Operant Conditioning Essays (Examples)

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Reason, appetite, and spirit are three concepts that you will find throughout Western versions of philosophy. Understanding what they mean can be critical to understanding the core concepts of many philosophers. However, it is important to understand that general meanings are only general meanings. Each philosopher can define them slightly differently in their philosophical framework. So, it is critical to examine each concept within the context of the philosopher that you are studying because their personal interpretations can critically alter the meanings of these three core concepts.

Spirit has multiple meanings in modern philosophy. It can....

Thesis statement: The Little Albert Experiment conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920 showcased the significant similarities and differences between classical conditioning and operant conditioning, illustrating the importance of environmental factors in shaping human behavior.

Some potential subtopics to explore in your thesis could include the ethical considerations of the Little Albert Experiment, the lasting impact it had on the field of psychology, and the implications it has for understanding the development of phobias and anxiety disorders in individuals. By delving into these subtopics, you can provide a comprehensive analysis of the experiment and its broader implications for the....

Operant Conditioning
PAGES 4 WORDS 1364

Operant Conditioning/ehavior Modification
The idea of operant conditioning for humans was first developed by urrhus Frederick Skinner, who looked at work using operant conditioning with animals. He concluded that using operant conditioning, or behavior modification, with humans was possible, and that all if all external factors were controlled, internal mental processes would not be a significant factor. He believed that all human behavior was shaped by the principles of operant conditioning: stimulus and response (Hutchinson, 2003).

Another way of talking about stimulus and response are to consider antecedent and consequent events -- what happens, and how the child responds to that event or events (Simpson, 1998). However, Skinner's pure approach of ignoring thought processes does not work with human beings.

For classroom, the assumption when using behavior modification is that the child is using maladaptive responses to cope with the events around him or her. Further, the assumption is that the child's behavior….

Then, on seeing that the rearing has become a little bit familiar to him, sniffy is therefore, reinforced when he rears at a point with the bar.
After several attempts of the previous steps, sniffy was encouraged to rear up nearer to the bar as possible. During the regular training observation, incase sniffy rears so close to the bar this increases the likelihood that sniffy will press on the bar. Immediately, sniffy presses the bar, a magazine sound will be heard and he will identify the sound with the food pellets which he will rush to eat.

At this stage, the Bar-Sound relationship begins to develop. This association can be further confirmed in Operant Association Window by observing the red bar shown in it.

This experiment is repeated severally until he learns that if the bar. During the observation, he started by pressing the bar once or twice also after rearing up….

Conditioning
Classical and operant conditioning are types of behavioral learning. Subsets of behavioral psychology, classical and operant conditioning show how a subject (animal or human) can exhibit relatively permanent changes in behavior due to certain types of experiences. According to Cryver (2000), learning is a "fundamental process" in all animals.

Classical conditioning is also known as "learning by association." Association in this sense refers to the association of a behavior with a stimulus: otherwise known as the stimulus-response effect. Pavlovian learning is the core of classical conditioning, or learning by association. The stimulus can be, for example, a dog treat. The response is salivation. The dog treat is an unconditioned stimulus. In other words, the dog needs no conditioning to start salivating at the smell of meat. Its biology, genetics, and physiology makes it so that the smell of meat automatically and innately evokes the unconditioned response (reflex) of salivation.

If a bell….


Hypothetical Experimental Scenario and Real-Life Application in School:

A typical operant conditioning experiment featuring positive reinforcement would include one in which an animal is rewarded on a ratio schedule of pressing a lever. In that scenario, the subject receives a food reward for pressing a lever a specific number of times. Four presses of the lever rewarded by a single food pellet would be a ratio reward schedule of 4:1. The relative effectiveness of this type of positive reinforcement would be much greater where the subject is hungry than where the subject is relatively satiated already (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). One useful application of operant conditioning would be to reward students for good conduct with additional recess time (positive reinforcement), or to eliminate homework assignments for students who participate in class (negative reinforcement).

.Conclusion:

Generally, both positive and negative reinforcement are equally effective because the relative effectiveness of each is largely dependent on….

This technique is called shaping, as the teacher starts with information students already know and then new information is broken into small pieces.
In teaching vocabulary, the teacher is more likely to suggest or work with the textbook, and the setting of a democratic environment based on common agreement is not such an important fact as in the humanistic approach.

The lesson starts with a revision and review of the information taught in the previous class. The new lesson is introduced and after the new words are highlighted and identified the correct spelling is reinforced and the main focus is on the dictionary use. The students who answer correctly are given positive reinforcements such as verbal praise, good grades and other rewards (prizes, red points, pluses etc.). The teacher is mainly interested in fostering "the correct answer," he is concerned with observable behaviors he is able to test. Therefore, for a….

My reasoning is based not only upon the behavior itself, but also upon the relationship between the organism and the trainer. An organism that most receives negative reinforcement associates such reinforcement not only with the undesirable behavior, but also with the trainer. The relationship between the trainer and organism is damaged, and trust is undermined. Trust is important to effective training.
A better way to discourage undesirable behavior is perhaps to initially provide positive reinforcement, which is removed when the behavior is repeated, resulting in the organism eventually giving up. This maintains the trust between the organism and the trainer. The organism then also associates the pleasant stimulus with the trainer, which encourages a desire to maintain the trust relationship.

