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Operant Conditioning Essay

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Recommended: Strengths and weakness of the behaviourist approach

A behavioural psychologist believes that human behaviours can be explained and modified in terms of conditioning, without considering thoughts or feelings. Behaviourists emphasise the relationship between the environment and behaviour. This is called focus on learning, which is the changes in behaviour that can happen because of an experience. There are two main concepts, the stimulus which is the event or object that is measurable and may affect behaviour, and the response, which is the behaviour itself. For example, a child could be abused and could grow up to think that violence is a good behaviour and could be abusive to their family.
Conditioning
There are also two types of conditioning, classical and operant. In the case of classical …show more content…

It is learning through reinforcement or punishment. Punishment refers to the circumstance whereby a behaviour is followed by a consequence that is undesirable or unpleasant for the organism. If a behaviour is followed by a desired consequence that then the behaviour is more likely to occur again in the future. This is explained through skinners rats. He developed a special cage called a `skinner box’ in order to investigate operant conditioning in rats. The rat moves around the cage and accidently pulls a lever which will produce pellets of food for the rat. However, if they travel around the cage there is a certain spot which will electrocute the rat and he won’t go to that spot again. This is called negative reinforcement. This is an aversive stimulus and when it follows a response it serves to decrease the response. Now positive reinforcement is a stimulus which when follows a response it serves to increase the response. Reinforcement means what the word implies. Reinforcement can make a behaviour stronger conditioning can happen without intending it. This could be called behaviour modification which is someone trying to shape behaviour through reinforcement. For effective learning, the reinforce must immediately follow the response. Punishment which is delayed will be ineffective. You must make sure that the punishment is suitable and does not just give them attention as that’s what the learner would want. This is behaviour controlled by rewards and punishments in the individual’s

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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 in 1938.Operant conditioning is a form of learning which explains the relation of behaviors on certain rewards and consequences. The study of the theory only deals with expressible behaviors and not any internal mental thoughts and brain mechanisms. Operant Conditioning works by applying two major concepts, Reinforcements and Punishments, after the behavior is executed, which causes the rate of behavior to increase or decrease. Skinner’s Skinner box experiment with a rat is the base for operant conditioning theory and its concepts. The main principle comprises changing environmental events that are related to a person's behavior.

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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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Chapter three deals with procedures based in the principles of “respondent conditioning”, also known as Classical or Pavlovian conditioning. Classical conditioning is different than “operant conditioning”, in which a behavior is modified through its consequences, known as a reinforcer or punisher. These behaviors are called operant behaviors or voluntary. However, this chapter focuses on “respondent behavior”.

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The Positive and Negative of Operant Conditioning and The Most Effective Method There are many ways we can come about in behavior. An American psychologist, B.F. Skinner, introduced the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is known as associative learning and a learning process. The theory is made up of two factors in which behavior is modified through either reinforcement and or punishment.

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Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. 2. Operant conditioning Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that

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INTRODUCTION Have you ever thought on how people explain about behaviour? How do we know when learning process has occurred? Learning is permanent change that happened in the way of your behaviour acts, arises from experience one’s had gone through. This kind of learning and experience are beneficial for us to adapt with new environment or surrounding (Surbhi, 2018). The most simple form of learning is conditioning which is divided into two categories which are operant conditioning and classical conditioning.

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