Rethinking on the discussion of the first class

Actually, I didn't think carefully about the linkage between operant learning with self-efficacy at the first class and even didn't know that operant learning belongs to behaviorism. But now I've searched about that term and got a sense that there shall be many differences for us to take into consideration when we compare human being's learning behaviors with animals. Since to some extent, humans experience much more complex interactions in the changing environments. Even though animals could communicate in some ways to each other, they could rarely create something new in the world. If they could learn to build things and modify their surroundings to better meet their needs just like human beings, it might facilitate their evolution more quickly. So I feel like, there must be something else that distinguishes human beings from animals, like cats and dogs. Human’s memories might work so differently from animals. Most animals may not intentionally create their histories or cultures to reflect upon. But humans could learn a lot from their past experiences and develop various perceptions on certain problems based on personal reflections. I wouldn't say it is the human free will that makes the differences. Since it sounds like so abstract and couldn't be understood scientifically and animals may also have kinds of free will. But some factors may exist to help humans interact with the environment proactively, rather than to respond passively in operant learning no matter it is positive or negative.

As for the question that what kinds of stimuli could facilitate or inhibit certain behaviors, I am thinking that if we put people into an environment where there is no stimulus, what behaviors could we expect from them? In another word, what are the causes of certain behaviors without any external stimulus? This question mainly comes from my confusion that whether the behavior comes from within (from people) or without (from the environment). To conclude, I feel like the interaction between individuals and the environment is so difficult to understand.