ABSTRACT
Theories of learning Behaviour therapy emerged from theories of learning and their application. The two main theories of learning to know are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. These are summarised in Figures 2.1 and 2.2. Classical conditioning (based on the work of Pavlov and his dog!) relates to automatic responses that the animal (or person) makes in response to a stimulus. It is where an unconditioned stimulus such as a food becomes linked (paired) to another neutral stimulus such as a sound (e.g. a bell). Normally, the food would elicit an unconditioned response (e.g. salivation), and the sound of the bell ordinarily would not. With repeated pairings of the food and the sound, the animal salivates even when the sound (but no food) is presented. The sound has now become the conditioned stimulus and the salivation the conditioned response. The animal has been conditioned to respond to the sound by salivating.
