Teaching Myself Good Work Habits

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

Specifically, how might a reinforcer assessment have been relevant to this? (pg. 8) The reason why the reinforcement procedure did work might have to do with the lack of preference assessment of reinforcer because if a preference assessment was conducted, the frequency of the response will increase. I also think that the reinforcement procedure didn’t work because the organism might be satiated to the reinforcer.

If the training program is long, then reinforcement also has to be accounted for. One of the behavioral characteristics of learners indicates that not only the rate of which people learn must be accounted for, but also the rate of decay that takes place after an objective is mastered must also be accounted for. To account for this decay factor, reinforcement loops must be built into the instructional process. The decay factor also has to be considered once the learner graduates from the program. If a task is taught in the instructional program and then is not used for some time after the learners return to their duties, then some decay is likely to take place. The remedy for this is to coordinate with the learner's supervisor to ensure the learners perform their newly acquired skills as soon as possible upon returning to the job.

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.

This study, conducted as a requirement for an introductory psychology course, was an investigation of how learning principles such as reinforcement and punishment could be applied to improve conditions in everyday life. In particular, I was studying to see if positive reinforcement would help me to increase my daily water intake. Conceptually defined, daily water intake is the act of drinking water by mouth on a day-to-day basis, in order to keep body cells hydrated and functional. The positive reinforcement I used was a treat of bite-sized Hershey bars, a candy of chocolate. I had hypothesized that I would remember to drink water more often during the day if I rewarded myself for remembering during the intervention period.

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.

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.

B. Explain how a specific schedule of reinforcement could be used to strengthen John’s plan.

Keeping in mind that identifying the variables that maintain problem behavior (reinforcement) is more affective for treatment selection (Mevers, Fisher, Kelley, and Fredrick, 2014), one common treatment for problem behavior is Noncontingent reinforcement. (Carr, Severston, & Lepper, 2009). NCR is used in combination with extinction for problem behavior and involves dense schedules of reinforcement that are decreased gradually (as cited in; Phillips, Iannaccone, Rooker, and Hagopian, 2017). The problem behavior may be replaced by an alternative behavior already existing in the individual repertoire, during NCR (Virues-Ortega, Iwata, Fahmie, and Harper, 2013). The American Psychological Association’s Division 12 criteria for empirically supported treatments established NCR and extinctions as an effective treatment for problem behavior (Chambless & Hollon, 1998). When the schedules of NCR are dense there is a reduction of the Motivating operation (MO) for problem behavior (as cited in; Phillips, Iannaccone, Rooker, and Hagopian, 2017). NCR is more effective when the same reinforcement maintaining the behavior (functional reinforcement) is used in the contingency instead of an alternative reinforcement (as cited in Phillips,iannaccone, Rooker, & Hagopian, 2017). Thus, the same reinforcement responsible for maintaining problem behavior should be used in an NCR contingency (Vollmer et al. 1993). In a study by Phillips, Iannaccone, Rooker, & Hagopian (2017), Non-contingent

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.

In total I observed 54 instances of reinforcement, the following is a breakdown and comparison. With a total of 22 positive reinforcement and 8 negative reinforcement, the ratio of positive to negative reinforcement was 2.75 to every 1. For every 2.75 positive instances of reinforcement there was 1 negative. There was a total of 12

Negative Punishment: If your phone goes off while in class the teacher comes up and takes your phone from you until the end of the class. 3) What is a continuous reinforcement schedule? What effect does it have on learning and extinction? a. In a continuous reinforcement schedule, there is a reinforce every time that a desired behavior occurs.

The behavior I have chosen to do my modification program on is increasing the amount of time I work out every time I go to the gym until I reach my target goal. My target goal is to work out for an hour and half every time I go to the gym in the morning. When I go to the gym I will be taking a stop watch to time the amount of time I work out to verify that I reached my goal as well as mark my calendar every day that I go stating how long I worked out for. To make sure I was committed to the goal I wrote down six reasons/benefits of making this behavior change that are both short term and long term. They are feeling better about myself throughout the day, getting to wear the dress I want to be able to fit by my birthday on July 24th, increasing my endurance for marathons, improving my mood, sleeping better, also something to enjoy doing with my husband. There are many more but these are the ones I placed on my bathroom mirror, on my desk lamp at work, on my dashboard in my car, the table next to my front door that holds my gym bag and shoes, on my fridge and in my husband’s truck in case he drives. I also let my husband know my goal and also invited him to come with me so he could monitor that I am actually sticking with my plan daily. I also had stated the table next to the door holds my gym bag and shoes so if I was to walk outside I automatically see them there taunting me to take them and go to the gym. I also put a reminder on my phone each day of my goal and why it

The clip from Big Bang Theory features Sheldon attempting to condition Penny. He tries operant conditioning on her, which is learning through the consequences of a behaviour. He performs this by manipulating chocolate as positive reinforcement to modify Penny’s behavior. A reinforcement is a consequence of a response that increases the likelihood of that response reoccurring in the future. Every time Penny behaves the way Sheldon desires, she is given a piece of chocolate, a reinforcer, therefore the schedule that follows the reinforcement is continuous and a fixed ratio.

Skinner believed that, “any human action is the result of consequences of our actions. Positive reinforcement involves providing a reinforcing stimus to an organism” (Charles, Senter, & Barr, 1998). Behavior is shaped by consequences, therefore, reinforcements must be immediate (A. C. Juhasz, personal communication, February 12, 2016). From this perspective, my student, who falls asleep during class needs a positive reinforcement in her life to stop her from sleeping during class. Right now she is sleeping during class because she has no positive reinforcement to make her want to do otherwise. Because she has no motivation not to sleep, as the teacher, I should be thinking of positive reinforcements to keep my student awake. There are several aspects of positive reinforcement that I could consider using, including, social, graphic, activity, tangible, etc. Reinforcements must be immediate (A. C. Juhasz, personal communication, February 12, 2016). Therefore, if she does not sleep through class than I should give a positive reinforcement immediately after. I like the idea that my students can choose their own actions, however every action shapes the next action. I can use positive reinforcements to keep my student awake, and therefore have a positive outcome of