real world and the app would occasionally insert Pokémon characters into the video, with players capturing the random Poképrize. At the height of the Pokémon Go craze, people were ‘losing themselves’ in the game and getting injured – falling off cliffs, getting hit by cars. (Those things really did happen.)

Why did people get so swept up in Pokémon Go? Three words: variable ratio reinforcement. As stated above, when our behavior is randomly reinforced, our response rate is fast (we play) and our extinction rate is slow (we keep playing).

Video game designers have understood this fact from the very beginning. Players need to get the ‘hit’ of finding rewards, but not every time they do something right. For whatever reason, rewards are most enjoyable when they’re intermittent and the player never quite knows when they’re coming. More recent games have built-in algorithms that give players a precise number of rewards that will keep them playing. Basically, as we

03/05/2025, 1:56 AMClassical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Porn | Psychology Today

Page 6 of 6https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202010/classical-conditioning-operant-conditioning-and-porn

play these games, we learn that if we keep playing, we’ll eventually get the rewards we seek. The games condition us to stay involved.

Slot machines, video poker machines, and other forms of digital gambling operate on the same principle. And so does porn. The algorithms for porn may not be as accurate or as sophisticated as with gaming and gambling, but there’s not a porn site out there that doesn’t ‘suggest’ other videos to watch based on the user’s past viewing history. Plus, the underlying driver of reinforcement – in particular, variable ratio reinforcement – is very much in play.

Every person (and therefore every porn user) has a unique and very specific arousal template – a set of visuals and behaviors that produce certain levels of arousal. With porn, when an image or video hits the sweet spot, the reward center of the brain kicks into action, pushing out adrenaline and dopamine like nobody’s business. It’s an extremely intense and enjoyable reward – the kind of thing that conditions us (teaches us) to go back for more. And every time the user increases the rewards associated with viewing porn by masturbating to orgasm, more reinforcement.

Exacerbating matters is the fact that porn users typically have to sift through any number of images and videos to find the one that really hits the sweet spot. This uncertainty adds variable ratio reinforcement to the mix, which, as we know from Skinner’s research, makes it difficult to walk away. The tantalization of potential reward keeps users going back for more.

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 1 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Classical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples Tiffany Sauber Millacci, Ph.D.

15 Oct 2021 by

Key Insights

13 minute read

Classical conditioning in the classroom uses associations to influence student behavior & learning, like pairing a bell with break time to create routines. Teachers can apply this technique to encourage positive behaviors by associating them with rewards or pleasant experiences. Understanding classical conditioning principles helps educators create an effective learning environment that enhances student engagement & participation.

Have you ever wished that you could just ring a bell or sound a gong and your students would all become magically silent and give you their undivided attention?

Would you enjoy the opportunity to have students quietly transition between activities with little disruption?

For any teacher, these scenarios sound like a dream. With classical conditioning, we can make them a reality.

Pavlov and the salivating dogs is the notorious classical conditioning experiment. Although it seems primitive, this research has practical applications in the classroom. Read on to hear how an old theory has the

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 2 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

potential to breed new tricks in the classroom.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free. These science-based exercises explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology, including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.

Learning Theory and Classical Conditioning Explained

“Every existing organism must in some way or another be sensitive to both meaningful as well as more coincidental relations between events in the environment.”

Eelen, 2018, p. 197

To understand this concept is to understand the premise of classical conditioning.

As learning can be described as an adaptive change in an individual’s behavior, learning theory is the approach, either physical or mental, responsible for changing the behavior (McLean & Christensen, 2017).

Learning theory includes both non-associative and associative learning. Classical conditioning is considered associative learning, as there is an association between two stimuli or events that cause the change in behavior.

To gain a better understanding of learning theory and classical conditioning, let’s explore the infamous experiment involving the salivation of dogs. Pavlov (1927) noticed that his research dogs began salivating around mealtimes, which is a natural response to eating; however, the salivation began even before the dogs ate.

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 3 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Observing this phenomenon, Pavlov theorized he could elicit the salivation of dogs by presenting another stimulus to produce the same response. Pavlov introduced a bell tone before the dogs were given their food, and the dogs salivated at the tone of the bell.

Watson’s controversial experiment involving Little Albert is also an example of classical conditioning (Powell, Digdon, Harris, & Smithson, 2014). Little Albert was a young boy who was introduced to a white rat. At first, he enjoyed playing with and petting the rat; however, Watson began pairing the furry rat with a loud sound. Soon, Little Albert associated the rat with the loud noise, which made him cry.

Watson could eventually present the white rat without the loud noise and elicit a cry from Little Albert. It was theorized that Little Albert would develop a phobia of furry animals.

Simply put, classical conditioning is learning associations between two events (Eelen, 2018). To change a behavior using classical conditioning, you must pair the conditional stimulus (CS) with an unconditional stimulus (US), and then the conditioned response (CR) now comes to be elicited by the CS, with many opportunities for practice of course (Bouton & Moody, 2004). This process may be better understood with a few examples.

Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

The last class before lunchtime can be difficult for students and their growing bodies. They may sense that lunchtime isn’t far off, and their tummies begin to rumble.

Perhaps students have music class before lunch every day. Halfway through music class, their stomachs may begin to rumble, similar to the salivation of the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment. The children may actually start to associate music class with hunger.

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 4 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Neutral stimulus (NS): After music class Unconditional stimulus (US): Eating lunch Unconditional response (UR): Feeling hungry Conditional stimulus (CS): Music class Conditional response (CR): Feeling hungry

As a child, perhaps you were given a special treat or privilege upon earning good grades on report cards or progress reports. You may have begun to associate good grades with a special treat.

