Blog Post #8

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. An example is when a dog hears the clanking of silverware in the kitchen and they come running for food. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strenghthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. A supervisor could walk around at work and tell the workers that they are doing a good job. Once the worker hears this, they will feel good about themselves and start working even more productively. The worker can maybe eventually get a raise or get praised for doing good work. On the other hand, if the worker was doing a poor job and was told so, they could have some repercussions and be punished. Hopefully they would learn from their mistakes. The difference between classical and operant conditioning is that through classical conditioning, an organism associates different stimuli that it doesnt control and responds automatically. Through operant conditioning, an organism associates its operant behaviors with their consequences. I find this interesting because I see this in my life everyday. I have two dogs in my house that respond to the noise in the kitchen repeatedly. Everytime they hear a noise they come running in to see if there is food involved. My dogs also have learned to urinate outside and they were taught to poop in the field. Everytime they pooped on the grass as puppies, we yelled at them. They eventually learned to go straight to the field to do their business.

Positive reinforcement is defined as: increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. a postive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strenghthens the response. When you are behaving well, you will get rewarded. From getting rewarded, you will learn to perform better and more efficiently. In my life, Cross Country has positive reinforcements. My coach wants us to run well. In order to get us to run well, he bribes us and will reinforce us if we meet the requirements. Normally if we meet the standards we get food. After recieving the reward, the team strives to do better and better for the next time. The system works well and keeps the team and coaches happy.
Negative reinforcement is defined as: increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. Negative reinforcement is NOT punishment. An example of negative reinforcement in my life is taking ibuprofen when I get headaches. This doesnt help me in life because I just take some drugs to alleviate pain. I get my pain relieved but will probably ruin my stomache lining and liver and other organs. It doesnt help my in the long-run, but is nice at the time. It wont teach me to manage my problems better.
Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that is follows. Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment does the opposite. Punished behavior is suppressed abd not forgotten. When a parent spanks a kid for swearing, they wont swear while around the parents. The parents will think that they have solved the problem. Punishment also teaches discrimination and fear. The spanking done by parents may make the child fear their parents. The child will also act differently around them than around other people. Physical punishment may also teach aggression. When a parent punishes a child physically, the child may grow up to abuse their kids. It is a cycle. In my life, my normal punishment is getting my phone taken away. During these terrible times, I feel like I hate my parents and I am all crabby. I eventually get the phone back and things go back to normally fairly quickly.

The most interesting thing I have learned in this section is how to train animals with reinforcements. It is interesting that we can control their mind with our stimuli. We can basically make them do whatever we want (within reason). This applies to my life with my pet rabbit. The rabbit has a problem with chewing on the carpet. To solve the issue, we shoot the rabbit with little squirt guns to train it not to chew. This method has worked pretty good. I realize that almost anything can be accomplished if we set our minds to it.