Amy Sutherland's Essay: Observation

All behavior is learnt from the environment. We learn new things new behavior through operant or classical conditioning.

Psychology has revealed how the learning perspective is concerned with the environment and experiences leading to effects on a person’s actions. Within this perspective, behaviorists focus on the environmental rewards and punishers that maintain or discourage specific behaviors. B.F. Skinner once stated, I am sometimes asked, ‘Do you think of yourself as you think of the organisms you study?’ The answer is yes. So far as I know, my behavior at any given moment has been nothing more than the product of my genetic endowment, my personal history, and the current setting. (Skinner, 1983). In the average college classroom, behaviorism effects students’ way of learning in that their behavior is shaped by either positive or negative reinforcement.

This essay will look at the work of two very famous behaviourists. It will consider the differences and similarities as well as give descriptive detail of their actual experiments and see if any contribution was provided to mankind. It will focus on the theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning which occurs through interaction with the environment. As this was done by experimenting with animals, it is also necessary to consider the rules and restrictions that are needed to be kept in mind as research ethics applies to any experiments done on any living thing.

Rogge et al. (2013) stated that positive reinforcement training provides animals the opportunity to voluntarily perform behaviors eliminating stress and possible negative results from other forms of training. The animal is rewarded with positive items when they complete a positive behavior and never punished for an incorrect behavior. This allows the keepers to work closely with their animals in a relaxed manner in closer proximity to the animals. The empirical study was conducted using two species of monkeys to see if there would be a change in behavior when positive reinforcement was used when training. The evidence of this basis of behavior was the animals of the study participating in the training sessions and showing positive changes in their behavior. I observed this bases of behavior at both of my sites. Positive reinforcement is the only form of training used at both of the sites I interned and volunteered at. I observed the zookeepers use positive reinforcement in the form of food when working with the elephants. At Brevard Zoo, I observed first-hand the benefits of positive reinforcement training when working with the Virginia Opossum and African Grey Parrot. The animals were eager to participate in the training session when they were rewarded with their favorite types of food. This bases of behavior will also be important in my future career because I will only work

There is also the argument between behaviourists to whether behaviour is learnt better through positive or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when someone does something correctly and we reward them with a sweet or chocolate. A strength of this is that the individual will repeat the action again, but a limitation is that the individual will expect the reward every time.

In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.

Classical conditioning is often associated with physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with the salivating dog (Hutchinson, 2015). This experiment focused on conditioning the dog to associate food with the bell while salivating, and eventually salivates when the bell is rung even without the presence of food. Operant conditioning theory is changed behavior as the result of a reinforcement (Hutchinson, 2015). In our society, we associate positive reinforcements with compliments, smiles, high-fives in order to encourage a behavior more. Negative reinforcement involves jail, detention, and grounding, and this is to stop a behavior from continuing. A cognitive social learning theory states that behavior can be learned through observations, beliefs, expectations, and imitation of others (Hutchinson, 2015). A major difference between cognitive social learning theory and the others, is a lack of manipulation to encourage the individual to follow through with a behavior. Rather, cognitive social learning theories suggest that a change in thinking can ultimately result in a change in behavior (Hutchinson, 2015).

This process takes place from the minute we are born. Information is taken in and absorbed, in turn builds one’s ability to retain what one has learned. Many factors aid in the learning process which includes ones environment, past experiences, and one’s emotion which all play a rewarding understanding on how ones sees the world and retain information around them. B. F. Skinner, “who developed the ideas of respondent behavior (that which is brought about by a specific stimulus and can be conditioned) and operant behavior (that which produces consequences that tend to be repeated when reinforced and discontinued when not reinforced). Many different practice models have developed from the theories of the behaviorists, who operate by setting up controlled situations in which behavior can be conditioned and reinforced. These models are widely used in teaching, in treating problems of human relationships, and in working with personal problems that lead to destructive behaviors. As behavior modification develops, certain features are assuming greater importance. One is the detailed specification of objectives with the possibility of sub goals that serve as

Learning by observation is a type of learning in which an individual observes the behavior of others, sees the consequences of the behaviors, and then attempts to carry out the same behavior. Social learning is based on the standards of classical and operant conditioning and observational learning. It is a commonly shared belief that people have an instinctive ability to imitate the behavior of others. However, this ability is not unique to humans. Animals have also showed evidence of being able to mimic humans and other animals (Mazur, 2013). Chimpanzees, or Pan Troglodytes, have demonstrated social learning through many different experiments in different settings. Chimpanzees have shown the ability to observe the behavior of a model and reproduce the behavior. However, chimpanzees have also demonstrated the mental capacity of understanding when behaviors do not elicit a desired reaction and not repeating these behaviors under these circumstances. This paper will focus on chimpanzees and their ability to learn new behaviors through social learning.

Mackintosh (1997) starts his paper with a critique of radical behaviourism. In the 1960s, Pavlovian and Instrumental conditionings were main theories to explain animal and human behaviour. However, with cognitivism coming into the picture, learning theory has dramatically improved. Animal theorists started paying more attention to animal cognition, and nothing but well came from it, as researchers

Skinner (1948) was also influenced by Thorndike’s (1898) operant conditioning of cats and went on to use similar techniques to study conditioning in rats. Skinner studied how behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated, unlike behaviour that has a negative consequence. Skinner (1948) placed hungry rats in a ‘skinner box’ with a lever, when the lever was pressed, food was released and the rats soon learned that when they pressed the lever they would be rewarded. Skinner (1948) then placed rats in another box and administered them with an electric current. If the rats pressed the lever in this box it would stop the discomfort of the current. After repeating the rats quickly learnt to press the lever. Skinner (1948) argued that all human behaviour can be learned through operant conditioning (McLeod 2015).

The behaviourist school of thought sought to prove that behaviour could be predicted and controlled. Often using animals in their experiments, they studied how changes in environment can affect behaviour. It was their belief that learning begins with a clean slate and that behaviour is acquired by conditioning. They suggest that the learner’s response to stimuli can be reinforced and directed using positive or negative feedback.

The ability of an individual to learn from other people’s experience is a unique character associated with conditioning controlled behavior. Children are more likely and willing to repeat certain behaviors in cases where they have been rewarded, as they have developed the feeling that what they did is acceptable.

Naturally, I found that participant observation and interviews generated different types of information. Participant observation generated information, outlined previously in the essay, that was subjective. Interviews, on the contrary, gave me a relatively in-depth insight into my informants’ lives, these insights will be explained later in the essay. Interviews allowed me to combine my informants’ views with my own academic theories. Having multiple sources of information further allowed me to answer my original question, ‘Are public spaces fully public?’.

A biological constraint in learning theory refers to an inherited tendency to learn and create certain relationships, and it has been said that some species are much more readily than others in learning such behaviour. Therefore it involves the factors which make populations resistant to evolutionary change and the animals biological make up. In this paper I will attempt to explain the bases of the original biological approaches to learning in classical conditioning in humans and animals, make comparison between animals and the association of fears