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Operant conditioning and behaviour modification
Operant conditioning and behaviour modification
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Biting my nails is a great because it relieves stress and helps with boredom. It is unwanted however because it leaves my finger nails in an undesired state.
To try and combat and modify this behaviour I attempted both positive reinforcement and positive punishment. For instance I allowed myself 1 hour extra on the computer if I went the whole day without biting my nails additionally after attempting the positive reinforcement above I attempted positive punishment which consisted of me doing 50 push ups each time I repeated the operant response.
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.
In regards to my personality traits I suspect my conscientiousness was the most prevalent through the entire experiment. I believe this is the case because not biting my nails took a lot of control and determination. For example throughout the experiment refraining from carrying out the operant response took effort. Conscientiousness deals with how goal oriented a person is or is not so if I had less conscientiousness my efforts most likely would have ended a lot sooner.
When I succeeded in refraining from biting my nails the first day I was filled with great pride as I knew it was because of my own ability and restraint. This coincides with the idea that I have always had an internal locus of control.
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
Positive reinforcement works by presenting something positive to the person after a desired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen in the future (McAdams, 2009). An example of this could be when a child helps their mother with the dishes and the mothers rewards the child with ice cream. Negative reinforcement, is when a behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus (McAdams, 2009). An example of this could be when the light goes green at a traffic light, the car in front of a person does not move. The person hates when this happens and from experience knows that honking the car’s horn gets cars that are in front of them to go
Positive feedback is all about promoting change in the behavior. I was raised within a household that rely on negative feedback and punishment to promote good behavior. Sometimes I did reward my nephews for positive behaviors but it was not done continuously or in a way that would result in positive behavior change. I come to believe that negative reinforcement was the key to ameliorating bad behaviors until I took notice the positive feedback I was given minimizes the bad attitudes and behaviors of the children. They were getting along well and whenever I praise one the others wanted to get that praise also, I believe that motivate them to behave appropriately. For instance, when one did a good deed I would make all the other clap while saying “well done” or something positive. It was a very long process because children do not change their ways from one day to the next, I couldn’t say I was very patience but see them attempt to better themselves, was what motivate
Nearly everyone in the modern world has heard of the term self-control, a seemingly non-important or uninteresting topic of interest. However, self-control has been related to having one of the most significant impacts on a person. Even some have gone as far to say that self-control is the “biggest predictor of a successful and satisfying life” (Pinker 1), which are bold words for a topic that many merely disregard. The idea of self-control is a concept coined in the Victorian era, and appears immensely throughout the novel, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, written by R.F. Baumeister & J. Tierney. Essentially a self-help book, ‘Willpower’ provides explanations for why humans are doing the things that they do, and why people aren’t always as virtuous as they may be expected to be. Self-control affects many facets of a person’s life, and by looking at how it is presented in psychology, and in Baumeister and Tierney’s novel, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, one will see the correlations and differences between modern research and historical perspectives on the idea of self-control, and ultimately decide if the idea of self-control is an inherent trait or a learned condition.
If a behavior is desirable, consequences called reinforcers are used to encourage the behavior in the future, via the process of reinforcement. Reinforcement can be positive (presenting reinforcing stimulus) or negative (removing a negative stimulus). However, if a behavior is undesired, a negative consequence can be used to discourage the behavior, through the process of either positive or negative punishment. In positive punishment, a negative consequence is presented after the undesired behavior occurs. When negative punishment it used the idea is the same “to discourage future display of undesired behavior,” but instead of presenting a negative stimulus, a desired stimulus is removed following the behavior.
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).
First of all, I was highly interested in the concept and various factors that together make up positive reinforcement. I had a premise that I could do some experimental work on the three children for whom I baby-sit during the week after school. They leave school full of energy and it is my job to get them to complete a series of tasks before the end of the evening. I imagined that some positive reinforcement might get them on their way to handling their responsibilities in a timelier manner. My first step was to come up with a specific instrumental response that would produce reinforcement. This took no time at all because by far the most painfully difficult thing for me to do is get the children to sit down and do their homework. I then spoke specifically to each child and asked them what they would rather choose as an after school activity. They named video games, television, and going to play with other neighborhood children. I had expected these types of answers from the children and made them into the positive reinforcers that would be contingent on the children’s performance of the instrumental response; namely completing their homework. I explained to the children that if they behaved and finished their homework, then directly following they could spend an hour doing an activity of their choice.
