from http://www.dogmanners.com/conditioning.html

Operant Conditioning vs. Classical Conditioning

When dealing with behavior (learning or modifying) we are dealing with Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning. For our purposes we will be dealing primarily with Operant Conditioning. However, some understand of both will help. The following is a brief summary.

Classical Conditioning: This describes an involuntary, or automatic, response to a stimulus. This type of conditioning is sometimes referred to as respondent conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning as a result of Dr. Pavlov's famous experiments with dogs early in the 20th century. Classical conditioning is what happens when an animal learns associations among things. Learning associations means learning that things go together. When one thing happens (you burn your dinner), another thing will follow shortly (the smoke detector goes off). You say "Let's go for a walk", your dog gets all excited because he has learned that this particular phrase precedes going out for a walk. Your cat runs to its food bowl when he hears the can opener because this often signals feeding time. In each case, there is a predictable relationship among the events and the animal learns to respond to the first event in anticipation of the second event. Your dog learns that a treat comes after the sound of the clicker.

Operant Conditioning: Operant conditioning is a set of principals that describe how an animal learns to survive in its environment through reinforcement (consequences). This is learning in which behaviors are altered by the consequences that follow them. If your dog "sits" and you give him a treat, he'll be more likely to repeat the behavior "sit". On the other hand, if the dog "sits" and is knocked in the head, it will be less likely to repeat the behavior. These responses were operantly conditioned. B.F. "Fred" Skinner first coined the term in 1938 in this book The Behavior of Organisms.

Within Operant Conditioning there are four possible consequences to behavior. They are:

1. Positive Reinforcement: Your dog does something you like, you give your dog something he likes. Your dog sits, comes, heels, fetches the remote, does not chase after the cat or kids, you give him a treat. This will increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring again. "Positive reinforcement is the basis of all conditioning." (K. Pryor 1984)

2. Negative Reinforcement: Involves the removal of a bad consequence when the response is performed. For instance, you say "sit" and apply upward pressure on the leash which tightens the choke chain around your dog's neck, your dog sits, and you stop choking him with a choke chain. The release of the choke chain reinforces the "sit." This also serves to increase the likelihood of the behavior in the future. However, it can be (and often is) argued, that this is technically a punishment. It is not pleasant and the dog learns to sit to avoid being choked.

3. Positive Punishment: Involves the presentation (adding) of a bad consequence when the response is performed. For instance, you say "sit", your dog lies down, and you jerk him onto his feet with the leash. This serves to decrease the likelihood of the response in the future. We see positive punishment a lot: child hit brother, parent spanks child; person drives after drinking, person ends up in jail; puppy pees on floor, puppy gets hit with rolled up newspaper.

4. Negative Punishment: Involves the removal of a good consequence when the response is performed. For instance, you say "sit", your dog lies down, and you eat the treat you were about to give the dog. You begin to pet your dog and he begins to paw and mouth on you, you STOP petting and ignore him. This also serves to decrease the likelihood of the response in the future; the dog's behavior causes what he wants and likes (your petting) to go away.