Conditioning: the processes by which responses become linked to particular "stimuli" and learning takes place. Repeated practice. (Berger, 39)
The process of learning "associations" between environmental events and behavioral responses. (Hockenbury, 174) An animal learns to respond to a "neutral stimulus" (sensory input) in the same way it would respond to an effective, threatening or "negative stimulus." It forms an association between the neutral stimulus and the negative stimulus. (Kandel, 166) In essence, the idea of "classical conditioning" is simply learning something by association. "Operant conditioning" is when someone learns a behavior as the result of the rewards and punishments associated with that behavior. (Kleinman, 13-15)
Extinction: the weakening of a conditioned response through removal of “reinforcement.” (Coon, 267) The gradual weakening and disappearance of conditioned behavior. In "operant conditioning," extinction occurs when an emitted behavior is no long followed by a reinforcer. (Hockenbury, 198) The process of decline and eventual disappearance of the conditioned response. (Hockenbury, 178)
Shaping: gradually molding responses to a final desired pattern. (Coon, 273) "Operant conditioning" procedure of selectively reinforcing successively closer approximations of a goal behavior, until the goal behavior is displayed. (Hockenbury, 198) The way in which a complex response can be built up by reinforcing simpler responses that gradually move closer and closer to the eventual desired response. (Cardwell, 226)
Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of time without exposure to the conditioned stimulus. (Hockenbury, 179) The reappearance of a learned response after its apparent extinction. (Coon, 267)