Four Psychology Notes about Classical Conditioning - Essay Example

Essay One ical conditioning, sometimes known as respondent conditioning, is a method of learning that was first established by Ivan Pavlov. Classical conditioning, in terms of the treatment of phobias, involves the use of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli to help the patient overcome their fear. Classical conditioning contains four parts: the unconditioned stimulus and response, and the conditioned stimulus and response. To treat a phobia, the unconditioned stimulus would be the presence of the thing that the person fears while they are in the same vicinity as that thing, while the unconditioned response would be the feeling of fear that they have. The conditioned stimulus would be something else – perhaps another sound or the presence of something else – that would make itself known when the unconditioned stimulus is present. The conditioned response would involve the person reacting to the conditioned stimulus even if they are in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus. As per example, we can say that a patient has arachnophobia – the fear of spiders. Whenever they see a spider, they become frightened beyond the normal level of fear of a person who does not suffer from arachnophobia; sometimes their reaction can be considered irrational, or perhaps dangerous to their health or wellbeing. To treat them through the means and principles of classical conditioning, they need to be subjected to something that is less frightening at the same time that they are subjected to a spider, so that they may become used to the idea of the spider being something not worthy of their fear. When they think or see a spider, they make an automatic connection with the conditioned stimulus (Gersley, 2001). The patient would have to be subjected to both the unconditioned and the conditioned stimulus numerous times until they are able to see a positive connection between the two stimuli. The unconditioned stimuli, in this scenario, would be a spider. The unconditioned response would be the fear that the person feels. Perhaps they run when they see a spider, or they scream; in many cases, responses to phobias can include panic or anxiety attacks. The conditioned stimuli would need to be something that the patient does not fear; since a spider is what causes the fear, it would be reasonable to subject the patient to something more enjoyable, such as a kitten. When subjected enough to both a spider and a kitten at the same time, the patient will fear less of the spider, as they are unable to feel fear in the presence of something as pleasant as a small, furry animal. The conditioned response, while perhaps not adoration or enjoyment, will still invoke less fear towards the spider. When the spider is coupled with something as harmless as a kitten, the patient will begin to calm down more in the presence of spiders. Classical conditioning is a good method to overcome phobias, as it enables a person to understand that their fears can be considered irrational in most cases. When they are presented with something less frightening than the thing that they fear, they begin to feel more calm and centered while in the presence of that feared thing. Their conditioned reaction to the conditioned stimulus overpowers their unconditioned reaction to the unconditioned stimulus, allowing them to overcome their fears. When they see the thing that they fear, they automatically think of that pleasant conditioned stimulus, depleting them of their feelings of fear. Essay Two A token economy is a structure of behaviour alteration based on the methods and principles of operant conditioning. The foundation of a token economy is the rewarding of “tokens” to people when they meet positive behavioral goals (Ayllon, 1999). These tokens help to reinforce good behaviour, aiding in the depletion of wrongful, sometimes criminal acts. The idea of a token economy was first used on children, and then on prisoners; when they would earn tokens, they would be able to trade them in for something of actual use. The tokens were not the positive reinforces, but the things or privileges these people were able to purchase with these tokens were. The key principle of a token economy is to reward a person for good behaviour, encouraging them to continue with that behaviour. Tokens are taken away when a person displays negative behaviour – again, in hopes that they will learn not to perform that act in the future. However, once the desired behaviour has been achieved, the receiving and spending of these tokens slowly comes to a close. Since operant conditioning is the method being used to produce good behaviour, the object of reinforcement needs to be taken away once the subject has reached the desired behaviour. They need to get used to doing something good for the feeling rather than for the reward. A few things need to be kept in mind when trying to run an effective token economy. First off, ten to twenty percent of the people must not respond to the token economies. These people must not have any reaction whatsoever to the idea of being rewarded for good behaviour, and punished for bad behaviour. These people willingly comply to their own methods with no regards to consequences. Another factor to ensure an effective token economy is that the rules of the economy must be observed. For examples, rewards may not be given by anybody; in response to good behaviour, the person is only entitled to the token. This allows the person the chance to build up their tokens through numerous acts of good behaviour until they are able to purchase something desirable. If they are given a reward right away, chances are the good behaviour will not last, nor will they have learned anything lasting in regards to keeping up with their good behaviour. When using token economies to help encourage good behaviour, it needs to be remembered that the basic needs and rights of a person cannot be held against them. They must be allowed eating, sleeping and recreational purposes. The purposes of the tokens is to give them a little more than what they need, whether it is a leisure activity, more free time, or an item that they desire. It has to be something that they want, as opposed to something that they need and require. Token economies are methods of operant conditioning with the goal of conditioning people to have good behaviour. A person receives a token when they display good behaviour, and they lose a token when they act out. These tokens are not meant to be reinforcements; the things and privileges