a learning process in which an organism's behavior becomes dependent on the occurrence of a stimulus in its environment
"The dog began salivating at the sound of the can opener because his conditioning linked that noise directly to mealtime."
The process of modifying a person or animal's behaviour.
"The trainer used positive reinforcement to condition the dog to sit calmly before opening its food bowl."
In plain English: Conditioning is when you learn to do something automatically because you've been rewarded for it before.
"The dog learned to salivate at the sound of the can opener through years of conditioning."
Usage: In everyday conversation, conditioning refers to the habit of preparing something in advance, such as conditioning concrete before it sets or conditioning hair with a specific treatment. Avoid using this term when you mean the psychological process of training behavior, which is technically called behavioral conditioning.
present participle of condition
"The coach was conditioning the new recruits to run faster than any team in their league."
In plain English: To condition something is to train it to do a specific thing by repeating actions until it becomes a habit.
"The teacher is conditioning the students to listen carefully during lectures."
Usage: Use "conditioning" when describing the process of training an animal or person to respond in a specific way through repeated stimuli. It refers to the active act of shaping behavior rather than simply preparing food or equipment for use.
Derived from the Old French condicion, this term originally meant an inherent quality, state, or nature. In modern usage, it evolved to describe the process of training behavior through association with stimuli.