The Concept of Operant Conditioning - Essay Example

Operant Conditioning is the study in which organisms learn about the outcomes of their anticipated actions. Operant or instrumental conditioning assists a person in determining whether certain things may or may not happen, and the best way of responding to such occasions. It illustrates how certain events signal the existence or absence of other probable events happening in our normal life scenario. The terms ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ reinforcement and ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ punishment is discussed and illustrated aptly, and real-life experience is specified.

Positive reinforcement
Definition
‘Positive reinforcement’ is experienced when the occurrence of an event happening after a response raises the probability of that response taking place another time. The event that is presented is something an organism likes or prefers, and can be referred to as an appetitive stimulus. The organism will do nothing to evade the event or the appetitive stimulus because of love for it. Moreover, in ‘positive reinforcement’, a raise in a propensity to respond is the fact that is significant rather than subjective traits. It is established that an outcome becomes a ‘positive reinforcement’ when it makes the response happen again (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot & Vanchella, 2010).

A real-life example
For example, I like to drink cold water, since I would want to take icy water regularly when feeling thirsty. Additionally, I have a passion for drawing and singing; hence, I find myself singing and drawing most of my free time over and over again.

Negative reinforcement
Definition
The type of reinforcement takes place when a response is expected to happen another time when an event is removed. It occurs when an outcome of an occurrence makes a person get rid of the odious circumstances. It is imperative to notice that ‘negative reinforcement’ does not entirely refer to unfortunate events, but particularly refers to events that lead to the taking away of something (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot & Vanchella, 2010).

A real-life example
Examples of events of ‘negative reinforcement’ include watching a boring movie or listening to noise from a neighbor. An individual will walk away from a cinema hall when the movie he/she is watching becomes uninteresting and tedious. In the situation of irritating noise from a neighbor, I often settle on staying in my room to lessen the tone of the sound.

Positive punishment
Definition
‘Positive punishment’ refers to the occurrence of an event, which occurs after a response that decreases the possibility of the response from happening yet again. It occurs when the response to the event leads to the taking away of the action (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot & Vanchella, 2010).

A real-life example
I used to play with my finest toy often, especially during mealtime when I was a toddler. My parent used to scold me to stop playing with toys since it was an unethical practice when having a meal.

Negative punishment
Definition
‘Negative punishment’ refers to an incident when the removal of an event lowers the possibility of the previous event from happening. The removal of the event is most probable to cause negative feelings in a person (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot & Vanchella, 2010). Read More