Psychological Misconceptions

I'm sure you have not only heard, but also used the famous phrase "opposites attract." The statement stands true not only in physics and chemistry, but also in relationships and friendships. We tend to be attracted to people with personalities that differ from ours, so life would be more interesting, and desire the opposite of what we have. A perfect example of this, is Sula and Nel, best friends from Toni Morrison's novel, "Sula", where the conventional ideas of good and evil are turned upside down. The two girls are like opposite sides of a magnet, strongly attracted toward one another and useless when split apart. Life puts their friendship to the test by toying with love and sex, life and death, and good and evil, eventually

B.F. Skinners theory of operant conditioning is probably the most commonly used theory in practice in early years settings. Skinner suggested that people draw conclusions based on the consequences of their behaviour when exploring the environment. He divided the consequences into three areas. The first area being positive reinforcers where people are likely to get something they desire if they repeat a certain behaviour. He suggested that this was the most effective way to encourage new learning. This can be seen in early years settings where by children are rewarded for good behaviour this lots of praise, attention, stickers or treats. This will help children to carry on showing good behaviour until such a time when it is learned. Second is negative reinforcers which are used to stop something from happening but the behaviour is also likely to repeated. Just like when a child is going down a slide but doesn’t like going fast so they use their hands on the sides to slow themselves down. The third is punishers, which is a behaviour that you learn to stop doing e.g. if you receive a shock from an electric fence then you learn to stay away from it.

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

In 10 Myths About Psychology, Ben Ambridge discusses many of the myths that are used in psychology. The first common myth is about gender. Many believe that women are better with grammar and men are more intelligent when it comes to reading maps. While this is true the difference between the two genders in each of these subjects is very minimal. However, many believe that there is a dramatic difference. Another interesting myth involves being a right or left brained learner. In school many are led to believe that one side of the brain involves creativity and the other works with equations. Depending on which side of the brain is more active dictates which type of learner a person is. This leads to the assumption that left-handed people

Positive reinforcement involves strengthening or fostering desired behavior through the addition or increase of a pleasant incentive. Positive reinforcement tends to be a more effective means of behavior modification that the two types of punishment. The addition or increase of incentive when using positive reinforcement is geared towards encouraging the occurrence of the behavior in the future. For instance, positive reinforcement is used by an

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.

2. Negative reinforcements – this also makes children repeat behaviour but in different ways e.g.: If a child does well in an exam therefore they don’t have to do their chores.

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.

All my life I have always believed on the idea that opposites attract. My mom and my dad are really different from each other, which makes them compatible. My dad is a man of few words and really calmed. Then, my mom is one of the loudest persons I know and can talk for hours without nobody interrupting. My dad is a sport fanatic and dedicates more than 7 hours weekly playing tennis. On the other hand, my mom is completely the opposite. They have been together for nearly 21 years and they are the clear proof of how opposites attract.

Positive reinforcement is a very compelling and efficient tool to help form and change habits. Positive reinforcement works by imparting a motivating item to the individual after the preferred behavior is exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen sooner than later. An instance of this tactic would be Jimmy getting $10 for each A he earned on his report card. The definition

on a person’s perception of crime, which can cultivate an unhealthy fear of crime that’s not warranted.

The schedule of reinforcement are each variation followed a certain rule describing the behavior and reinforcement (Chance 2014, p.194). When a dog begs for food, the owner tells him no. This is an example of continuous reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement reinforces the behavior every time it happens in order to create an association with the behavior and outcome (Chance 2014, p.195). The owner is teaching the dog that the behavior is not acceptable. Another example is when I give my daughter a treat or prize for getting an hundred on her spelling test or reading a passage. She will continue the behavior because it is a positive reinforcement.

Operant conditioning relies on consequences to behaviors, and one of the consequences is reinforcement. Reinforcement has two options: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement consists of the presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the

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.

     There are two forms of reinforcement: positive and negative reinforcement. When an event occurs producing a positive effect, it is considered positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement involves the removal of a stimulus increasing the likelihood of a positive effect. An example of this would be to take two aspirins to remove the pain from a headache.