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Application of behaviour modification
Essay on operant conditioning theory
Essay on operant conditioning theory
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Recommended: Application of behaviour modification
In this experiment, I am planning to change my behavior of biting my nails. This is widely regarded as a bad habit, and I feel as though it would be quite simple to condition this rather unsanitary behavior out of my everyday actions. If the experiment goes as planned, I will no longer be biting my nails within the next seven days. If my assumptions are correct, then operant conditioning will be the most suitable form of conditioning for this experiment; this is my conviction because I feel as though this would involve mostly ¨voluntary¨ behaviors along with negative reinforcement. Operant conditioning seems like the most effective route in this experiment. The behavior that I am trying to change would most likely be an unconscious yet voluntary …show more content…
However, if there are apparent results within that time period, I will feel obliged to continue running the experiment. My approximate period for results would fall within the next three days or so. This estimate is very liberal, and I am aware that this may be too liberal. Although my expectations for the turnover rate in this experiment, the behavior does not appear difficult to modify. Nail Biting, although being difficult to notice when it is occurring, is an anxiety based behavior (In this case, at least). This makes it rather simple to control; if I am aware of the behavior, I may be able to simply calm myself and stop the undesired behavior. The fact that there are ongoing negative stimuli associated with this behavior, is extremely motivating for the subject. Whenever I will be able to stop the behavior, the pain and unsightly nails, will be absent for some time. This should be summed up as being a simple example of negative reinforcement. Overall, this experiment appears to be quite simple, especially considering the fact that there is only one form of reinforcement at play. The undesired behavior is nail biting, due to it leaving several negative effects. These negative effects may be considered to be the negative reinforcement in the experiment. If the experiment proves to show results by the deadline within the next seven days, I will continue it beyond this
In second grade I was apart of a wild classroom. Their was a lot of chaos from all the young children. My teacher struggled to get everyone on task and to complete our work. After some time my teacher decided to make up a reward system (positive reinforcement). The children in the classroom were able to earn tickets for doing their homework, being respectful, and many other things. We were able to save these tickets and cash them in on fridays for treats, toys, or even sometimes extra recess. The teacher had a separate system for when we misbehaved. There were 3 colors you could earn everyday. If you weren’t on task, out of your seat, or just being disruptive she would change your color from green to yellow. If it happened again you got a red card and lost your tickets you earned for that day. This is a perfect example of positive punishment. It gave each child an opportunity to earn tickets for good behavior, and a warning system with the cards that possibly would lead to losing your earned tickets. Our teacher was using operant conditioning to produce a change in our
Joshua Klein was at a cocktail party with his friends when one was complaining about the crows in their yard. Joshua mentioned that they should train them to do something useful, and the friend responded that it was impossible. This is what brought Klein to his idea of making a vending machine for crows. Klein studied crows and found that they adapt a lot to live in our world. He figured he would make something useful and beneficial for both the birds and us. After spending years reading about crows, Klein made his vending machine.
“Operant 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 behavior” (Cherry). Positive reinforcement which is praising a person for doing something good verses negative reinforcement which is an unpleasant remark a punishment. B.F. Skinner did an experiment on a rat, the rat was taught to push two buttons, one to receive food and the other was a light electric shock. The rat tried both buttons and realized which button was good and which one was bad. This experiment goes to show that upon the rewards and punishment system one can learn their rights from their wrongs through a series of lessons. Kincaid and Hemingway both use operant conditioning to show human behavior under stimulus control.
Operant conditioning is a kind of conditioning, which examines how often a behavior will or occur depending on the effects of the behavior (King, 2016, pg. ). The words positive and negative are used to apply more significance to the words reinforcement or punishment. Positive is adding to the stimulus, while negative is removing from the stimulus (King, 2016). For instance, with positive reinforcement, there is the addition of a factor to increase the number of times that the behavior occurs (King, 2016). An example of positive reinforcement is when a child is given an allowance for completing their household chores. The positive reinforcement is the allowance which helps to increase the behavior of doing chores at home. In contrast with negative
Since the arrival of our twins undesirable behavior has manifested in one of our 11 yr. old. While initially very conscienscious in helping attend to the infants & her ordinary duties, she has become accustomed to playing with them mostly now. This play in itself is great, except they no longer get the changing & feeding expected. Furthermore she uses them as an excuse now to put off doing the minimal domestic maintenance formerly performed. She is generally unresponsive to negative reinforcement options. Past experience shows she responds best to tactile & humanistic behaviorist techniques, backed up by specific instruction from our sacred texts observed in our household.
