The Benefits Of Operant Conditioning

Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning, their theories, terminology, famous psychologists and applications of the theory for teaching.

The following is a brief explanation of the motivation of the Islamic Jihad Group. Included is a response to how the knowledge of the Islamic Jihad Group’s motivation might assist in planning counter terrorist strategy. Included are explanations as to how the motivations of terrorists differ from the motivations of other violent criminals and how cultural, socioeconomic, or political factors could lead a person to become a terrorist or criminal.

Belanger, J. J., Gelfand, M. J., Gunaratna, R., Hetiarachchi, M., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sheveland, A. (2014). The psychology of radicalization and deradicalization: How significance quest impacts violent extremism. Political Psychology, 35, 69-93. Retrieved from

say whether the students relative willingness to kill non-Muslims is resultant from their perception of non-Muslims as less like them or if it has been drawn directly from the teachings they have received. It should be noted that another finding of social psychology is that attitudes and behaviour are generally not strongly correlated (Eibach, 2012) and that when taken alone the interviews do not show a direct correlation with violent actions. However, other references that are made both in the book and within Atran's research does lead to a more conclusive link. Ultimately despite the weakness of its small sample size and the fact that it only shows an explicit attitude rather than behaviours that might be resultant from that attitude, the research is persuasive in that it shows a clear link between the degree to which outsiders are seen as being unlike the students and the degree to which they display hostile attitudes towards outsiders. In addition, this has been shown in a way that is highly relevant to ideas and facts presented in Talking to the Enemy, in that the students from the JI affiliated madrasa were far more likely than the others to endorse violence, and in fact within the same study it is stated that “JI-linked madrasa attendance rates of the jihadists that took part in... (a number of prolific bombings) are 19 times greater than the highest estimated rates of the general population.”

Over the centuries, fervent beliefs have caused many wars. Throughout history, differences between social propaganda have separated and formulated prejudiced ideas about different religions. All across the world, there are people, on all ranks of the social hierarchy, who are being deprived of their rights and are not being heard by their local governments, so they bear up arms and create subversive groups that struggle to bring their voices into light. Although their struggles may become violent, which leads to casualties, they are deemed as terrorists or extremists. Eventually they will be looking for supporters or even recruits, old and young, which will leap up to the issue of child recruitments in extremist groups, and the philosophical issue of how nature versus nurture plays an important role during a child 's developmental stage. Recruiting children into extremist groups, such as ISIS or the Age of God, serves as an injustice to society, particularly to the children who often times are very vulnerable and impressionable, making them incapable of recognizing the danger of their situations.

Terrorism is a difficult issue to understand and grasp for many people. What is even more difficult to understand is what drives an individual to become radicalized to the point of joining a terrorist organization and committing terrorist acts. While there is not specific criteria or a “cookie cutter” approach to understanding what motivates and radicalizes an individual to participate in such atrocities, there are however, several psychological and behavioral factors that have been common among these individuals. The following paper will outline some of the psychological and behavioral factors that attribute to an individual’s radicalization and eventual willingness and even perhaps

There are many things can be seen in the psychology of terrorism. Unfortunately there is not good science on psychological factors of terrorism; there are theories and educated opinions (DeAngelis, 2009). The one overarching factor is the fear with which terrorism is based. By definition, terrorism is acts that cause terror by one group on to another, usually for political goals (“Terrorism”, n.d.). Why people suffer from these fears is related to their psychological behavior. Terrorist activity can be described as “fostering a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, in demonstrating the incompetence of the authorities, destroying a sense of security and safety, and in provoking inappropriate reactions from individuals and authorities.” (Alexander & Klein, 2005). Terrorists themselves are affected by psychological behavior; their own and that of others around them. They may even be affected by the behavior of victims and potential victims. Osama Bin Laden has even been known to admit that in the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, his

