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Learning is the process of attaining knowledge that can be obtained in a variety of ways. People learn through their own personal experiences, others experiences, actions, and by being taught. Over the year’s psychologist have categorized these different types of learning into more specific categories such as operant conditioning, vicarious learning and observational learning. These three methods of learning, though they all use different techniques, can affect a person’s behavior.
Operant condition is a form of learning that can be used to change an unhealthy behavior. One unhealthy behavior that it could be used to change is a friend that doesn’t fasten their seat belt when they are in a vehicle. Whenever this friend rides in a vehicle their seatbelt remains untouched and it has
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It is an unhealthy behavior that could potentially harm them. The operant behavior that is hoped to be exhibited after operant conditioning is that it becomes habit for them to wear their seatbelt.
Through the use of operant condition, I hope to help this friend reach the desired behavior of wearing a seatbelt. Operant conditioning is a type of learning where the subject learns the desired behavior either through reinforcement or punishment. The unhealthy behavior that this friend has been exhibiting occurs every time they are inside of a vehicle, but after the use of operant conditioning the desired behavior I hope to see is them fastening their seatbelt when they are in a vehicle. One form of operant condition that could be used to change this friend’s unhealthy behavior is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the addition of something that will encourage the person to repeat a particular behavior. In the case of the unbuckled seatbelt, the variable that I would present to this friend, in association with buckling their seatbelt, would be
“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
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
The theory behind this is that, when a behavior is followed by a good consequence that behavior will become evident more frequently. Unlike classical conditioning, where the response came after the stimulant, operant conditioning has the response occur before the reinforcement. Any behavior that is not reinforced will be extinguished (Standridge).
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).
Operant conditioning is a theory that evaluates the behavior of individuals as was founded by psychologist B.F. Skinner. The definition for operant conditioning according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is: “conditioning in which the desired behavior or increasingly closer approximations to it are followed by a rewarding or reinforcing stimulus.” In other words, it is learning that is based on the possibility that our behavior can be shaped by us receiving rewards or punishments, thus there would be a consequence for our behavior. Kendra Cherry (2014) shares the view that B.F Skinner “believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior.” It was from this point of view that he seek to come about with the operant conditioning method of learning.
Operant conditioning is based on Thorndike's 'Law of Effect'. (McLeod, 2014) Which is really basic. According to the website educational portal, it teaches us that according to the “Law of Effects”, if we are rewarded for something we'll do it more often. (Goodfriend, 2014)
Skinner’s operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a learning process through positive and negative reinforcement. This conditioning has a connection made between a behavior and a consequence for that specific behavior. There are positive and negative reinforcements and punishments. Positive reinforcements are encouraging things that are obtainable after the desired behavior (when the student shows good behaviors reward them with a sticker on a chart). During the situation that had a positive reinforcement used, the desired behavior is strengthened. A positive punishment encompasses the execution of an undesirable consequence that will make the unwanted behavior decrease. A negative reinforcement is discouraging a behavior with an unpleasant response. A negative punishment is when something is taken away that is favorable to that student (when the student shows a bad behavior take away 5 minutes of play
First of all, operant conditioning is often considered an effective method of shaping the behaviors of children and has concepts that are often taught to teaching professionals. Operant conditioning refers to the process of changing consequences of response, or behavior, to dictate how often that response or behavior
B. F. Skinner, the most well-known American Psychologist who was the top exponent of the school of psychology that was known as behaviorism, preserved the impression that learning is an end result of change in evident behavior. The changes in behavior are determined by the way individuals reply to stimuli (events) in the environment. B.F. Skinner defined this phenomenon as operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response (McLeod, 2007). This
In operant conditioning, there is an association between an individual’s behavior and its consequence. A consequence can either be reinforcement or punishment (233). Positive and negative reinforcements will increase the behavior. When an individual is reinforced, they will continue to repeat the behavior to receive the reinforcement again. Punishment, on the other hand, will decrease the behavior. If an individual is punished after a particular behavior, they will behave that way less often to avoid the punishment.
Staddon, J. and Cerutti, D. (2003) Operant conditioning. Annual Review of Psychology [online]. Vol. 50, pp.115-114 [Accessed 31 Jan 2006]. Available at: .
Learning is defined as a “process of change that occurs as a result of an individual’s experience” (Mazure, 2006). Researchers assume that the process of learning follows certain general principles, which were developed, into the general process learning theories. These include operant conditioning and classical conditioning which has been put forward by leading psychologists like Pavlov, B.F.Skinner and Thorndike. However, in learning, operant and classical conditoning are opposed by biological constraints that state that there are limitations to the theories. Some of these biological constraints on learning will be discussed below.
Operant conditioning involves either: positive reinforcement which is when you are given a pleasant reward for a good behaviour, negative reinforcement which is when something unpleasant is taken away after good behaviour, positive punishment which is when there is a bad consequence for bad behaviour to cause extinction of the behaviour, or negative punishment which is when something pleasant is taken away after bad behaviour to also cause extinction of the behaviour (Grant, 1964). There are two types of rewards/reinforcers: primary and secondary (Comer, et al, 2013). A primary reinforcer is a reinforcer that is naturally pleasant (for example: dogs receiving food after performing a trick) and a secondary reinforcer is a reinforcer that is associated with a primary reinforcer and has to be reinforced (for example: an individual must work to get money to be able to have natural rewards like being able to buy food) (Comer, et al, 2013). There are also schedules of reinforcement which involves continuous reinforcement and partial/intermittent reinforcement (Comer, et al, 2013). Continuous reinforcement is when there is reinforcement every
In contrast to classical conditioning, operant conditioning, discovered by B.F Skinner, is a learning process that involves either an increase or decrease in some behavior as a result of consequences (Amabile, 1985). Operant conditioning attempts to elicit new behavior through use of reinforcers and punishments.