operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning
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Institutional Affiliation

Operant conditioning is a kind of learning where consequences control a person’s behavior. The alterations in behavior occur because of how people react to stimuli around their surroundings. The central theory of operant conditioning is the reinforcement principle which concludes that the consequences of an action will affect future behavior. The theories of operant conditioning are; negative and positive reinforcement, negative and positive punishment (Cengage, 2019).Positive reinforcement is offering rewards or consequences for behavior to increase the occurrence of that particular behavior in the future. For example, awarding a child for performing well in academics. Negative reinforcement is reinforcing a response through omitting an aversive stimulus when responses are made and offering an aversive stimulus when responses are not made. Negative punishment deals with removing the desired item from a person’s life to decrease the chances of undesired behavior while positive punishment is adding negative consequences to reduce the occurrences of unwanted behavior after a person has exhibited the behavior.
The activity uses the scheduled reinforcement where behavior is mainly shaped through controlling one’s environment. Skinner uses positive reinforcement on its pigeons as they learn what different words and colors mean. The pigeon realizes that when it pecks, on the word written ‘peck’ it is rewarded with food. As time goes by, the pigeon learns to distinguish between the words peck and turn (Jenningh, 2007).

With scheduled reinforcement, a pigeon learns that anytime it does a certain thing, it gets an award (food).
Positive reinforcement is rewarding a behavior to increase the chances of that particular behavior occurring in the future. For example, teachers use positive reinforcement to motivate students in working hard. A student who performs well academically is awarded a book or writing material which prompts them to continue working hard. A student who is awarded for academic performance is likely to repeat the same behavior.
When I was young, my parent wanted me to learn good virtues. As I may have come to realize, they used both positive and negative operant conditions to incline my virtues to a particular direction, for instance, when they realized I lied, they could deny me the chance to go to the cinema to watch my show. I loved shows during those time. And when several days would pass without me lying, I would be given a chance to attend the shows. Over time, I learn how to tell the truth even if I did something terrible that could result in another form of punishment. As they realized I would always tell the truth, they began offering advice instead of giving penalties.

References
Cengage. (2019). Cacioppo discovering psychology (3rd edition).
Jenningh. Operant Conditioning. 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA. Accessed 15 Oct 2018.