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Conditioning In Psychology

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Conditioning is a theory used in behavioural psychology in which a reaction (reflex) to a particular stimulus can be reshaped through learning. The use of conditioning firstly began through studying animals, Skinner is an example of a psychologist who studied conditioning in rats. Skinner used behaviour shaping to obtain a desired response. In this case, it was for the rat to press a lever in the Skinner box which would then result in the release of a reward (food pellet) which is a type of positive reinforcement. When the rat realises that the lever is associated with receiving a food pellet, the likelihood of the rat pressing the leaver gradually increases. Along with positive reinforcement there is negative reinforcement, punishment, and …show more content…

He also believed that using positive reinforcement to change human behaviour could change the world. As described by Toates (2012) for example, in school’s teachers may use punishment to stop undesirable behaviour from children, such as, telling the child off for being disruptive in class. Skinner believed that using positive reinforcement instead of punishment, such as praising the child for good behaviour could increase desirable behaviour, as the praise works as a type of reward. Just like the study on rats, human’s behaviour can be controlled through consequence. The rat received a food pellet which increased the desired behaviour and the child receives praise which increases desired …show more content…

Skinner believed that human and non-human animal’s behaviour is determined by past events, which contributes to future behaviour. The issue with determinism is that it rejects free will and the idea that humans are able to make free decisions and take responsibility for their own actions. (Toates, 2012) Biology such as things like thoughts, feelings, intentions and the brain are not taken into account. Rather, there is more emphasises towards the observation of behaviour and past experiences, without acknowledging mental events. Secondly, there are some differences between humans and non-human animals. Non-human animals are flexible in their behaviour and make decisions more quickly; also, humans and non-human animals are from two completely different cultures. Humans speak a unique language and have a complex culture; they’re aware of their own behaviour and can make conscious decisions. So, to conclude this, human behaviour might react differently to conditioning compared with non-human animals. This is simply because of internal factors, biology and how humans have been programmed to be due to culture and

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In chapter 7, I found the concept of punishment to be most intriguing. Punishment is a part of operant conditioning which was theorized by B.F. Skinner. Punishment is often confused with negative reinforcement. However, the main difference between the two is: while the goal of reinforcement is to increase the likelihood of a behavior, the primary goal of punishment is to reduce the chances of the behavior it follows. In 1938, Skinner concluded that punishment produces only temporary suppression of behavior but later research found that effects may be permanent.

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Skinner devised the theory of operant conditioning. Operant Conditioning is defined as an important form of learning “in which a learner’s behavior becomes either more or less predictable depending on the consequences it produces” (Singleman & Rider, 2018, p. 42). To better explain, this theory plays out when a learner behaves in a certain way and associates that behavior with either the positive or negative consequences that follow. The idea is that humans tend to continue behaviors that have positive consequences and extinguish those that have negative consequences. Regina George shows exactly how this theory plays out by using positive and negative reinforcement within her friend group to condition them in behaving how she wants them

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You see twenty dollar's fall out of a person's pocket, are you going to keep it for yourself or give it back to the unknowing person? The decision is your to make...not quite. In Lauren Slater's book, Opening Skinner’s Box, Slater studies B.F Skinner's experiments on reactions. In Slater's own research she meets Jerome Kagan who believes free will exist and even jumps under his desk to prove it. However, I disagree with Kagan's claim that by diving under his desk he is proving he has free will because he overlooks the fact that he was trained by his society to do so, people react based off operant conditioning and finally, determinism.

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For example, the reinforcement of desired behaviors and ignoring or punishing undesired

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Skinners experiment was based on operant conditioning, using the concept of discrimination learning, he carried out experiments on animals with the idea that their behaviour is predetermined by their environment and using a well controlled environment would allow him to in turn control their behaviours using a range of triggers. Using reinforcement and expectancy, the animal associates acting out certain behaviours with rewards. (Toates, F., 2010, pp. 165-167) After performing a number of experiments on rats using mazes, he subsequently designed the Skinner box.

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Nevertheless, Skinner points out that children learn nothing from the punishment. Instead, they may start to work out how to avoid it (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Another concept is classical conditioning (classical behaviorism) that emphasizes on the relation between stimuli and response. This concept embodies in a famous experiment, in which the food is presented to the dog when the bell rings, and the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus for the dog (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Likewise, if children receive toys in the condition that they behave well, then they will probably repeat this behavior to get the toys.

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Introduction Learning enables you as an individual, to gain more knowledge about something which you have never learned about. Learning also has to do with past experiences which are influenced by behavioural changes (Weiten, 2016). There are different types of ways to learn; through, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning which will be discussed and analysed in the essay.   Behaviourism Behaviourism is considered one of the main subjects in psychology and the two main people who founded behaviourism were, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F Skinner and Ivan Pavlov who were famous for the work they did on classical and operant conditioning (Moderato & Presti, 2006). According to Moderato and Presti

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Paper 1: BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION Becky Templin Clovis Community College February 17, 2018 Introduction The theory behind behavior modification ethics has a reputation for its accomplishments and disappointments. In addition to this, there are many dangers in using physical punishment as behavior modification with the two primary modifiers of behavior being Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. The outcome of using negative reinforcement has its share of benefits and downfalls in human behavior whereas; positive reinforcement seems to win over.

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In this case, reinforcement is referring to having an increase in behavior and regarding to punishment its defined to decrease a behavior. The reinforcement and punishment can consist of being positive and or negative. In operant conditioning, the most effective method to utilize is positive reinforcement, which is beneficial for the change of one’s behavior. Positive Reinforcement

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The major key findings that were discovered in this study include the idea that it is possible that after being conditioned to react to a certain stimulus, the subject could possibly begin to generalize different objects that may cause the subject to react the same way towards the generalized stimuli as the subject did to the original stimulus. Another finding is that classical conditioning is something that could potentially have a long lasting effect on someone, especially if the subject formed a generalization to the original stimulus. The researchers felt that because of the lack of experimental evidence provided about the subject before this experiment prompted them to research it

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Link to reality: Both Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning and Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning can be used every day in an ECCE setting. Today many school systems and childhood authorities follow Skinner’s and Pavlov’s theory by using the approach of positive reinforcement. This encourages good behaviour in the child making the behaviour more likely to be repeated again as they are rewarded and praised for their efforts in reading, writing and general learning. It is important that children’s efforts in a learning setting are rewarded as this will encourage the child to perform to the best of their ability.

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This school of thought suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions, emotions and moods are too subjective. There are two major types of conditioning: 1. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus.

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1. B.F. Skinner: Behaviour modification Positive and negative reinforcements or rewards and punishments are used to modify or shape learner’s behaviour. B. F. Skinner’s entire system is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in the process of "operating" on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this "operating," the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforcer.

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• Behaviorism do not elaborate since there are no reinforcement

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Atwood’s novels are examined in many context whether culture historical or even social, which explores the victimization of women. Victimization includes anything that affects women’s survival, specifically, victimization through physical, psychological, and economic manipulation. Survival is also taken in the broadest sense. It includes both physical and spiritual survival "as anything more than a minimally human being" (Atwood Survival 33). In Survival, Atwood presents four "Basic Victim Positions," which include denying victimization, acquiescing in victimization, repudiating victimization, and becoming a creative non-victim" (36-39).

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