Law of Effect Essay

Law of Effect
PS124: Introduction to Psychology

November 9, 2013

As each person in this world is different, there are many ways people are very much alike in certain aspects of the way individuals think, respond, and act out, in other words this can be known as a person’s behavior. Behavior can be based upon positive and negative reinforcement as well as punishment reinforcement. This conditioning process was thought up by the first scientist psychologist Edward L. Thorndike. He based his theory on the law of effect, “the principle that responses create a typically pleasant outcomes in a particular situation are more likely to occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur again in the situation.” (Thorndike, 1911). These laws of effect are based upon five concepts known as operant conditioning, positive punishment, negative punishment, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement. These conceptions can play a large role in a person’s daily life, or even ethically. The core theory of the law of effect is effective responses are pleasurable because they are “stamped in by occurrence. Ineffective responses produce disagreeable occurrences which are “stamped out and occur less often.” (Stangor). Starting with Operant conditioning, “this process doesn’t learn something new but rather begins to perform in an existing behavior in the presence of a new signal.” (Stangor). For instance take a woman by the name of Sandy who is addicted to methamphetamines and has been for ten years. She has refused help in the past however; she gets a run in with the law due to her drug use. She than makes an agreement she will no longer continue the use of drugs because she claims she has learned her lesson. This is an example of how operant conditioning works, this woman is learning from her own consequences due to her own actions. She hasn’t learned anything new she just had a new signal which in caused her to change her actions. Positive punishment occurs when certain behavior is weakened and an unpleasant stimulus is present or added. For instance, Sandy who’s addicted to meth could have a positive punishment. An example of positive punishment would be putting Sandy on probation for her run in with the law. Therefore she will have to follow specific rules which would add an unpleasant stimulus to her life, therefore using drugs would make it more difficult for her due to the circumstances and risks. Thirdly there is the concept consisting of negative punishment. This type of punishment “weakens a response by removing a normally pleasant stimulus after the response”. (Stangor). Take for example Sandy who had a run in with the law, the police have confiscated her drug paraphilia saying she can’t use the items legally. This isn’t effective due to the fact Sandy has an addiction and can always get the paraphilia from other sources. Here taking away the pleasant stimulus which would be the drug paraphilia is something that is only temporary, just as it is with negative punishment. Than as Edward has listed there is the concept known as positive reinforcement. This simply states presenting a positive stimulus after a certain response. Such as, Sandy who uses meth daily and was put on probation can almost be looked at as if it’s another chance. Her probation officer is there to encourage her when she does to well, for instance passing a drug test. This positive communication will than reflect positive feelings within Sandy and she will be more likely to continue through the program with great success. “The use of positive reinforcement in changing behavior is almost always more effective than using punishment.” (Stangor). Lastly negative reinforcement can come into

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