The Majority of Reactions and Chemical Production - Essay Example

Neurobiology al affiliation The majority of reactions and chemical production in the body of not only humans but also other animals is as a result of response to a stimulus. There are a various stimuli available varying from environmental factors to the behavior of persons around an individual. The rate and actual factor that triggers a response is of great importance in this case. A good understanding of the situation requires analysis of the concerned chemicals and responsible nervous system. Several pieces of research and articles have been written to try and provide and explanation of the situation with scientists backing up their information with experiments and analysis of the results. In this article, two types of behaviors, classical conditioning, and instrumental conditioning will be analyzed with the use of an example to enhance the understanding. Classical conditioning which is also known as Pavlovian conditioning was named after the person who made it famous. It is a type of conditioning which relates a stimulus that initiates the response known as unconditional stimulus with a response that does not initiate stimulus known as the conditional stimulus. Several articles have been written regarding this topic with scientists such as John Watson concluding that the conditioning explains every aspect of the human psychology. Classical conditioning became the basis for the development of the famous behaviorism theory used to explain different phenomena in the field of psychology to date. The theory of behaviorism has several assumptions that are all based on the classical conditioning. The first assumption is that the acquisition of behavior or rather learning takes place due to existence and interactions in a particular environment. The assumption contradicts the biological opinion that some characteristics of an individual or animal, in general, might be inherited from the parent. Shaping of the behavior takes place due to environmental forces. It is a point that can be related to adaptation for survival in a particular environment that is evident from the various examples if comparisons of behaviors of people in different parts of the world. The third assumption based on classical condition is that mental thoughts and emotions of an animal have nothing to do with behavior and character. A closer look at the three assumptions and one can clearly see the similarity whereby they all try to relate behavior and the environmental factors likely to affect the behavior of the animal. The classical conditioning theory can be divided into three stages. The first stage is called the before-conditioning stage. It involves whereby a stimulus in an environment produces a specific response in an organism at that instance, but the stimulus is not conditioned. In such a situation of first response to a stimulus, no behavior is learned by the organism. A good example of this is when a person or animal salivates on the smell of the food even without the site of the food. The next stage is the ‘during conditioning stage which involves the simulation or relating the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlovs experiment, the relation was between the bell and provision of food to the dog. The third stage of classical conditioning is called the after conditioning stage, and it involves the after the two stimulus have been linked, and the presence of the conditioned stimulus alone stimulates a response. A simple analysis of the response is that a set of sensory neuronal activity relates the external condition into a pattern and series of activities that follow after exposure to conditioned stimulus. A set of motor neuronal activity relates the information and forms patterns that are responsible for the development of the behavior. The other type of response is called the instrumental conditioning. It involves the process by which human and other animals learn a certain behavior in order to obtain a reward or to avoid punishment related to certain unwanted behavior. It can also be termed as operant conditioning. It was an observation that was made clear by Skinner who observed that a behavior can be developed into a character by the provision of reinforcement. After a succession of experiments carried out by the researcher by using animals, Skinner came up with three distinctive types of responses. The first type is called the neutral operant, and it involves that type of stimulus that neither increases nor decreases the probability of attaining a particular behavior and sticking to the behavior. A good example of this is the operant monthly payment after doing a certain expected type of job. The other type is the reinforcement operant. It refers to the group of operant that lead to a significant increase in the chances of the behavior being repeated in the future. A good example of this kind of operant is the award given to student or employee performing well in an institution. The recognition and award provide the driving force needed to do best of what one is expected and get the award next time. Punisher operants refer to those types of operants that induce fear or rather reduces the chances of an individual repeating a certain type of behavior. The paradigm of the Skinner experiment is that inducing a certain action at the end of a particular behavior can either encourage or discourage future repetition of the behavior. The biophysical changes in a particular animal entirely depend on the stimuli induced by a certain behavior. It is a type of conditioning that strongly depends on the memory (Lajtha et al 2010). The two conditionings have a similarity in the sense that they both depends on the development or adjustment of behavior due to induction of stimuli from the environment. In the classical conditioning, it involves the relation of two types of stimuli to introduce a certain type of response. On the other hand, operant conditioning involves the change in behavior by inducing a stimulus after the desired or undesired behavior id performed. The major difference between the two is that one the stimulus is in between the adjustments while the other change is induced after a certain behavior is performed. The Classical condition depends more on learning patterns while operant conditioning depends more on the memory development. In conclusion, the physiology of animals can learn from the numerous stimuli from the environment. A better understanding of the conditioning especially the operant conditioning is critical for the field of psychology. The advanced technology available in the world today can aid in achieving more accurate and dependable results and thus draw useful conclusions. References Lajtha, A., Baker, G. B., Dunn, S., & Holt, A. (2010). Handbook of neurochemistry and molecular neurobiology. New York: Springer. Read More