Psychology: Reinforcement and Classical Conditioning Essay

Submitted By judy_bby
Words: 412
Pages: 2

1. Learning “is a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience”. Some basic forms of learning is observational learning, we learn by watching others’ experiences, classical conditioning, an event that occurs naturally, or operant conditioning which is “a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.”

2. “Classical conditioning, is an event that occurs naturally (such as salivation), in response to some stimulus, something that naturally and automatically, without learning. “Classical conditioning laid the foundation for behaviorism, the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.”

3. “Classical conditioning, extinction is diminished responding when the CS no longer signals an impending US. Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a formerly extinguished response, following a rest period. Generalization is the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to a CS. Discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other irrelevant stimuli.”

Site: http://www.ocs.cnyric.org/webpages/nhitchcock/chapter_eight.cfmyahoo

1. Operant conditioning - we associate our behavior that act on the environment that produce a positive or negative stimuli.

2. Positive reinforcements are much more popular and appealing to society and, negative reinforcement’s sounds as if one is being punished. Positive reinforcement could be giving a child a candy when he picks up his toys, negative reinforcement could be ending a child's time-out for bad behavior.

4. Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided and, punishment, weakens a behavior because a