Question

At 6 months Ken has learned that if he presses a button on his toy phone it will play a

song. This is an example of:
A) instrumental conditioning.
B) classical conditioning.
C) habituation.
D) observational learning.

Answer 1

Ken pressing a button to play a song on his toy phone is an example of operant conditioning. This involves learning behaviors through associations with consequences, like reinforcement or punishment. This differs from classical conditioning, habituation, and observational learning.

Step-by-step explanation:

Ken learning to press a button on his toy phone to play a song is an example of operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, behaviours are learned by forming associations between a behavior and its consequent reinforcement or punishment. In Ken's case, pressing the button is the behavior, and the song that plays is the positive reinforcement which makes the action more likely to be repeated in the future. This is because he experiences a pleasant outcome (the song) when he presses the button. Operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning, where an automatic, reflexive response is triggered by a stimulus, such as Pavlov's dog salivating at the sound of a bell. Habituation involves reducing a response to a repeated stimulus without any association with a positive or negative consequence, and observational learning entails learning a behavior by watching others.