The simplest and the most elementary type of learning is that by conditioning. It is also called learning by conditioned response or conditioned reflex. The feeling of fear in loneliness or in darkness and the feeling of appetite at the sight of palatable food are the instances of conditioning.
Skinner advocates a behaviorist point of view, which he terms as experimental analysis of behavior. For Skinner what are important are the responses and the role of reinforcement in shaping the responses.
It is not only that we learn many behaviors through operant conditioning; we can also eliminate or modify unacceptable behaviors using operant procedure. Most of the maladaptive behaviors are learned with the assistance of reinforcement, either visible or invisible.
Classical conditioning is one of the two main forms of simple learning. The other is instrumental conditioning, which is also known as operant conditioning. When a dog responds (e.g., sitting) to the commands of its master to get some biscuits (reinforcement), the dog has learnt an instrumental response.
A conditioned stimulus, after having acquired the ability to elicit CR may be used as a UCS for further conditioning. This phenomenon is called higher order conditioning.
Pavlov explained classical conditioning in terms of stimulus substitution. During conditioning, the CS and the UCS are connected together (stimulus- stimulus connection), so that the animal responds to the CS just as it does to the UCS. CS really comes to substitute for the UCS.
A new set of terminology grew with Pavlovian experiment. Before conditioning, the bell and the food are unrelated stimuli. Before conditioning, the bell is considered as a neutral stimulus, because it has no effect on the response of interest (salivation).