Research has shown that parents’ perceptions have a stronger influence over children’s sense of self and task perceptions, even more so than their own grades (Frome & Eccles, 1998). Let’s break it down in the following example:

NS: Good report card grades US: Going for ice cream UR: Feeling excited CS: Good report card grades CR: Feeling excited

It comes as no surprise that mistreatment, which can include public humiliation, may lead to student burnout and poor mental health (Markman, Soeprono, Combs, & Cosgrove, 2019).

Being humiliated by a teacher could still be haunting you today. Let’s say that a math teacher embarrassed a student. That student may develop a dislike for the subject that follows them even into adulthood.

NS: Student performs poorly in math class US: Getting lectured by the math teacher UR: Feeling embarrassed CS: Math CR: Feeling embarrassed

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 5 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Classical conditioning can also be exhibited in forms of technology. Computer games that play different sounds when you get the correct or incorrect answer are prime examples. Baccus, Baldwin, and Packer (2004) designed a study that demonstrated that implicit self-esteem can be increased using a computer game that repeatedly pairs self-relevant information with smiling faces.

NS: Getting the correct answer US: Hearing a high-pitched “ding!” UR: Feeling pleased with yourself CS: The high-pitched “ding!” CR: Feeling pleased with yourself

Classical conditioning examples – Kimberley Henderson

There are several excellent ways to apply classical conditioning in school, and we review a few of the options.

Attention-getters

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 6 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Attention-getters such as turning off the lights, rhyming, student callbacks, hand signals, a bell, music, or when the teacher simply stops talking could be used to obtain students’ attention.

For example, a teacher may say, “Class, class!” and the class is expected to call back, “Yes, yes!” and then wait for the teacher’s next direction. Modeling this behavior will be crucial to beginning the conditioning process.

Transition notifications

Transition notifications such as a bell, gong, chimes, music, or a clap may sometimes be used to notify students of a transition. As an example, a teacher may strike a gong to alert students it is time to switch centers and move on to the next activity.

Creating a procedure for quick transitions will grant the teacher additional instructional time. Just as with the attention-getter, the teacher will want to explicitly model the expected behavior and review the expectations often. Please see how to play a transition game below.

Positive feedback

Positive feedback is an easy way to keep the students who are doing the right thing on track while motivating students who are off-track to switch courses.

The students who receive the positive feedback will associate the activity they are being praised for with a good feeling. Most students will continue to demonstrate the behavior.

The students who may not be showing the desired behavior may hear the positive feedback toward the other students and wish to receive the positive feedback as well. They will then, most likely, exhibit the desired

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 7 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

behavior. Of course, there are always exceptions. This concept borders operant conditioning with positive reinforcement.

Answer cueing

Answer cueing may be used to provide students a procedure for answering questions, as well as grant students additional “think time.” This technique prevents fast-paced students from shouting out the answers to questions before the other students can process the question and formulate an answer.

For example, a teacher may raise their hands up while asking the question, keep the hands up an extra few seconds, and then bring the hands down with palms facing upward, signaling students they are now permitted to answer the question.

While this “think time” typically lasts only 1.5 seconds, research has shown that waiting three seconds or more will benefit the students (Stahl, 1994). This additional processing time can encourage more students to contribute to the lesson and answer the question presented by the teacher.

Unfortunately, classical conditioning can also hinder learning. As demonstrated, a bad experience in a certain class or with a specific teacher may cause a student to dislike that particular subject in general.

To make classical conditioning more concrete for students or support the learning even more, classical conditioning can be paired with operant conditioning. The pairing of classical conditioning and operant conditioning would involve the use of reinforcements.

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 8 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

World’s Largest Positive Psychology Resource

The Positive Psychology Toolkit© is a groundbreaking practitioner resource containing over 500 science-based exercises, activities, interventions, questionnaires, and assessments created by experts using the latest positive psychology research.

Updated monthly. 100% Science-based.

“The best positive psychology resource out there!”

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 9 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

— Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, Flourishing Center CEO

8 Worksheets and Games for Teachers

Behavior management is a particularly troublesome skill for many new and veteran teachers.

Classical Conditioning & Your Classroom

This Classical Conditioning & Your Classroom worksheet can help condition students to perform the desired action after you present them with a stimulus of your choosing.

Classical Conditioning Graphic Organizer

The Classical Conditioning Graphic Organizer is available on Teachers Pay Teachers for free. This is a helpful resource to understand Pavlov’s dog salivation experiment and record other conditioning examples you would like to try in the classroom.

Classical conditioning balloon pop game

This balloon pop game from Teachers Pay Teachers is an activity to demonstrate and help teach older students what classical conditioning is all about.

In this activity, the teacher walks around the room and randomly pops balloons. Then the teacher walks around the room without popping the balloons, noting to the class that students continue to flinch.

The students are conditioned to flinch as the teacher walks around the classroom popping the balloons; however, they continue to flinch even when the teacher does not pop the balloons.

03/05/2025, 1:52 AMClassical Conditioning in the Classroom: 4 Examples

Page 10 of 17https://positivepsychology.com/classical-conditioning-classroom-examples/

Matching activities

Matching activities, such as Memory, are an excellent way to build focus, memory, and matching skills, while using classical conditioning to motivate the players.

In a matching game, the player chooses a card to turn over. The player then chooses another card to turn over, and if the card matches the first, the player keeps the cards. Discovering that the pictures or items on the card match, the player is c

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.