Personality concepts and psychological dimensions

¶ … respondent behavior and operant behavior, and give a real-Life example of each.

Operant behaviour encompasses the actions of an individual that are purposefully driven to produce a desired effect. Examples of operant behavior would include a driver pushing the gas pedal in a car to produce a faster speed and giving a child a much-desired gift with the expectation of seeing the child's glee in response. Respondent behavior encompasses the actions of an individual that are not purposefully driven but are nonetheless actions that result from external stimulation. These types of behaviours are frequently referred to as reflexes as they are involuntary responses to an environmental stimuli. Examples of respondent behavior include an individual's yelp of pain when he or she hits his or her finger with a hammer or when an individual involuntarily closes his or her eyes when he or she sneezes.

Distinguish between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment and give an example of each. According to Skinner, how effective is each technique in modifying behavior?

According to Skinner, positive reinforcement occurs when an individual behaves in a way that produces a positive outcome, either in the form of positive communication between the individual and an authority figure or through a material gain. Negative reinforcement occurs when an individual behaves in a way that produces a negative or unpleasant outcome. An example of negative reinforcement could include being mocked for failure to achieve a goal or not receiving the expected outcome after completion of a task. Punishment is the purposeful application of negative reinforcement for the purpose of changing someone's behaviors or actions. This would include applications such as spanking, grounding, detention, and scolding.

In Skinner's view, positive reinforcement is the most effective means of modifying behaviour because individuals will actively seek out the pleasure but will only learn to shun the painful outcomes of negative reinforcement and punishment. Therefore, Skinner believes that positive reinforcement will cause individuals to think about how their actions worked together to produce the desired outcome, how they can increase the frequency of the outcome, and how they can increase the amplitude of the outcome. For example, negative reinforcement and punishment teach the individuals that A+B=C where A is the individual's action, B is the context of the situation, and C. is the negative outcome. With positive reinforcement, the individual will not only realize that A+B=C but he or she think about the constituents that make up A and B. Therefore, the individual can take into account what parts of the equation he or she can control and how he or she can affect the various parts to increase the eventual sum.

3) How are Skinner's Learning Theory and Bandura's Social-Cognitive Theory the same? How are they different? Some have said that Bandura's theory is more useful than Skinner's when looking at human behavior across the lifespan. Do you agree? Why or why not?