Reading Summary: The second half of chapter 3 is about Operant Conditioning and how it works by using different reinforcement techniques to mold behavior. The chapter covers the different types of reinforcements such as positive, negative, extrinsic, intrinsic, primary secondary, social, activity, and material. In operant conditioning a variety of these types of reinforcements can be used to shape and condition a subject to behave in a specific way. Word Count: 67 Learning Theory: Behaviorism is constructed upon stimulus-response actions and the way in which things learn from what is around them. It shows how the environment is something that can affect future actions of a being and how people develop habits of thinking and doing. Word Count: …show more content…
When I was in grade school I had teachers that would reward students for good grades and positive behavior thus making it more likely for us to work hard to do better. I remember receiving candy, a material reinforcer, recess extensions, an activity reinforcer, and even activity passes, an activity reinforcer, for doing well. If I proved to know the content well enough, then I was allowed to skip an activity in class to do something more fun such as a craft or a game instead. Or sometimes, those who did exceptionally well on a quiz would be allowed to go to lunch early which also meant a longer recess. These incentives to do well positively reinforced my work ethic so that I was studying more and working harder to achieve good grades. I noticed as I went through school that my work ethic strengthened the more positive reinforcement I received. If I began to slip, and my effort level decreased then I would receive negative reinforcement from my teachers in the form of a bad grade, a secondary reinforcer. This would then signal me to work harder so that I would not receive the same low grade as before. The consequences I encountered from both working hard and slacking off shaped the way I behaved in school. When offered incentives to do well and negative consequences for not performing as well, I was induced to work hard and get good grades. One particular example of Operant Conditioning I remember from my early education was when my father promised my class McDonalds lunch if all of us got 100% on our spelling test. I remember our entire class studying harder than we had before to achieve a perfect score on our test. We ended up making our goal and being the highest scoring class all year for spelling tests. My father’s positive reinforcement of our habit to study hard affected my class and for the rest of the year my class had a notably higher work
Behaviorism is a scientific approach that humans and animals behavior can be studied and explained through examination, and shows how psychologists view different behaviors. Behaviorisms believes that learners behavior starts shaping through “stimulus – responses” (Behaviorism, 2007), and positive reinforcement (by giving rewards), or negative
Operant conditioning relies on consequences to behaviors, and one of the consequences is reinforcement. Reinforcement has two options: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement consists of the presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the
However, operant behavior, though defined by Skinner as behavior “controlled by its consequences” is in practice little different from what had previously been termed “instrumental learning.” (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003). There are four different techniques that can be executed in operant conditioning, which are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction; nevertheless, positive reinforcement will be the technique used in the research experiment. Positive reinforcement training ( PRT) teaches animals to voluntarily perform desired behaviors, can be applied to improve behavior and reactivity (Gillis, Janes, & Kaufman, 2012). The essential objective for this research experiment is to use operant conditioning technique, positive reinforcement, to train a pre-adult monkey analyze diverse environmental settings and return to the portal as the alarm go
1)Operant conditioning-Operant conditioning teaches certain behaviors through either rewards that increase wanted behaviors or punishments that decrease unwanted behavior.
