[kuh
n-dish-uh-ning] 
| 1. | Also called operant conditioning, instrumental conditioning. a process of changing behavior by rewarding or punishing a subject each time an action is performed until the subject associates the action with pleasure or distress. |
| 2. | Also called classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning. a process in which a stimulus that was previously neutral, as the sound of a bell, comes to evoke a particular response, as salivation, by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that normally evokes the response, as the taste of food. |
| classical conditioning n. Psychology A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response. |
conditioning con·di·tion·ing (kən-dĭsh'ə-nĭng)
n.
A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to associate a desired behavior with a previously unrelated stimulus.
| classical conditioning (klās'ĭ-kəl) Pronunciation Key
A process of behavior modification in which a subject learns to respond in a desired manner such that a neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) is repeatedly presented in association with a stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus) that elicits a natural response (the unconditioned response) until the neutral stimulus alone elicits the same response (now called the conditioned response). For example, in Pavlov's experiments, food is the unconditioned stimulus that produces salivation, a reflex or unconditioned response. The bell is the conditioned stimulus, which eventually produces salivation in the absence of food. This salivation is the conditioned response. |
| conditioning (kən-dĭsh'ə-nĭng) Pronunciation Key
See classical conditioning. |