Explain The Connection Between Psychology And My Life's Events
Menuka Dhungana
Psychology 1100
Prof: Mr. Schumacher. I am going to write about my child’s behavior and my life’s events.
I will be using the behavioral perspective to explain the events. Behavioral approach focuses on the observable behaviors rather than on mental such as thinking, wishing and hoping which are caused by external factors. It states that in order to understand the causes of behavior, one has to look at the environmental factors that produce them. Behaviorists used classical and operant conditioning to explain how learning occurs when an organism makes a connection between two events. Classical conditioning theory focuses learning a new behavior through the process of association. Thus, classical conditioning explains how neutral …show more content…
stimuli become associated with unlearned, involuntary responses. Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning based on the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in the behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events that occur in the environment. B.F Skinner emphasizes the word “shaping” which means rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior. Operant conditioning has a notion that behavior is likely to be repeated if it is followed by a reward. Reinforcement increases the frequency of behavior. It is the process by which a stimulus following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again. Such consequences of behavior falls into two types: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement means adding rewarding stimulus to a given behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior. Negative reinforcement means removing an aversive stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior. For example, removal of pain to get relief. However punishment is a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur. There are two types of punishment (positive and negative). Positive punishment is the addition of aversive stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior. Negative punishment is the removal of rewarding stimulus in order to decrease the frequency of behavior. Here is an example of classical conditioning: My six years old daughter tickled her little brother (1 year old) most of the time she played with him.
He laughed while tickled. Here, tickling is an unconditioned stimulus and laughter is an unconditioned response. Now, when he sees his sister, he laughs. Conditioned stimulus is seeing his sister. An example of positive reinforcement: I told my daughter to sit close to her brother and play with him as I had chores to do. She said “Sorry, Mom. I am drawing”. Then I said, “I will give you an ice-cream if you do it.” She said, “I will do it, mom”. Here, ice-cream is a rewarding stimulus to change her behavior (play with brother). Here is an example of positive punishment: I was born in Bhutan where corporal punishment was allowed at school. I was allowed to speak only in two languages (English or Dzongkha), which were not my primary languages. It was lunch time. I was playing hide and seek with my friends. While playing, in an excitement, I yelled out a Nepali word being it as my primary language. The headmaster heard me. He took me to the office and whipped on my hand several times and told me to clean pigpen. I had to carry many buckets of water and clean pig’s sty with big pigs in it. After that day, I was aware to use my primary language at school. Here, aversive stimulus, whipping and cleaning pig’s sty is added to decrease my behavior of using my mother tongue. Here is an example of negative punishment: I told my daughter
to clean up her mess of toys and books. She refused to do it. I warned her but she kept on playing without listening what I was saying. Then I took her iPad with me for a week and did not let her use it. Next time she listened to me. Rewarding stimulus (iPad) is removed to improve her behavior.
Psychology 1100
Prof: Mr. Schumacher. I am going to write about my child’s behavior and my life’s events.
I will be using the behavioral perspective to explain the events. Behavioral approach focuses on the observable behaviors rather than on mental such as thinking, wishing and hoping which are caused by external factors. It states that in order to understand the causes of behavior, one has to look at the environmental factors that produce them. Behaviorists used classical and operant conditioning to explain how learning occurs when an organism makes a connection between two events. Classical conditioning theory focuses learning a new behavior through the process of association. Thus, classical conditioning explains how neutral …show more content…
stimuli become associated with unlearned, involuntary responses. Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning based on the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in the behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events that occur in the environment. B.F Skinner emphasizes the word “shaping” which means rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior. Operant conditioning has a notion that behavior is likely to be repeated if it is followed by a reward. Reinforcement increases the frequency of behavior. It is the process by which a stimulus following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again. Such consequences of behavior falls into two types: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement means adding rewarding stimulus to a given behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior. Negative reinforcement means removing an aversive stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior. For example, removal of pain to get relief. However punishment is a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur. There are two types of punishment (positive and negative). Positive punishment is the addition of aversive stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior. Negative punishment is the removal of rewarding stimulus in order to decrease the frequency of behavior. Here is an example of classical conditioning: My six years old daughter tickled her little brother (1 year old) most of the time she played with him.
He laughed while tickled. Here, tickling is an unconditioned stimulus and laughter is an unconditioned response. Now, when he sees his sister, he laughs. Conditioned stimulus is seeing his sister. An example of positive reinforcement: I told my daughter to sit close to her brother and play with him as I had chores to do. She said “Sorry, Mom. I am drawing”. Then I said, “I will give you an ice-cream if you do it.” She said, “I will do it, mom”. Here, ice-cream is a rewarding stimulus to change her behavior (play with brother). Here is an example of positive punishment: I was born in Bhutan where corporal punishment was allowed at school. I was allowed to speak only in two languages (English or Dzongkha), which were not my primary languages. It was lunch time. I was playing hide and seek with my friends. While playing, in an excitement, I yelled out a Nepali word being it as my primary language. The headmaster heard me. He took me to the office and whipped on my hand several times and told me to clean pigpen. I had to carry many buckets of water and clean pig’s sty with big pigs in it. After that day, I was aware to use my primary language at school. Here, aversive stimulus, whipping and cleaning pig’s sty is added to decrease my behavior of using my mother tongue. Here is an example of negative punishment: I told my daughter
to clean up her mess of toys and books. She refused to do it. I warned her but she kept on playing without listening what I was saying. Then I took her iPad with me for a week and did not let her use it. Next time she listened to me. Rewarding stimulus (iPad) is removed to improve her behavior.