From High School to College

In chapter 1, Opening Skinner’s Box, Slater talks about a psychologist named B. F. Skinner. Skinner shows us how easily operant conditioning can be done. He believed that you have a better outcome if you study observable behavior instead of studying mental events. Skinner’s work focused on operant conditioning. People and animals were the subjects of his studies.

Seniors have a tendency of taking their last year of high school for granted. They do not realize that the relaxed classes and fun filled weekends with their best friends will all soon come to a devastating end. They have applied for college, bought miniature refrigerators, and sent in their housing applications, but none of them have really thought about college in the way that they should. When asked about college most high school seniors image the huge parties, attractive people, and freedom; however, college is much more than that and, in a way, much less. College and high school are completely different when it comes to a student’s actual lifestyle, but they have many of the same traits that most high school seniors do not see coming.

Sheldon used chocolate to train Penny to act in ways that he found pleasant. The use of chocolate as a reward can be seen a positive reinforcement. He did the opposite with Leonard, treating him much more like a cat, by using a spray bottle with water. The spray bottle is negative reinforcement. I think that we train and condition ourselves and everyone around us, and it can be said for every individual. Training starts at the youngest age when we can figure out something we like and our parents incorporate it into having us do what they want us to do in return for what we like. The good girl bad boy stage can play heavily into training and conditioning especially when praised by an appointed idol. The conditioning even continues as we are

Reinforcement is the main contributing factor in operant conditioning. There is more than one way to go about establishing reinforcement, if a delay occurs between the response and the reinforcement the response may not become strengthened. It is likely that if the reinforcement occurs immediately after the response that there will be a definite strengthening of the response. Continuous reinforcement is when reinforcement occurs at every instance of the desired response. Intermittent reinforcement occurs when a response is reinforced some of the time. The different schedules of reinforcement influence patterns of response. Intermittent schedules offer greater resistance to extinction than continuous schedules.

Within the concept of operant conditioning, there are various simple schedules of reinforcement that are a part of our daily routine. Operant conditioning is a category of learning that invokes consequences, either negative or positive, as a way to increase or decrease behaviors (Powel, Honey & Symbaluk, 2013, p. 264) Schedules of reinforcement, such as fixed ratio, variable interval, fixed interval and variable ratio, are used as ways to strengthened or weaken those wanted or unwanted behaviors (Powel, Honey & Symbaluk, 2013, pp. 271-279). When applying these fundamental concepts to real world scenarios, it is crucial to first acknowledge which behavior is to be strengthened or weakened and then proceed with the conditioning.

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).

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments conducted on rats showed the principles of operant conditioning. While working with rats, Skinner would place them in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube. After multiple trials, rats learned the connection between the lever and food, and started to spend more time in the box procuring food than performing any other action. He used positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors. Therefore, if a specific behavior is reinforced then the probability of that behavior occurring again is increased. Based on Skinner’s view, this theory can be applied to learning because learning is nothing more than a change in behavior. Operant conditioning encourages positive reinforcement, which can be applied in the classroom environment to get the good behavior you want and need from students. One of the ways of reinforcing a student’s behavior is through praise. Also teachers can build operant conditioning techniques into their lesson plans to teach children possible skills as well as good behaviors. For example: to give a smiley face, or motivational stamps to encourage children to perform correctly and encourage them to repeat such action again.

Scooby-Doo has an example of classical conditioning in practically every episode. In each one Scooby and Shaggy have to act as bait to catch the monster, of course they don’t want to do it since they are quite the pair of scaredy-cats. But then one of the other members of the gang shows up with a box of Scooby-Snacks and the two are usually quite easily persuaded to participate in Fred’s crazy plans. In some episodes they don’t even have to bribe them, Scooby and Shaggy automatically agree to it because they know that they will get Scooby-Snacks in return. This relates to the lectures and readings since they explained how classical conditioning can be used to train a person or animal to associate one thing with receiving another as well as

Classical conditioning has showed me that some behaviors can be taught on a subconscious level without the organism even knowing. We are probably conditioned to many things that we are not even aware of. This is a powerful thing that shows how much we do not know about the brain and its processes. This study also helped me understand that some behaviors that are learned can be very hard to break or change. I think after learning about this concept I have found a new patience for people I come into contact with that have a behavior that I am not familiar to. Since Pavlov’s time there has been many new findings and developments made to this topic. Every day we learn more and more about the mind and how it controls us in different ways.

I chose to investigate intermittent schedule of reinforcement because I predict a relationship between intermittent schedules of reinforcement and why individuals stay in abusive relationships. As I was exploring Sniffy, the virtual rat, I have realized that we are able to punish Sniffy for pressing the bar. After realizing that, I ran three quick trials as a part of an operant conditioning experiment. At first, I put Sniffy on a continuous schedule and conditioned him to press the bar every time he wanted food. Secondly, I put him on an extinction schedule, and punished him for each bar press. In time, Sniffy demonstrated a gradual decrease in the association between sound and food. Before extinction could fully occur, lastly, I put Sniffy

The principle of operant conditioning and reinforcement is to repeat a response to a given stimulus. For the behavior modification to be successful, it is important to select a reinforcement that will strengthen the desired behavior (Rasnake, 1993).

Operant conditioning has made a significant contribution into the development of psychology. However, as with most psychological theories, this theory it has its strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, operant conditioning, with both its positive and negative aspects, is very important in promoting learning of desirable behaviors or removal of undesirable

Some may think that high school and college reading and writing are similar and that it’s just the next level up but it 's not, they differentiate in many ways. College reading and writing is more than that, it’s a completely different world when compared to high school. It’s much more advanced and complexed. Some ideas that can be compared are the way we annotate, understand text, assignment topics, the depth of research, and so on. This is important to understanding how much more you can get out of college vs. just getting a high school reading and writing education.

One of the simplest and most commonly-used methods of conceptualizing learning is that of reinforcement theory (Noe 2010: 142). Every time a parent promises a child a toy for being good during a grocery store trip or threatens a teen with being grounded for bad grades, he or she is using reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is based upon the assumption that people want to experience as much pleasure as possible and avoid pain. Thus, businesses offer workers bonuses for good work, and issue reprimands (such as docking pay or denying a promotion) for poor behavior.

One limitation of Classical Conditioning is that when a behaviour stops being performed, it is very easy for these connections to be lost. This is known an extinction. In the example of Pavlov’s dogs, if the conditioned stimulus, the bell, is presented often enough without the unconditioned stimulus, the meat, the