Blog 8

Classical conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered and studied within the behaviorist tradition. Classical conditioning is the learning of a behavior activated by a stimulus and causing a response. After repetition of the stimulus, a behavior is learned, then considered classical conditoning. Operant condtioning is an application of consequences, where certain responses and cetain stimuli are connected. this connot occur without an environmental event.
The difference between these two conditions are this, Classical condtioning illistrates stimuli to response where as operant conditioning is viewed more as response to stimuli and discribes the likelyhood of occurance again. This applies to my life in the way that what is the propability of something occuring again. The stimulus is presented in my environment. When something good or bad happens, it causes me to act in a particular way. If i misbehave at home, my parents give me a consequence, the likelyhood of me reenacting that behavior is slim, especially if the consequence was negative.
Positive reinforcement is a key concepts in behavior analysis. Positive reinforcers are things like rewards, or things we will generally work to get. Positive reinforcement occurs when a consequence happens depending on a behavior, the behavior becomes more likely, and occurs only because of what happend before. An example of this is a toddler rarely makes it to the potty chair on time and never really makes an effort to, so the parent takes them to the toilet every 2 hours and gives them a treat if they manage to use it. the toddler becomes potty trained. the positive reinforcer is the candy, the expected outcome is that the child becomes potty trained.
Negative reinforcement is the increase of beahviors by stipping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. a negavtibe reinforver is any stimulus that, when removeda ftera response, strengthens the response. An example is getting up for school, the alarm goes off and u press the snooze button to get a few more peaceful minutes before your day starts. although the time is short, you are more likely to routine this behavior. this is negative because you are taking away something, in this case it is sound. the negative reinforcement is taking away the sound, and the expected outcome is that this will happen again just to get a few peaceful minutes.Punishment on the other hand is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows, almost like a consequence i think. punishment is not like negative reinforcement at all actually, its the total opposite. An example that pertains to me at my age is responsibility. For example i know it's wrong but if i come home later than what my curfew is, i usually am punished therefore not recieving as late of a curfew the next time i go out. punishment is having a later curfew taken away.
The most interesting thing i learned in this section by far is reinforcers, positive and negative. I never thought about how many reinforcers i come across each day that get me to do what i need to do. All these reinforcers have a huge inpact on the likelyhood that i will continue the behavior. It strengthens the chances in almost every behavior for everyone. who doesn't like an award for doing someting good. In some aspects this changes my outlook because i will probably take more time to stop and think after i do something. I will think, why did i do that? What made me want to do that? Did I get something out of doing that?