Final answer:
Ivan Pavlov contributed to the classical conditioning theory with his experiments on dogs, establishing the learning process where a conditioned stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response. John B. Watson expanded on Pavlov's work to include human behaviors. Operant conditioning, associated with B.F. Skinner, contrasts with classical conditioning and involves learning behaviors based on consequences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The individual who contributed to the classical conditioning theory by conducting studies on animals and providing well-known examples for the theory is Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov's experiments with dogs are a classic illustration of this theory, where he demonstrated that dogs could learn to associate a neutral stimulus (like the ringing of a bell) with an unconditioned stimulus (food), leading to a conditioned response (salivation). This process, whereby an association is formed between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus to produce a new conditioned response, is at the core of classical conditioning. John B. Watson further extended these principles in the study of human emotion, believing behaviors are conditioned responses, akin to Pavlov's discovery with dogs.
Comparatively, operant conditioning is a different type of learning, where an organism learns via consequences of its behavior, as with B.F. Skinner’s experiments where rats learned to press a lever for food. This contrasts with classical conditioning, which focuses on the association between two stimuli rather than a behavior and its consequence.