Today we will finish our discussion of motivation and then focus on two basic models of learning, classical and operant conditioning, their implications and how they combine with motivations to produce adaptive behavior. We will then examine some other areas of learning including applications and limitations of behaviorist theories of learning.

The slides for today are here.

Specific topics include:

• Pavlov's classical conditioning and how it might be implemented in the nervous system.
• Thorndike's law of Effect and its evolution into Skinner's operant conditioning.
• A model: How operant conditioning operates together with basic motivations as an adaptive mechanism.
• Uses and abuses of operant conditioning.
• Contributions and limitations of behaviorism".
• The power law of practice.