I think you have significantly misunderstood my post.
My PHD friend is not a fisherman, nor does he deal with ponds. I can't even begin to imagine how you came to that conclusion. He was simply stating what every psychologist learns from day one of course study. It's really not that difficult to understand. Organisms behave in ways that benefit them. Positive reinforcement makes a behavior more likely. Negative reinforcement makes a behavior less likely. I guess as usual I've failed to make my point to all.
I'm unaware of anything either one of us has said that flies in the face of classical conditioning theory. I'm simply trying to make it all fit to the theory.