If I had an a high external locus control, I could felt like prisoner of luck, fate, my genetic make-up, or socioeconomic status, rather than feeling that I have control over what happens in my life. However, the test results proved me wrong. Due that I have a high internal locus of control, I often take responsibility for my actions as well as credit for my behaviours. “This makes me more proactive in everything I do and seem to have struck a balance between the two ends of the spectrum, (Locus Of Control & Attribution Style Test - Sample Report, n.d.). Therefore, I constantly tell myself that it is vital for me to try my best, accept and understand my own limits but I should also not give up that easily without a fight. If I perceived myself as someone who lacked control, I may find myself inhibiting motivation, initiative and willingness to take risks. Thus, under such circumstances, chances of success can be diminished. The results of the locus control are a clear indication that I lean towards furthest towards the internal side, which is healthier end of the spectrum to be
.... I feel that in most cases, once a student has been punished through negative reinforcement for doing wrong, the student will attempt to correct such behavior in the future to avoid punishment. In addition, positive reinforcement should be given for those students who are the majority and behave, as well as for the students who are occasional troublemakers because positive reinforcement helps show what is correct behavior in response to bad behavior.
Based on the test results my locus of control is external. According to our text, Individuals who fall into this category do not believe that their future is within their control. They believe that it is more influenced by external forces. I agree somewhat with this assessment of myself. Although I also feel that some portions of our lives can be influenced greatly by our own inner desires and motivations. My interests are also centered on the outside world. This is consistent with the description at the end of the exercise. I thrive in situations where I can be around and mingle with large groups of people. I grew up in a very large family and this helped to shape my personality. However, I do enjoy quiet time and occasionally working on my own.
...epeated pairing or exposure to consequence-based procedures such as extinction. That is, consistent exposure to extinction or other consequence-based interventions may establish high-p instructions as discriminative stimuli for compliance (Wilder, Allison, Nicholson, Abellon, & Saulnier, 2010). Lastly, while the studies presented established the effectiveness of positive reinforcement on noncompliance, it will be of interest to find out if there are conditions in which positive reinforcement contingencies are not as effective. For example, it may be less effective when given a more difficult or highly aversive tasks. In addition, most of the research conducted has used edible reinforcers, so future research should attempt to determine the effects of other positive reinforcers on escape-maintained problem behavior. Future research could examine these possibilities.
Of course, don’t take the title too seriously. Taking good care of your teeth and mouth today is as much important as taking care of your body as a whole. However, there are destructive dental habits that are guaranteed to damage your teeth.
This includes things like mood, emotion, idiosyncrasies. When it comes down to discussion personality traits are debated on a lot many have created tests and theories based on them. Like the one used in this experiment. Why is this debated? It’s because humans want to be able to understand the answers to questions like: ‘Why do I prefer staying home and playing video games then going to large parties with my friends?’ They want to know more about themselves. Kate Reilly Thorson in her article ‘Why so we take personality tests?’ says that the main 3 reasons people take personality tests is because they help us achieve an identity, we like getting feedback that confirms our views of ourselves, and that it helps us justify our behavior.(Why so we take personality tests?,Thorson) Acclaimed American personality psychologist, Lewis Goldberg, created a theory on the “Big five traits of personality”. These include Openness to experience which compares adventure and caution, conscientiousness which measures a person’s organization and planning skills, extraversion comparing introversion to extraversion, neuroticism compares self-consciousness and confidence, agreeableness which compares combativeness and coldness as opposed to friendliness and warmth.(Big five personality,Goodtherapy.org) Much like the theory behind the personality used in this
Punishment is a process through which “the consequence of a response decreases the likelihood that the response will recur” (Gray, 2002, pp.115). Further, punishment can be seen as an effort to decrease the response rate to stimuli by either removing a desired stimulus or presenting one which is undesired (Gray, 2002). Recent studies suggest that punishment can be an effective method of behaviour modification. However, as reported in Lerman and Vorndran (2002), there are a number of limitations to punishment as an intervention and subsequent negative side effects. For this reason, certain principles upon which the implementation of a successful punishment is dependent must be adhered to. In accordance to these findings, this essay will contend that whilst there are alternative means to operant conditioning, certain punishment techniques have been proven to be effectual and in some aspects advantageous.
Once someone enters their teen years there will be different factors that will add to the ways a person should care for their teeth. Some things do not change, however, teenagers should still be flossing daily and brushing twice daily using fluoride toothpaste. There is also a higher prevalence of gingivitis among teens than prepubertal children or adults. If the teenager is physically active, he or she should wear a mouth guard while being active to avoid injury to the teeth. The teenager should also avoid sugary drinks or snacks such as soda, Gatorade, or candy. Avoiding bad habits like smoking, chewing tobacco or even drugs is also imperative in any person’s health, but it is important to make sure the teenager is aware of the negative affects it can have on their teeth. 88% of smokers develop the bad habit of smoking bad habit by the time they are eighteen. Smoking and the use of chewing tobacco are usually associated with oral cancer and cancers of the head and neck. Aside from that many teenagers also go through a phase wanting piercings; however, a piercing on any part of the mouth including lips and tongue piercing can cause damage to their teeth. Oral health problems associated with oral jewelry include swallowing the jewelry, aspirating the jewelry, fractured teeth, gingival recession, and speech impairment. Many