02-19-2003, 01:11 PM
In the early stages of twentieth century behaviorism, no differentiation was made between what we now refer to as Pavlovian (or, in Skinner's terminology, respondent) conditioning, and instrumental (or, operant) conditioning. While the differences at first blush seem profound, we will eventually see that Pavlovian and operant are two halves of an integrated view of learned behavior--Pavlovian by itself isn't of much value--it sets us up (i.e.--provides the motivation) to act, and the action is the operant part of our behavior. By the same token, operant doesn't operate in a vacuum--we need to be motivated to act.