Columbia University

Associative learning is a form of learning where connections or associations are made between events that occur together in the environment. Both classical conditioning and operant conditioning are classified as forms of associative learning.

Associative Learning

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Classical conditioning involves pairing one stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus, which causes a change in response to a neutral stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning in which the motivation for a behavior occurs after the behavior is demonstrated. An organism learns to associate a voluntary action with its subsequent consequence, which can be either a reinforcer or a punisher. This consequence then modifies the likelihood of the behavior being repeated in the future.

Operant Conditioning

What are the 2 Forms of Associative Learning?

Advertising executives apply the principles of associative learning by pairing a product with a desirable stimulus. For example, by associating an attractive model with a car in a commercial, viewers may come to see the car itself as more desirable.

Associative Learning in Advertising

Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning in which organisms learn to connect events that repeatedly happen together. Through this process, a reflexive response originally elicited by one stimulus can be mapped to a different stimulus by training an association between the two.

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