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Operant Conditioning Paper 1

Operant Conditioning Paper 2


Operant conditioning, or instrumental conditioning; is described as
how learning is an efect of rewards and punishments. Operant conditioning
gies attention to the relationship within a person!s behaior along with
one!s behaiors conse"uences. Operant conditioning is sometimes used to
help persuade some t#pes of behaiors. $n addition to reducing some
behaiors, %.& '(inner was the )rst to come forward with the operant
conditioning theor#. '(inner was not a supporter that inner thoughts were
responsible for human actions; '(inner thought that isible e*terior elements
were the reason wh# humans behaed the wa# the# do.
'(inner used the word operant referring to actie behaior that
operates upon the enironment to generate conse"uences +1,-./
+Cherr#,p.1 2011/ 1n e*planation of '(inner!s theor#, would be that
'(inner belieed that operant conditioning is a natural occurring behaior
and reinforcements is able to raise the li(elihood of the e"uialent behaior
ta(ing place again, or the other wa# around. 2oreoer, operant conditioning
can be diided into three essential diisions; positie reinforcement
+rewards/, negatie reinforcement and penalt#!s or a t#pe of punishment.
Positie reinforcement, would be to gie praising or a reward that will raise
the probabilit# of the similar behaior to reoccur. 3egatie reinforcement
would be the withholding of reinforcement; while punishment can be to
withhold a positie reinforcement +i.e. reward/, which would usuall# result in
the remoal of the unwanted or unsuitable behaior+Olson 4
5ergenhahn,200,/..
Positie and 3egatie 6einforcement
Operant Conditioning Paper .
Positie reinforcement is mostl# the accumulation of a positie
ariable within the committed behaior and the reaction to it; the result is
usuall# the probabilit# of the similar behaior recurring. $n contrast, negatie
reinforcement is the elimination of a negatie, oerriding ariable between
emitted behaior and a reaction, which formulates the future probabilit# of
that reaction increase +Olson 4 5ergenhahn,200,/. 1 good e*ample
would be, giing a child a coo(ie after a certain behaior is almost certainl#
going to result in the reoccurrence of that speci)c behaior in order to obtain
the positie reinforcement +coo(ie/; the elimination of an alread# e*isting
positie reinforcement, will almost certainl# result in e*tinguishing the
behaior.
2ethods and Conse"uences
3egatie reinforcement underlines the remoal of an aersion in order
for the reinforcement to be afectie. $n other words, the t#pe of negatie
reinforcement +punishment/ is critical and is to be used in order to build a
situation where the negatie reinforcer is able to be moed. 7ith that in
mind, punishment does not ta(e place without potential conse"uences; no
drie, emotional anguish, hostilit#, and more are all potential things that can
happen in this method. 8his method would seem li(e opening one!s e#es in
order to be able to see+%randmier, 2011/. One could dispute that as an
alternatie of going through the emotional conse"uences that the
punishment will bring, one should simpl# attach a positie reinforcement;
therefore one could attain the same result without the negatie outcomes
that would normall# ta(e place. 7ith that in mind, both situations are
Operant Conditioning Paper 9
e:cient in some situations. &or that reason, one could feel that both
methods are important, the determining factor could be the current situation
that would decide which method would be more successful.
Example of Operant conditioning and how the Outcome in Various Results
A parent is trying to address their children; however, when the parent moves towards the
side of the children, the parent starts to notice the eyes of the children looking away; thus, it has
been accomplished that the best way to obtain their attention, would be to speak to the children
from the center of the room and look directly into the childrens eyes! "his action should make
the children pay attention! An additional example that could be that for every test a child passed
at school #with a higher than normal grade$, the child would not have to do their chores that
weekend, and the child in addition would be able to stay up an hour later to watch television; the
chores and the television privileges acts as the main reinforcer! %ith the situation in mind, there
are numerous things that are linked to obtaining those privileges! &or example, if at school the
child gets caught cheating on the test the child that would be explained as a discriminative
stimuli, because the childs behavior or response is immediately intervened by the primary
reinforcement, the gaining of extra privileges! 'n addition the peer pressure or humiliation that
come with the teacher embarrassing the child in front of other students, this acts as a secondary
reinforcer! "his is why scheduled reinforcement is vital in forming ones behavior #Olson (
)ergenhahn,*++,$!
-sing the example above, the parent reali.es that the childs behavior in school would
need to be consistent in order to remove the unwanted behavior! 'f the parent did not let the child
stay up for some reason, then the privilege would begin to seem like a punishment rather than a
reward #reinforcement$; in spite of of whether it was planned or not, the withholding of
privileges would seem to the child like the withholding of the expected reward #reinforcement$!
A way to evade losing the good behavior and have it changed to bad behavior would be to bring
Operant Conditioning Paper -
in additional primary reinforcers to achieve the task! /any of secondary reinforcers cannot
maintain behavior ad0ustment #Olson ( )ergenhahn,*++,$! Another circumstance may transpire,
in the slight chance that the teacher would understand with the child, and not tell the parent that
the child tried to cheat, despite the fact that the child in fact did try and cheat, the added
privileges #rewards$ then becomes a reinforcement to bad behavior that has occurred, rather than
good behavior that should have occurred; because in a childs mind, ' child knows that he or she
will receive the added privileges even though he or she was disobedient at school! Additionally,
some rewards and punishment might work for some individuals and not others! 1unishments, for
instance, spanking, in some cases can result with the child being frightened and panic; instead of
what initially planned, which is to form their behavior!
%.& '(inner brought a entire new theor# into the ps#cholog# world and
the method of fashioning an indiidual!s personalit#. 2an# theor#!s, including
the theor# of operant conditioning hae had man# ps#chologists and
inestigators that disagree with the theor#; some een thin( that all a human
being needs to fashion their behaior is their intentions, thoughts and
opinions. 7ith that in mind, '(inner!s oferings to the world of Ps#cholog#
hae been immense, and still used toda# in ones dail# lies.
2herry 3, *+44, Introduction to Operant Conditioning, Retrieved 5ovember
44,*+44 &rom About!com 6uide
Olson, /! )! ( )ergenhahn, 7! R! #*++,$! An introduction to theories of learning
#8th ed!$! -pper 9addle River, 5:; 1earson<1rentice )all!

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