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Yolanda's Dropping Out Of High School

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According to Skinner’s theory our behavior is motivated by operant conditioning or the association between an action and its consequences. Through the use of operant conditioning, if a behavior is positively reinforced it is more likely to occur, and if a behavior is punished, or negatively reinforced, it is less likely to be repeated. Since when using operant conditioning, you are receiving reinforcement from outside sources, it is externally motivated.

Yolanda’s early success in school can be explained by radical behaviorism simply because she was receiving plenty of positive reinforcement. When she was not being praised for her hard work at school, her parents were congratulating her at home. Since praise and good grades are both considered secondary reinforcers for positive reinforcement, it is no surprise that her behavior persisted.

Radical behaviorism explains Yolanda’s dropping out of college because she was no longer receiving the copious amounts of praise she had previously been receiving while in primary school. With the increased population of students, she received less recognition for her academic achievement in her classes, reducing the amount of positive reinforcement she received, her grades began to suffer, and ultimately she dropped out of school. Through this, we have …show more content…

First of all, she was receiving large amounts of negative reinforcement from her customers in her service job. This is an extreme change from the attitudes she is used to and made her severely dislike her job. Also, there was aspects of self-punishment as well. Yolanda felt as though her parents were disappointed in her, resulting in feelings of shame. Yolanda also recalled the importance that the African American culture puts on education, and she felt that she was as capable as anybody else to receive a college education, and thus she went back to

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