How Conditioning Shapes Human Behavior: Classical and Operant Conditioning Explained
Our life is a collection of habits, likes or dislikes, fears, joys, and reactions in every action. Most people believe that all this is due to our nature.
But the world of psychology says something else about it.
Conditioning, which is said to be the greatest power of psychology, is a continuous process of learning. This happens when certain relationships are formed in our brain due to old experiences and environments. This relationship is so strong that our brain works automatically.
For example, the things we do every day, such as things that make us happy or sad or annoyed, are not hereditary but "conditioning."
Like when we are walking on the street and a fragrant food that tastes very delicious is being prepared, the smell of the food increases our desire to eat even though we are not hungry.
Example: Like when we are walking down the street and a fragrant dish is being prepared that tastes very delicious, even if we are not hungry, the smell of the food increases the desire to eat and sometimes makes our mouth water.
Or why some people get angry when someone disagrees with them. All this is not accidental. Our brain has learned from repeated experiences which stimulus to react to.
The process of conditioning begins at birth and continues until old age and continues to change our personality, decisions, and the way we see the world. This basic concept explains why each person reacts so differently to the same situation. This complete guide will tell you how these two different types of conditioning work, how they affect your habits,
Two major types of conditioning
To understand conditionalism, we must first find out how many types of conditionalism there are. There are two major types of conditionalism in the education of psychology.
First we need to understand these two major types
Classic constitutionalism and operant conditioning.
1. Classical Conditioning: Involuntary Learning
Classical conditioning, first described by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. He proposed the theory that this condition occurs when our brain automatically associates certain things with some old experience without thinking about it. In this, a person learns unintentionally. He does not know when, how, or where he learned it. He just learns these things unintentionally.
Not only humans but also animals learn in this
Pavlov's Dog and the Bell (Pavlov's Dog Experiment):
Pavlov conducted a simple experiment on his pet dog. First, he noticed that when food was placed in front of the dog, its mouth automatically watered. This is a natural reaction, meaning the dog reacts to the sight of food without any learning.
Then Pavlov started ringing a bell before giving the food. At first the dog didn't react much to the bell, because it had nothing to do with food. But Pavlov repeated this process several times. Each time the bell rang and the food arrived.
After a few days, a surprising change occurred. Now Pavlov only rang the bell, not the food, but still the dog's mouth started watering. That is, the dog had associated the bell with the food. He became convinced that if the bell rang, the food would definitely come.
Thus the bell, which was previously just a sound, now became a symbol of food. The brain connected the two things together.
Pavlov's experiment laid the foundation for classical conditioning, which suggests that our minds form new associations through repeated experience. This is why many of our habits, likes, dislikes, and emotional reactions are formed and strengthened through this process.
Practical effects of classical conditioning:
Formation of Phobias: If you were scared of the dark as a child, you may still be anxious about the dark as an adult. That is, the stimulus (darkness) and the emotion (fear/anxiety) are linked. This principle creates sudden feelings of fear, disgust, or liking.
We saw an old woman who, when a child was wearing a scary mask on his face, immediately rushed towards him and fainted. When she regained consciousness, she was asked why she did this and what happened to her. She said that when I was a child, I was scared at sunset, and I saw a similar scary figure, and I fainted. Now, since the same figure suddenly appeared in front of me, the same fear and terror arose in my mind, and I rushed to kill him and fainted.
This proves that just as fear arose in childhood for some reason, the same stimulus has become ingrained in the brain. Now, as soon as that stimulus is encountered, the same fear and the same reaction will become active.
Branding and Marketing: Companies use pleasant scenes, catchy music, and likable faces to portray their products in their advertisements. This creates positive emotions in the consumer's mind about the product. For example, Coca-Cola advertisements show people in happy moods, giving the impression that consuming it automatically makes you feel happy.
Everyday examples: When you hear the distinctive bell of an ice cream truck and your mouth waters, and children immediately run to their parents to get money so they can buy ice cream, their brain tells them that the bell symbolizes an ice cream truck; that's classical conditioning. You've associated that sound with sweet food.
Operant Conditioning: How to Learn from Reward and Punishment
Operant conditioning is the practical method of learning in which humans or animals understand which actions are beneficial and which actions are harmful to them. Skinner proved this principle through experiments that when a behavior is followed by praise or reward, that behavior is strengthened, and when a behavior is followed by punishment or pain, that behavior begins to fade.
This method also plays a very important role in our daily life, education, home environment, social attitudes and morals. Now let's understand this with the simplest examples:
Good behavior is reinforced when rewarded.
