Monday, August 27, 2012
Module 9 Post 1
Classical and operant conditioning are two theories presented in behavioral psychology. Classical conditioning is based on involuntary actions, such as stimuli and responses. For example, children can learn by pairing loud noises with fear or a certain sound associated with something they enjoy. Operant conditioning is associated with voluntary behaviors, commonly when a good behavior is paired with a desired reward. When somebody is praised for doing something well, they usually continue to do it but when they're criticized the behavior usually ceases. Cues, prompts, punishments and reinforcements are common uses of operant conditioning. Reinforcement is favored over punishment as a conditioning method because reinforcement increases behavior. Positive reinforcement ushers in more good behavior on a more continuous schedule. Another reason for this is because there are way too many undesired and inappropriate punishments. There are certain strategies for increasing desired behaviors and respectively for decreasing undesired behaviors. The Premack principle, shaping, reinforcing incompatible behaviors, praise-and-ignore, and positive practice enforce good behaviors by focusing on the good and leaving out the bad. Similarly, teachers aim to decrease inappropriate behaviors by methods such as satiation, extinction, overcorrection, reprimand, response cost, and social isolation. These are only effective if used continuously, at every instance of an undesired behavior. Hopefully more desired behaviors are increased rather than focusing on decreasing more negative behaviors.
I find the concept of negative reinforcement confusing. Is negative reinforcement a reward for a good/positive behavior? Is this effective for continuing positive behaviors if a child never has to do dishes anymore?
How does a behaviorist define learning?
A behaviorist usually defines learning through two methods such as operant or classical conditioning. There are shared beliefs between the two categories of learning including: 1) A changed behavior, 2) Behavior occurs because an individual is experiencing a change in their environment, 3) A stimulus must be paired with a response to associate one with the other, 4) The stimulus and response have to occur in a short amount of time so the child can receive a reward or punishment related to the pair of events and, 5) Learning is similar, no matter what species. Classical and operant conditioning involve pairings of stimuli and responses and this is the simple process of behavior. All learning comes through behavior according to behaviorists.
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Kate, I think negative reinforcement is a little confusing as well, so hopefully this helps you because it helped me to understand it a little better.
ReplyDeleteNegative reinforcement is when a teacher--or parent--takes something away to increase a wanted behavior. So, in essence, it is a reward for positive behavior. For example, let's say I was a teacher. At the beginning of my lesson, I might tell my students that I'm going to give a quiz at the end of the day, so they should pay attention and take good notes throughout the lesson. If I notice that they are paying attention and participating and seem to grasp the lesson, I would tell them that I won't give the quiz today because of their good behavior. This would be negative reinforcement because I took away a quiz in hopes that their good behavior would continue in later lessons.
Erica gave a good description of negative reinforcement, and we did that activity in class, so hopefully that helped....
ReplyDeleteYou have a pretty extensive description of the chapter here. I think you did a nice job, and some pieces here are very much in your own words (showing your own understanding of the concept). Generally, when I say 'big ideas', I want more of your own memory of what was in the chapter or what useful information you pulled out of it, rather than listing of topics (and you do some of that here!) So, if you read the chapter, and stepped back, and had to write a paragraph on what you remember from it, that's what I'd like to see.... Or, if you had to describe the important information in this chapter to a practicing teacher, what would you say?
I really like your description of learning through behaviorism! Generally, I'm looking for 'learning is a change in behavior' or some form of that, but I think the way you break it down here is also very relevant and adds to the definition of learning. Nice job.