Operant Conditioning Experiment

Abstract The purpose of this experiment was to find out how many people truly abide by school zone speed limits, and how people react when a speed van and police vehicle are placed in plain sight in a school zone. This is because it appears that many people do not follow school speed limits on a normal basis until there is something or someone present to witness it. The school zone used did not have a radar speed sign in case it had an influence on the results. The control group was the speed of cars without presence of authority. The speeds of 30 cars were recorded in a school zone without a radar speed sign. Then a police vehicle was positioned so that it was visible and the speeds of 30 cars were recorded. Finally, a speed camera van was

Psychology has two different kinds of conditioning, operant and classical. In this experiment, operant condition in the focal point. Operant conditioning is the a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher (Meyers, 2014). There are two kinds of reinforcement and punishment, positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is to add a desirable stimulus when the desired response is given, whereas negative reinforcement is to take away an aversive stimulus when the desired response is made (Meyers, 2014). An example of positive reinforcement is to give dessert to a child that finishes their vegetables. An example of negative reinforcement is the annoying dinging sound cars make until seatbelts are fastened; the annoying sound goes away when the desired behavior (buckling the seatbelt) is performed. Positive punishment is to administer an adverse stimulus, and negative punishment is the withdrawal of a rewarding stimulus when an undesired response is made (Meyers, 2014). An example of positive punishment is receiving a ticket for speeding and a negative punishment is to take away a driving privileges for people with traffic violations or