Final answer:
Operant conditioning is the form of associative learning that best explains the research where people find meaning in life by making systematic connections between reliable stimuli, as it focuses on the association between behaviors and consequences.
Step-by-step explanation:
Recent research suggests that when people make systematic connections between reliable stimuli, they perceive their lives as more meaningful.
The type of associative learning that best explains this research is operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, individuals learn to associate a behavior with its consequences.
This can lead to a behavior becoming more or less likely to occur, based on whether the consequence is rewarding (reinforcement) or punishing. An example includes teaching a dog to sit, where the dog associates sitting with receiving a treat, or a dolphin learning to associate a whistle with performing a flip to receive a fish.
On the other hand, classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning, involves creating associations between two stimuli, where one stimulus comes to elicit a response that was originally elicited by another stimulus. For example, experiencing lightning and then hearing thunder can lead to jumping at the sight of lightning even without the sound of thunder.