Most of the things we daily perform are due to habits. Experts in psychology have suggested several theories to explain the process in which humans and animals shape such habits. Among those theories are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. As humans it is almost inevitable to fall into bad habits, either consciously or unconsciously. Fortunately science has demonstrated that we can change or modifying unwanted behaviors through conditioning, (Whitbourne, 2012). Operational conditioning underlines how a behavior is strengthened or weakened by the use of rewards or punishments; shaping, modeling, and extinction are some of the techniques utilized to achieve these behavioral alterations, (Cherry, n.d.). Key points to consider for effective behavior modification are: clear identification of behavior to change, the use self-control, and punishments or reinforcements, (Cherry, n.d.; Selig, 2012). This paper shows how operant conditioning has been effective modifying behaviors either by rewards, extinction, or shaping.
Some may say nail biting is an addiction, most people do it! Actually nail biting usually happens when stress overweighs someone or they do it subconsciously, or when that overhang nail has just been bothering
The first systematic study regarding operant conditioning was taken place in the 1800’s by the Psychologist, Thorndike. Thorndike formally defined operant conditioning as a type of learning that is controlled by the consequences of an organism’s behavior. However according to lecture, operant conditioning can be simply thought as performing an action in order to receive a reward. Operant conditioning can be useful when trying to deal with procrastination, increase efficacy of teaching, or to improve motivation. Therefore, operant conditioning can be used as a behavioral modification program to devise a more specific weight loss program to increase the roommate’s chances of making it on the football team. The program will include the following
Out of positive reinforcement and punishment only the reinforcement was successful for my behaviour modification. I believe this was the case for a number of reasons but dominantly because the positive punishment had a lack of severity. The reason I came to this conclusion was because I realized in the case of positive reinforcement if I committed the operant response at least once my entire day of hard work would be ruined. When I made the switch to positive punishment I realized in the eventuality I performed the operant response I could just do the 50 push ups and be done with it. Upon comparison of my success and failure I reflected and realized if the punishment was more severe than 50 push ups I would not do it for actual fear and reluctance of doing the positive punishment. For example if the punishment was a 1000 push ups each repeated operant response I would most likely not bite my nails. I did enjoy the modified behaviour as my nails seemed fuller and less scarred but it was not long of an experiment enough so refraining from biting my nails was still a conscious action and took a lot of effort.
Measuring the difference after the conditioning: in the last 3 days. In this period of time, I would stop conditioning and measure the aftereffect of the behavior change; at the same time, comparing the baseline data and the result data to find out the effectiveness of the
Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner. In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats operated on their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors(“Behavior,” 2001).
Out of the several behaviors that are performed daily, there are some that become bad habits and are hard to break. There are various behavior modification techniques, or treatment approaches based on the principles of operant conditioning, that can be used to eliminate these problems. Operant conditioning is controlling and manipulating one's behavior through reinforcement and punishment to help one understand their behavior, and to try and correct it. Not only can some of these behaviors be frustrating, they can also be unhealthy, and finding an approach to break the habit is needed.
Operant conditioning is a system of learning that transpires through punishment and rewards for behaviors (Kalat, 2011). Through this, a connection linking a behavior and a consequence is made. For instance a kid could be told that she will not get recess privileges if she talks in class. This possibility of being punished leads to decrease in disruptive behaviors from her. The major components of operant condition are punishment and reinforcement (Kalat, 2011).
Behavior is due to the environment, so whatever the behavior is, it’s been learnt through either classical or operant conditioning, says ...
Negative reinforcement should not be alone because doing so can increase the likelihood of the behavior. Negative reinforcement is not