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Factors of criminal behaviors
Factors of criminal behaviors
The link between alcohol and crime
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Correlation research reveals a pattern between two variables that have been measured several times. To uncover a relationship between alcohol and violence, I would use the correlation research. Using naturalistic observation, I would observe public intoxication at common bars or clubs, and involve accessible records of already convicted violent offenders that acknowledge the use of alcohol. I would choose this method because I believe this would be an abundant amount of knowledge that could properly disclose a correlation, weather positive or negative, between alcohol and violence, and present a strong or weak number that predicts the correlation thus making this research method the most viable. Although this data may display a relationship between the two variables, it does not divulge a cause, and may be very time consuming, which is the biggest disadvantages to a correlation study. In addition, the third variable problem is a disadvantage. The third variable correlation means the two variables, alcohol and violence, may be correlated only because of a third variable. In other words, alcohol and violence may be correlated because of a totally different reason, such as mental illness or aggression for example. Just as our text revealed on page 52, the correlation between kindness and the time of day, I believe research would reveal a correlation between alcohol and violence.
B. F. Skinner taught us about operant behavior; behavior that is produced from an impact on a person’s environment. Negative reinforcement is derived from negative impacts on the person’s environment. For example, the first time I seen the blue lights of a police officer in my rear view mirror, my heart seemed to stop pumping. As the officer walked t...
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...ng or sleeping, hot flashes, shortness of breath or hyperventilation. I would identify if these symptoms occur when she is near something she is afraid of such as an object or activity, thus having a phobia. Also, I would like to rule out if she has constant or uncontrollable thoughts of washing her hands, organizing objects or counting things, thus having a compulsive disorder. As a believer that the behavior should be treated in order to make the client more productive in society, I would like to treat the patient with behavioral therapy. I would like to teach the client behavior techniques that challenge the irrational thoughts that causes her anxiety. I would encourage her to exercise more, meditate, and learn breathing techniques. Hopefully by modifying her behavior, she will not have to be medicated, but that would also be an option in the future.
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).
According to Skinner’s theories, “Reinforcement does not strengthen the response instance that produces the reinforcer.” Rather, reinforcement can increase the likelihood that a comparable response may occur within the future. For one bottom-line, “behavior is not caused by something that has not yet happened.” Similar to operant conditioning, “the emission of a response reflects past conditioning, so the response occurs because similar responses were reinforced earlier, not because it will be reinforced later.” Skinner agreed that the “initial high response rate seen in extinction sessions exemplified this important aspect of operant conditioning” (Iversen, 1992, pp. 1325-1327). Theoretically, Skinner identified two aspects of reinforcement, one is the “pleasing effect of reinforcing stimuli, the other is their strengthening action.” Furthermore, Skinner emphasized that “feeling pleased by an event does not necessarily make a person want to repeat the respons...
(Biography.com, 2014) Skinner believed that the best way to understand behaviours was through looking at the causes and consequences. He called this approach Operant Conditioning. (McLeod, 2014) Skinner identified three types of responses or operant that can follow responses. The first one being neutral operant 's, whereby the response from the environment will have no affect on the probability of the behaviour being repeated. Second type he says is reinforcer’s, whereby the response from the environment can affect the probability of the behaviour being repeated depending on the reinforcement being a positive or negative one, through this behaviours can be learned or unlearned. Third type Skinner mentioned was responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated, therefore punishment is weakening the
Stevens provides us with an alternate view. She argues on violence as the result of biological composition of individuals. Stevens uses the blood sugar deficiency called hypoglycemia and its relationship with alcoholism and smoking. Stevens argues that alcoholism increases ones chance of getting hypoglycemia. Symptoms of hypoglycemia that are relevant are irritability and even in some cases mental disturbances. Since alcoholism increases the chance of hypoglycemia, then violence may be more in congruence with biological factors then we believe. Also the facts that mental disorders and chemical deficiencies have also been proven to be linked with violence support her argument also.
Bushman, B. J., & Cooper, H. M. (1990). Effects of alcohol on human aggression: an intergrative research review. Psychological Bulletin, 107(3), 341-354.
One of Skinner’s famous experiments that tested his Operant conditioning theory was the Skinner box. He used this box to record the times the rat pressed the lever, but the rat would not automatically press the lever. In order to shape the rat’s behavior, Skinner had to use food as a positive reinforcement to encourage the rat to press the lever. Eventually, Skinner added a shock to see how the rat would behave. The rats soon learned that if they pressed the lever the shock would not be delivered. (McLeod) This type of experiment that Skinner performed is called negative reinforcement. It is called negative reinforcement because the shock is supposed to increase the chances of the rats pushing the lever.
I’m constantly speeding when I drive. On my way to work, school, church, movies, or grandma’s house, I always seem to drive over the speed limit. Interestingly though, I also tend to slow down at the sight of a police car near me. Skinner would find this to be a valuable trait to study, considering the fact that this behavior distinguishes me from others. In this essay, I will allow Skinner to analyze me by utilizing his operant conditioning theory.