D. SHAPING EHAVIOR

An example of using operant conditioning to shape behavior could be applied to the teaching context. Desirable behavior for children in a classroom is to sit quietly and listen….

Operant Conditioning is based on the idea that an individual's response to external stimuli can be modified, or changed, depending upon the consequences of that individual's response. Formulated by famed psychologist B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning deals mainly with voluntary behavior, or operant behavior. While classical conditioning deals mainly with involuntary, or reflex, behaviors, Skinner's theory maintains a system of consequences for reactions which are called punishment and reinforcement. Punishment is a consequence that makes a person not want to perform the specific response. While reinforcement is a consequence that causes a person's response to happen more often. For instance, rewarding someone for a particular response to stimuli can make that person repeat that response more often. There is also a third consequence, extinction, in which there is no consequence what so ever for a particular behavior. ("Operant Conditioning B.F. Skinner")
On one hand is punishment, which can also be divided into….


(3) They could use negative punishment by punishing the boy for fighting. If the boy fights, he could be required to do additional chores at home that he would ordinarily not have to do. To be effective, the boy would have to strongly prefer not to do those chores and he would have to be explicitly aware that the additional chores are consequences of fighting in school.

(4) They could also use negative punishment by punishing the boy for fighting by depriving him of something that he values, such as trips to the mall or movies or bowling. If the boy fights, he could lose the privilege of going to the mall on the weekends or of other things that he values. To be effective, the boy would have to strongly prefer to be allowed to do those things and he would have to be explicitly aware that the deprivation of….

"Bad dog!" The dog receives no treat. However, given the puppy's short memory, this should only be done when the dog is caught in the act. The owner, ideally, should be alert enough so when the dog is seen squatting indoors, even before the dog can relieve itself, the owner has time to shout, "No!" Then he or she will rush outside with the puppy, wait for the dog to 'go' and praise the dog and reward the dog with a treat.
The dog learns to associate relieving itself outside with lavish praise and food, and relieving itself inside the house with punishment and no tasty treats. Eventually, when it has to relieve itself, the dog will beg to be allowed outside, in the hopes of receiving the desired reward. The dog should also be praised and rewarded for 'asking' to go outside. Even when the dog does not receive….


To reduce disruptive behavior in class, Mr. yrne has two main options. He could use positive punishments that go beyond mere scolding -- things like adding extra homework for those who misbehave, increasing in-class work, making kids feel ashamed by singling them out or putting them out of the classroom, and even going as far as to do actual physical punishment (if the school allows mild striking). The kids will want to avoid these and will do so by not being disruptive. Mr. yrne can also use negative punishments that withdraw pleasure -- things like taking away free time, separating the disruptive classmates from each other (move them to different desks) so that their capacity to interact is gone, giving detentions which remove fun time, and confiscating cell phones and video games or other items that bring the student joy. If they know they will lose something they want, they….

The rate of such behavior was considered to be significant as a measure of responsive strength (Skinner 1938, 1966, 1986; Killeen & Hall 2001). True or not, the emphasis on response rate has resulted in a scarcity of investigational work by operant conditioners on non-recurrent behavior such as movement in space.
Operant conditioning differs from other type of learning study in one important aspect. The focus has been more or less entirely on what is called 'reversible behavior', that is, behavior in which the steady-state model under a given schedule is stable, meaning that in a series of conditions, XAXXC..., where each condition is preserved for enough days that the pattern of behavior is locally stable, behavior under schedule X shows a pattern after one or two duplications of X that is forever the same. For instance, the first time an animal is exposed to a fixed-interval schedule, after quite….

Operant Conditioning
PAGES 4 WORDS 1345

B.F. Skinner is often associated with behavioral psychology, it is Edward Thorndike who set the stage for field. Thorndike's Law of Effect (1901) that successful behaviors tend to be repeated and unsuccessful ones do not set the stage for modern theorists along with the work of Pavlov (1927). Thus we now know that reinforcement always increases the probability that a behavior will occur or be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Positive reinforcement involves providing a stimulus to increase behavior, most often through of the use of a reward like food or praise, whereas negative reinforcement typically involves the removal of an aversive stimulus, such as a noise or pain, to increase the probability that a behavior will occur or be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment but the two techniques perform completely different functions. Whereas reinforcement, positive or negative, always increases the chance that the behavior preceding….


In contrast, negative behavior such as pulling things off of shelves, running away, or taunting a sibling, may result in the small child being forced to hold his mother's hand, and the privilege of being permitted to wander around is thus withdrawn. This creates a type of operant conditioning known as negative reinforcement: the child does not like being constrained. The parent tells the child: 'if you behave, I will let you walk by yourself." To escape the child agrees, and the negative stimulus of the parent's hand is withdrawn.

