Table 1.

Pavlovian vs. Instrumental Control. Detailed comparison of key differences between Pavlovian and Instrumental Control.

Pavlovian Control (e.g., Classical, Respondent)	Instrumental Control (e.g., Operant)
Behavior is controlled by stimulus preceding response	Behavior is controlled by consequences of response
Responses are elicited by neutral stimuli repeatedly associated with an appetitive or aversive unconditioned outcome	Responses are driven by the motivation to attain a rewarding outcome or avoid/escape from an aversive outcome
Goal is to increase the probability of a response (CR) to an initially neutral stimulus (CS) by associating the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus (US)	Goal is to increase the probability of a response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus (SD) by following a desired response with a reinforcing outcome or following the undesired response with a punishing outcome
Stimulus-Stimulus contingencies	Response-Outcome contingencies
US follows CS during training regardless of whether or not CS occurs. CR is brought under the control of a stimulus event CS that precedes the response, rather than the one that follows it	Reinforcer or Punisher follows the response only if the organism performs the voluntary action

CR = conditioned response; CS = conditioned stimulus; US = unconditioned stimulus; S^D = discriminative stimulus.