Operant conditioning is one’s attempt to modify behaviors which are generally voluntary in nature and can be maintained by consequences/responses as opposed to classic conditioning that can deal with the conditioning of the automatic/reflexive behavior which are not maintained by consequences. Operate conditioning can be a method of learning that can occur through rewards and also punishments for behavior in other words it is a type of learning in which an individual’s behavior may change in form, frequency, or strength. Conditioning one may attempt to reach their goal and keep the process going even after the goal has been met. We see that with positive reinforcement an outcome can be strengthened by getting a praise or direct reward. By measuring progress we can make sure that the goal
Behaviorism theory focuses on the study of obvious behaviors that can be observed and measured (Hothersal, 2004). The main principle associated with behaviorism theory is the inquiry of human behavior in the observable stimulus response interaction and the association between them. There were many behavioral theorists that searched for the association between the human behavior and the stimulus response, such as; Thorndike, Skinner, Pavlov and Watson. Behaviorism attempts to explain, describe and influence the behavior of an individual. As well behaviorists recognize that learning is an internal event. However, is not recognizing as learning until the behavior is displayed. The focus of the behavioral approach is on how the environment impacts
Operant conditioning is the modification of behavior through consequences. There are two main types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is where a behavior is strengthened by the stimulus that follows. Punishment is where a behavior is decreased or weakened by the stimulus that follows. And then the type of stimulus that followed is classified by being positive or negative. Positive is where something is added or presented to the situation. Negative is where something is taken away or removed from the situation. These types of stimuluses, and types of consequences, can be combined into four types of operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement, where something is added to strengthen a behavior. Negative reinforcement, where something is taken away to strengthen a behavior. Positive punishment, where something is added to weaken a behavior. And negative punishment, where something is taken away to weaken behavior (Passer,
Behaviorism is an approach to psychology. This is based on the fact that behavior can be researched scientifically without the recourse of the child 's mental state. Behaviorism main focus is with observable and measurable aspects of human behavior. When defining behaviorist learning theories it emphasizes changes in behavior that is due to the result from the stimulus-response associations made by the learner. The student 's behavior is directed by the stimuli. When the student selects a response in the classroom instead of the other answer given it is because of the prior conditioning and psychological thought process in which the student was exposed to. We believe that the human behavior is learned throughout time of their
that go along with it. This theory of Operant Conditioning by B. F. Skinner is a great guideline
The theory of learning called behaviorism is the most common learning theory enacted in the US school system. The bias towards behaviorist philosophies can be seen in our education system by the emphasis on standardized tests and the outline of Common Core State Standards, as just a couple of the many examples. Behaviorists tend to believe that learning can be seen only through changes in behavior. Evidence of this belief can be read in the writings of
Burrhus Frederic Skinners, also known as B. F. Skinner, was a well-known American psychologist who came up with the idea of what is known as operant conditioning (Rholetter, 2013). Operant conditioning is one of two theories in learning that illustrates behaviorism (Kretchmar, 2015). It is according to Rholetter (2013), “the idea that behavior is the learned result of consequences”. Skinner believed that learning during operant conditioning is done based upon the outcome of a given situation (Lefrancois, 2012, p. 91). His operant conditioning theory is constructed on reinforcements consisting of positive, negative, primary and secondary, punishments pertaining positive and negative and reinforcement schedules which includes ratio, interval, fixed and random schedules (Lefrancois, 2012, p. 93-96.).
Operant conditioning is used to describe the reaction of the environment based off of the addition of stimuli. There are four types of this conditioning, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive reinforcement is when stimuli is added to the environment in order for a behavior to increase, a great example of this would be Ms. Larson Scolding her class (added stimuli) as the students continue to act unruly. (Behavior increased) Next there is negative reinforcement, which is when something is taken away in order for the environment to increase behavior. If a class is
Behaviorism contends that desired behavior from people is formed by the actions and reactions of other people rather than an individual’s own free will. This means that by carefully and deliberately shaping desirable behavior, morality and information is learned by individual, so important causes of, and motivations for behavior lie outside, rather than within an individual. Therefore for behaviorists, all learning is observable and measurable.
There has been concern if the effects of certain types of reinforcement (such as positive and negative) can effectively change an individual’s behavior. There is evidence to suggest that certain types of positive and negative reinforcement can motivate an individual far beyond his potential, while punishment, on the other hand, is completely different from negative reinforcement, but it is very often associated with it. Both forms of reinforcement are designed to have a desired behavior learned and repeated. Finally, studies concerning the effects of positive and negative reinforcement will be examined. This particular examination of reinforcement theory continues to prove how effective this type of study can be, and how it can promote a desired behavior, although there are some who criticize this theory, nevertheless, it has shown promising insight on behavior and motivation.
Behaviorism. The concept that learning is based upon the association of stimuli and response through a system of rewards.