Because of the nature of the situation, most parents use the conditioning interval known as fixed, in that their conditioning stimulus is applied immediately upon the child's response. However, many also apply a kind of variable ratio, whereby if the child is very good and exhibits a number of positive behaviors, the child will be rewarded by a special treat at….

Learning
Classical and operant conditioning are both types of learning. In particular, classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both types of learning by association. Classical and operant conditioning are called learning by association because both types of learning involve the subject associating a stimulus with a response, or a behavior with a consequence. Ivan Pavlov, a ussian scientist, first studied classical conditioning in earnest. Pavlov showed that it was possible to make a dog associate a bell with meal times. To help the dog learn to associate the bell with mealtime, the dog had to be learn that the bell meant that food was coming. Pavlov started with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and an unconditioned response (UC). In the experiment with the dog, the unconditioned stimulus was meat powder, and the unconditioned response was salivation. The stimulus and response are unconditioned because it does not require conditioning, or training, to make….

Autism and Operant Conditioning
Before taking this class, I was dismissive of operant conditioning as a tool for learning and education in human beings. Instead, I thought of operant conditioning as something that people did with pets, teaching them to associate a particular behavior with a treat or a punishment, and I felt as if this type of learning was below the capabilities of most human beings. My own perceptions about this caused me to react in an ugly manner when a friend of mine described the behavioral therapy that she was going to be using on her child, who has autism, in order to help improve functioning. hile I said nothing to my friend, I was enraged that she would be treating her child like a pet, literally offering him food rewards in exchange for desired behavior. I simply did not see how such an approach could help her son,….

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4 Pages
Term Paper

Psychology

Operant Conditioning

Words: 1364
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Operant Conditioning/ehavior Modification The idea of operant conditioning for humans was first developed by urrhus Frederick Skinner, who looked at work using operant conditioning with animals. He concluded that using…

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3 Pages
Research Paper

Psychology

Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning

Words: 972
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Research Paper

Then, on seeing that the rearing has become a little bit familiar to him, sniffy is therefore, reinforced when he rears at a point with the bar. After several…

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3 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Conditioning Classical and Operant Conditioning Are Types

Words: 962
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Conditioning Classical and operant conditioning are types of behavioral learning. Subsets of behavioral psychology, classical and operant conditioning show how a subject (animal or human) can exhibit relatively permanent changes…

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2 Pages
Thesis

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Refers to Behavioral

Words: 563
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Thesis

Hypothetical Experimental Scenario and Real-Life Application in School: A typical operant conditioning experiment featuring positive reinforcement would include one in which an animal is rewarded on a ratio schedule of…

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6 Pages
Term Paper

Teaching

Operant Conditioning and Humanistic Perspective

Words: 2183
Length: 6 Pages
Type: Term Paper

This technique is called shaping, as the teacher starts with information students already know and then new information is broken into small pieces. In teaching vocabulary, the teacher is…

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3 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Theory of Operant

Words: 910
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

My reasoning is based not only upon the behavior itself, but also upon the relationship between the organism and the trainer. An organism that most receives negative reinforcement…

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3 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Is Based on the Idea

Words: 900
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Operant Conditioning is based on the idea that an individual's response to external stimuli can be modified, or changed, depending upon the consequences of that individual's response. Formulated by…

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1 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Can Be Used

Words: 387
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Essay

(3) They could use negative punishment by punishing the boy for fighting. If the boy fights, he could be required to do additional chores at home that he would…

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1 Pages
Term Paper

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Housebreaking a Puppy

Words: 379
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Term Paper

"Bad dog!" The dog receives no treat. However, given the puppy's short memory, this should only be done when the dog is caught in the act. The owner,…

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Psychology

Operant Conditioning Techniques How to

Words: 739
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

To reduce disruptive behavior in class, Mr. yrne has two main options. He could use positive punishments that go beyond mere scolding -- things like adding extra homework for…

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7 Pages
Term Paper

Psychology

Operant Conditioning the Term Operant

Words: 2419
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Term Paper

The rate of such behavior was considered to be significant as a measure of responsive strength (Skinner 1938, 1966, 1986; Killeen & Hall 2001). True or not, the…

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4 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Operant Conditioning

Words: 1345
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Essay

B.F. Skinner is often associated with behavioral psychology, it is Edward Thorndike who set the stage for field. Thorndike's Law of Effect (1901) that successful behaviors tend to…

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3 Pages
Thesis

Children

Operant Conditioning Conditioning a Child's

Words: 1046
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Thesis

In contrast, negative behavior such as pulling things off of shelves, running away, or taunting a sibling, may result in the small child being forced to hold his mother's…

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3 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Learning Classical and Operant Conditioning Are Both

Words: 954
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Learning Classical and operant conditioning are both types of learning. In particular, classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both types of learning by association. Classical and operant conditioning are called…

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3 Pages
Essay

Psychology

Autism and Operant Conditioning Before Taking This

Words: 975
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Autism and Operant Conditioning Before taking this class, I was dismissive of operant conditioning as a tool for learning and education in human beings. Instead, I thought of operant conditioning…

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