If a child does a good job and his parents or teacher immediately encourage him, that child will do the same good job the next time.
For example:
If a child returns from the mosque after praying and his father lovingly says, "Well done, my child!" then that child will go to pray the next day even more happily than before.
Why?
Because he knows that this work brings joy and appreciation.
Similarly, if the teacher puts a small star on the completion of homework, the child's interest in studying automatically increases.
The brain learns:
Good work = reward
That is why that process gradually becomes a habit.
Bonuses, praise, and rewards increase work motivation.
Adults also learn from the same system.
If the owner pays the worker on time after the work is done, the worker will work harder the next day than the day before.
If an employee receives a bonus at the office, he or she will work harder.
That is:
If a person benefits, he/she will repeat the good deed.
Punctuality is also made up of rewards and punishments.
If an employee arrives at the office late every day and his salary starts being deducted, he will soon change his habit.
Similarly, if arriving on time brings him respect, comfort, or benefit, he will maintain the discipline.
Whether it's a reward or a punishment, the brain learns the lesson immediately.
Punishment helps break bad habits.
If a child breaks a window while playing in the street and his mother scolds him severely, he will be more careful the next time he plays.
If a person suffers dishonor for lying, they will try to tell the truth in the future.
That is:
Behavior that leads to bad consequences gradually begins to fade.
Social and moral behavior is established by this system
Good morals only grow when people respect them.
For example:
If everyone praises someone for helping the poor, then the person will help people again and again.
If one steals and everyone criticizes them, the person begins to give up this act.
Society also runs on reward and punishment.
The value of good deeds, the prevention of bad deeds.
This is social training.
This also proves that the laws of our country that are made so that the country can run well are also part of this process. People do not commit crimes for fear of legal punishment. If these laws and punishments are abolished, the country will become a jungle, and no society will be able to function. This process of punishment is great proof of operant conditioning.
Conditionality in every aspect of our lives
A large part of our lives is shaped by conditioning, whether we are aware of it or not. Its role is not limited to attitudes, but also in important areas such as education, health, and business.
1. Healthy and toxic habits
Our daily habits are largely the product of conditioning; some habits empower us and some hold us back. For example, when someone has been happy with a compliment in the past, they feel immediate joy and confidence when they receive it again—this is an emotional habit. Similarly, if someone has been repeatedly cheated on, they may quickly feel fearful in new relationships. Some physical habits are formed in the same way; the headache that comes with drinking tea every day if you don’t get it is actually a learned physical response. This means that every habit has a reason, and when we understand which habits are good for us and which are harmful, we are able to change them.
2. The role of conditionality in education and teaching
The use of conditional reinforcement in education is simple but effective: good performance or appropriate behavior is reinforced by giving immediate praise or rewards. When a teacher gives children a star, praise, or small reward, the child is encouraged to repeat that action; this improves the classroom environment and makes learning easier. That's why simple rewards, positive feedback, and structured routines are so useful in schools — all of which instill good behavior in a child's mind and help them learn with confidence.
3. The usefulness of conditionality in mental health and treatment
The principles of conditioning are often used in psychotherapy because they are straightforward, practical, and effective. For example, to reduce someone's intense fear (phobia), the therapist gradually brings the patient closer to the object of fear until the patient gradually feels safe with it; this reduces the fear. Similarly, in depression or other behaviors, the patient is motivated to make positive changes by giving points or small rewards for good actions. These methods simply show that small positive experiences can bring about big changes.
4. Business, branding and customer loyalty
The purpose of conditionalization in business is to create positive experiences in the hearts of consumers so that they will return to the same brand again and again. Companies use happy scenes, music, or beloved faces in advertisements to make people feel happy or confident when they see the brand's logo. Similarly, loyalty programs offer points and rewards so that consumers will return to the same company again and again. When people associate a logo or experience with rewards, they become attached to the brand, and that is why the business sells better.
This learning process never ends.
These learned behaviors may diminish, but that doesn't mean they disappear.In psychology, this is called "Extinction".
Because the brain stores these learned processes somewhere.
Whenever the same stimulus is presented, that old behavior can return. The biggest example of this is people who quit drugs in front of you.
If they return to the same place, people, or environment where they used to do drugs, they immediately start to crave the same thing again, because their brain has already associated that environment with the pleasure of drugs.
Conditioning is a coherent learning process that operates everywhere in our daily lives. These principles tell us how our brains form new relationships and shape our behaviors. Conditioning is not just a theory, but a practical part of our lives.
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