Many individuals are influenced by religion to join the fight. Islamic extremism is another major reason these terrorist organizations have followers willing to fight for them. “Islamic extremists believe they are obligated to install this form of governance in Muslim-majority territories, countries, and eventually, the entire world. In the minds of Islamic extremists, they are promoting justice and freedom by instituting sharia” (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). These extreme forms of Islam are what make up the central beliefs of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. They use their religious affiliations to justify their actions. Acts of Islamic extremism include terrorism, human rights abuses, the advancement of sharia-based governance, and overall hostility to the West (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). While not all extremists use terrorism, it is common among the majority of the

I found many perspectives that this group obtains. In using a functionalist perspective, we see how the groups use moral regulations and also their religious faith to teach an ideology and propagandize their people under them. This small group in sociality works and is trying to grow large and ISIS is doing just that through population growth. ISIS continues to recruit in many ways. Many people in this group have roles. Everyone becomes dependent on one another for their continued well being. People have become specialized which forces mutual interdependent, this interdependence makes sure the the community will not fall apart.

After hearing just a few facts about ISIS some may ask themselves, “What really is ISIS, how did it come to power, and what is their true motive for violence?” The first concept that should be known is how this organization really began

The gods have willed that these wars happen. A promise from God that no matter the outcome of the war the soldiers will either continue living on their conquered lands or be reborn/brought to heaven is a more enticing reward than winning the war.

Operant conditioning focuses on a system of reinforcement and punishers where actions will have a consequence (Skinner, 2016). In operant conditioning, behaviour that is reinforced will be strengthened while behaviour that is not reinforced will weaken with time (Skinner, 2016). There are three types of operants. The neutral operants that will neither increase nor decrease the chances of repeating a behaviour (Skinner, 2016). The reinforcers will increase the chances of repeating a behaviour (Skinner, 2016). The punishers will decrease the chances of repeating a behaviour (Skinner, 2016). Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour as an individual gains rewards through it (Skinner, 2016). Negative reinforcement strengthens the behaviour by removing an unpleasant consequence

ISIS, which are known at the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant are a Salafi Jihadist extremist militant group who in the previous years have gotten a lot media attention because of their kidnapping of Hostages. These groups hold their victim's hostage for various amount of time, then proceed to kill them in various horrendous acts. Their horrendous act go from being burn alive to being decapitated. While this is going on, we have to come up with a plan to stop all these death. In order to combat this situation, we have to form a variety of theoretical justifications to prevent anymore hostages from dying. We have to position ourselves in the life of the Hostage and think how to prevent them from dying. In order to first accomplish this the first

ISIS recruitment tactics have increasingly been targeted at women and girls. Recruiting young girls and women encourages jihadist men to commit themselves to ISIS as fighters. According to Susan Lehman, the presence of young women, looking to marry, is crucial in attracting male fighters. She notes that the news of British Muslims joining ISIS forces further isolates the Muslim community in the West. Many British citizens fear that the Muslim minority is an enemy that lives among them (Lehman, 2015, p. A1). The isolation of the Muslim community heightens Western fears of the Muslims. Western women are attracted to ISIS ranks because of their need to belong. Women who have joined ISIS often use social media as a way to romanticize female membership in ISIS ranks. According to Susan Lehman, there are tweets about a sisterhood between Muslim women. Recruitment also plays on self-esteem and culture. The head scarf is a powerful symbol to many women. It provides an escape from the objectification of women that is found in most Western cultures (Lehman, 2015, p. A1). There exists an even more exclusive minority group within the Western Muslim minority group. This exclusive group is the subculture that empowers jihadi women. It may be that Muslim women living in the West cannot fully indulge in the freedoms of Western cultures. Failing to meet the conditions of the contact hypothesis

Operant conditioning is a type of learning which occurs through either receiving reinforcement or punishment for a behavior. This type of learning creates an association between a behavior and consequence for that behavior. The four types of operant conditioning are positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment. If operant conditioning was used properly it could be used to solve a variety of social and resource dilemmas; especially in the case of the cattle ranchers and overgrazing.