conditioning

American  

[kuhn-dish-uh-ning] / kənˈdɪʃ ə nɪŋ /

noun

Psychology.

1. Also called operant conditioning, instrumental conditioning.  a process of changing behavior by rewarding or punishing a subject each time an action is performed until the subject associates the action with pleasure or distress.

2. Also called classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning.  a process in which a stimulus that was previously neutral, as the sound of a bell, comes to evoke a particular response, as salivation, by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that normally evokes the response, as the taste of food.

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conditioning Scientific  

/ kən-dĭsh′ə-nĭng /

1. See classical conditioning

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Other Word Forms

• self-conditioning adjective

Etymology

Origin of conditioning

First recorded in 1915–20; condition + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

District Court ruled that conditioning minors’ social media participation on parental consent is “an impermissible curtailment of their First Amendment rights.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Shares of air conditioning company Carrier Global and electrical component maker Hubbell have also seen “unjustified” gains.

From Barron's

"We were also intrigued to find that pre-tumoral necroptosis can in fact promote cancer by conditioning the immune system," she continues.

From Science Daily

People in Thailand have also been asked to keep air conditioning at 26-27C, and all government agencies have been told to work from home.

From BBC

Governments around the world are using everything from four-day workweeks to air conditioning bans to urge citizens to change their behavior to fend off the worst oil-and-gas crunch since the 1970s.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• assignment
• discipline
• drilling
• homework
• preparation
• repetition
• training
• tryout
• workout