conditioning

[kuhn-dish-uh-ning]

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.

conditioning

1. See classical conditioning

Other Word Forms

• self-conditioning adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of conditioning¹

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

Example Sentences

In June, he completed a heating, ventilation and air conditioning certificate from a vocational school.

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Fisher is so precise in his approach to conditioning that it makes no sense to risk it by drinking, which research has shown can disrupt rest and recovery.

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But in the wake of that criticism came a return volley of second-guessing about Doncic’s conditioning, durability and laggard defense.

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Sun belt nations - including much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America - need large amounts of electricity for daytime air conditioning.

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California and other Democratic-led states sued again, arguing this week that the shifting of funds was nothing more than the administration circumventing the court’s earlier ruling against the conditioning of funds outright.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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