Watson and B.F. Skinner (Hutchison, 2011). Operant conditioning saw behavior as a product of positive and negative reinforcements. Behavior is learned and either acted out more frequently through rewards (positive reinforcements), that it receives, or weakened by punishments (negative reinforcements) which is a penalty of the behavior (Hutchison, 2011). According to Mae Sincero, behavior could also be learned “…indirectly (through observational learning)” (Mae Sincero, 2012). “Other examples of observational learning include: modeling, imitation, vicarious learning, identification, copying, social facilitation, contagion, androle play” (Bustamante, Howe-Tennant, & Ramo, 1996). This approach looked at the aftermath of the conduct as the structure for establishing behavior (Hutchison, 2011). An example of Operant Conditioning is, if every time the child cleans his room, his dad gives him ice cream. The child will continue to clean his room in order to keep receiving the ice cream. If every time, the child does not clean his room he gets a spanking. That will result, in the child started to clean his room because he does not want to be spanked. An example of observational learning would be a young teenage girl getting her belly pierced because she watched all her friends get a belly
F. Skinner was a well-known psychologist/behaviorist who founded the operant of behaviorism. He was also known for the “Skinner box” and other great experiments. Skinner however, believes most behavior differs from the classical form of conditioning, believing in what is called operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is different from classical conditioning because it involves actual behavior. Instead of reflex responses, operant conditioning rewards or punishes a person for actually doing something. In Alex’s case, his behavior was to perform violence. During the process the doctors applied negative reinforcement to Alex’s violent behavior. Alex would become violently ill when receiving the injections and as a result, whenever he was exposed to violence he felt sick when he tried to perform
“Drugs and Alcohol abuse”, are phrases we hear commonly on the radio, television or in discussions of social problems. People believe it is the user’s personal choice however; it is not only a personal problem that dramatically affects individuals’ life but is a major social problem that affects society as whole. It has become one of the biggest problems in United States today. Alcohol or Drug abuse nearly automatically is linked with criminal acts. The statistical association between alcohol or drug abuse with crime seems to be convincing when examined at the first glance; however, it is not possible to make a conclusion concerning a distinct cause and effect association between the two aspects. Accordingly, this paper will examine the relation between Alcohol or drug abuse and Crime.
In this paper, I will discuss positive reinforcement and negative reinforcements which are operant conditioning techniques that can modify a child’s behavior. In addition, I explain the effects that positive punishments have on a child, such as spanking.
Skinner researched this theory and based his work of of Thorndike’s law of effect. Operant conditioning is when behavior is controlled by the consequence. A peer reviewed article describes operant learning as behaviors reinforced in response to similar situations in the past according to Neiman, T., & Loewenstein, Y. (2014). Similar situations is used because the “same” situation will never happen exactly twice. Within operant conditioning is two key concepts: positive and negative reinforcements. Both positive and negative reinforcements can affect the behaviors in a person. My example comes from when I was little, if I did a chore for my mom, I would be able to have dessert after dinner. That is an example of positive reinforcement. There is also positive and negative punishment that can affect behavior. An example of negative punishment is if I received a poor grade, my mom would take away television time in hopes to stop me from receiving poor grades again. So operant conditioning is used to control behavior outcomes. Both positive and negative actions shape these
Operant conditioning also known at times as instrumental conditioning is a learning methodology that occurs via punishments or rewards in behaviourism. Operant conditioning links an individual’s behaviour with punishment and rewards for a certain behaviour. This operant conditioning theory by Skinner suggests that motivations and thoughts that occur internally should not be used to define behaviourism but should look at external causes of human behaviour (Skinner, 1974).
Many early learning settings use what is known as the A-B-C behavior model. The A stands for Antecedent, which is the “trigger” or the event. The B stands for the Good or Bad behavior, and the C stands for consequence which is for the positive or negative reinforcement. It is a known fact that children respond to rewards and praising good behavior. A Prime example is in a nursery setting and there being a behavior chart (McLeoud, 2007).Teachers will state that for every good day you have, you will receive a star, and on Friday if you have been good all week you will be rewarded. This is an example of conditioning. Promising a positive reinforcement is what educators will use to control their classroom environment. If you consider what the theory is proposing it makes a lot of sense. If you ask yourself, what better way is there to get a child to bring home All green on his behavior chart than to entice them with something they really love but may not get often. I can remember a time when my teacher used to entice our classroom to not talk when others were talking and if we successfully did that, she promised us candy out of the special candy jar. Looking back, I see that see was conditioning is by using positive reinforcement which actually worked. Operant conditioning is such a wonderful theory to practice that it comes naturally to you and do not even know that you are controlling the setting and or situation to get the result that you desire. Skinner Theories has opened so many doors in the study of behavior and how it can be
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