Ereño, Irish Pauline

I. Experiment

In this experiment, it was proven that positive reinforcement really is important in

the learning process. Positive reinforcement is anything anyone values and will work
to earn. We are currently training our rabbit to do certain tasks by simply giving
Dada something she values immediately after she has performed the behavior. By
positively reinforcing her, there’s a greater chance of that behavior occurring again.

For example, we know that Dada, our rabbit, values food. When we ask her to stand
up by snapping our fingers, and then she stands up, we immediately give her a
piece of lettuce. Therefore, she is more likely to stand again the next time we snap
our fingers. Why? Because her “standing” behavior could give more reinforcement
(lettuce) which is what she wants. This creates reliable behavior. Additionally, by
using positive reinforcement, our rabbit learns to think and offer behaviors of her
own accord, without us forcing her to do it. She must figure out what behavior will
earn food and must offer the behavior whenever asked in order to earn the lettuce.
If she doesn’t do what we ask, she doesn’t get what she wants.

The S-R theory really is evident too. In one of the task given, we trained Dada, our
rabbit, to hop over the hoop whenever we clapped our hands.

Dada learned to respond to a new stimulus, the clapping sounds, which had
previously been irrelevant or neutral. Because its effect was the product of learning,
we called the sound the conditioned stimulus. The hopping response to the
conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response. Before the learning
experience, only the lettuce, the unconditioned stimulus, produced hopping as an
unconditioned response. Crucially, in classical conditioning, the clapping sound was
followed by the delivery of food to the mouth, regardless of what the dog might
have done when it heard the claps. Classical conditioning enables the animal to
associate events over which it has no control. This increases the predictability of an
environment.

Also, we noticed that when we stopped giving her food for a while, it seems like she
learned much faster the next day. If we starved her for some time and asked her to
do a task after that, she will do it with much more enthusiasm, in attempt to get
what she wants, which is the food. But is important that we shouldn’t starve our
rabbit too much, or else there’s a possibility that she will not perform the tasks
effectively anymore. Humans rarely work with reliable enthusiasm if they are not
paid. The same can be seen in non-human animals. If they don’t get their expected
rewards they are less likely to behave in ways that have previously paid off. The
behaviours drop out or become extinct. The animal no longer receives a reward for
a correct response that’s why they eventually stop responding.

II. Personal Reflection

Wow, I can't believe we've already gotten to the end of the semester. It doesn't
seem that long ago we were just starting the course and starting to learn about all
the learning theories there is! Throughout the course I have found that although
some of the assignments came to be a bit time consuming, and at times
frustruating, I really overall enjoyed this course!

This course has been a true learning experience for me. I definitely learned a lot
about theories that I didn't know before. The theories here really grasp my
attention, especially the part of Thorndike, Pavlov, and Skinner, because all of their
theories can be seen in real life. I can apply all of those theories (if not, some of
them) in my everyday life. It helps me understand a whole lot better now about our
behaviors, the learning process, the effects of our environment in learning, and
what really motivates us to change or remain the same.

Whenever we finished our overall discussion in one theory, we will have our essay
quizzes and our reporting/presentation next before we hopped on to another theory.
When I first heard this mentioned in class, I was rather nervous about it because I’m
not really good in writing essays. I soon found myself thinking about "how" I was
doing things in this course over dinner, in the shower, and at other times that
surprised me.

But it really made me realized something. If we really want to pass this course, we
need to put up some effort and work hard for it. We need to read our books and do
our best. For me, this is a good thing because it helps us to pull up our grades and
to better understand the lesson. I think it’s just the professor’s way to challenge us
and to enhancing our learning as students.

Probably the most important thing I learned is that it is important to discuss what
we know with others. I found myself doing that much more this semester
than in past semesters because of the group presentations. It helped my
classmates and I because we could bounce ideas and expand our knowledge
about the subject.

Having the animal training experiment as the last assignment/project was a good
way to wrap up the course. I think that it not only shows what we've learned about
the many different theories, but it also gets to highlight all the hard work everyone
has put into the class over the semester. I know I would really enjoy seeing all the
animals performing and stuff.
I hope that as I keep moving forward in my college education I get more chances to
work with the theories we've learned, and get to experiment with them even more.
I've had a great time with the class, and although I won't be devastated that the
semester has finally come to an end, I am very excited to keep using all the great
things we learned through this class!