they are able to get with the tokens are the things that these people are really after. Once the desired behaviour has been met, the token system is stopped, so as to teach the people that good behaviour is something that should always be there, and not something that should have a reward for it. Essay Three It has long since been studied and concluded that there is a relationship between media violence and aggressive behaviour. While it can be said that media violence does not necessarily cause aggressive behaviour, people are still influenced by what they see on television or hear in music. Furthermore, when media violence is seen and enjoyed by millions, there are people that feel that this would condone the act if they did it themselves. Especially in a young child, approximately in their early teens, television and music can be very influencing. They might be inspired by something that their favorite television show character does, or by something they see on a show that they find amazing. Or they may take to heart the lyrics that they hear in harsh, violent music. As aforementioned, media violence does not cause aggressive behaviour. Everybody has the ability to understand and realize that just because something is on television, does not mean it is something that they are able to try out for themselves. Similarly, they also understand that the consequences they see on television may not be the same for them; they learn quickly that what is on television belongs on television. Unfortunately, there are those that have already behaved in aggressive manners that take what they see on television as a green light to repeat the behaviour themselves. When they see their fictional counterparts committing or getting away with aggressive behaviour or acts, they feel that their own behaviour can be condoned. The younger the child is, the more influential they are. This is why it is important that television is monitored for young children. However, it has been shown that most children that act on based upon what they see on television are usually in the beginning of their teenage years. These are the years that children spend experimenting with their own lives, deciding what they want for themselves and who they feel they should be as a person. If a teenager is subjected to a certain amount of violence via the media, the chances are increased that they may act out on what they have viewed. They begin to have difficulty separating what is fiction and solely entertainment from what is real life. If they do not have the proper role models or someone to distinguish the differences between entertainment and real life, then they will feel encouraged to reenact something that they have watched. It has always been difficult to find a direct correlation between media violence and the amount of aggressive behaviour sparked by media violence (Gerdes, 2003). It is still argued that as people are easily influenced by things that they watch on television that there is still the chance that many people will imitate what they see, or feel that their own actions will be condoned if a production company is so willingly displaying this stuff to a public that will enjoy watching it. That is the line that is crossed: people, regardless of their age, race, financial or educational background, or their family life growing up, are prone to being influenced. It is similar to conditioning: once they see something numerous times without anybody lashing out against it, they will feel that it is okay for them to copy the same action or behaviour. The direct correlation is hard to find, yet a relationship does exist between media violence and aggressive behaviour. Essay Four There are a variety of learning techniques designed to allow a person to fully comprehend what they are reading so that they may take in the entirety of the message. Many techniques can be used at once to further enhance how much knowledge is gained and stored in the person’s memory, so that they can readily rely on it when the need arises. Furthermore, these techniques not only help the person to understand what they are reading, but to help them read and comprehend the ideas in a more simple manner. Some of these helpful techniques include, but are not limited to, organisation, elaboration and comprehension monitoring. Organisation is one of the most tried and true methods for learning, and it has a variety of techniques of its own. The most common of organisation methods is to take notes and sort them out so that it is easy to find a certain topic without having to go through a stack of papers. Organisation can involve taking notes based on what they have read or what they have been told through a lecture, presentation or video that has been viewed. Similar topics should be grouped together and arranged through the means of dividers or separate folders. When a person keeps their information stored in an organised manner, not only will it become easier for them to find certain information, but it will also help to keep the information organised and remembered in their brains. Elaboration can go hand-in-hand with organisation, though this requires more mental abilities than physical storing abilities. Elaboration involves giving the thing to be remembered more meaning, so that the person has more to go off when they are trying to remember a specific piece of information (Murre, 2009). This also helps to give the person more understanding in regards to what they are learning. The more they have on the topic, the more likely they are to remember the key details. Elaboration usually involves further research outside of the basic lesson, so the person is able to further their learning on that topic. It can help them reach a deeper, more meaningful understanding on the topic; in the same sense, the more that they know on the topic, the more they can remember. Comprehension monitoring is the ability of the reader to understand whether or not they understand the text that they are reading. Instead of reading just to get through with the process of reading, they are able to make note of the information that they do not understand or are having difficulty storing mentally. When they know that they are not comprehending something, they can take the time afterwards to go back to that section and reread it, ask questions, or do further research until they are able to comprehend the concept or information being presented to them. Comprehension monitoring involves being aware of uncomprehending while the person is reading, as opposed to after, when they recall what they have read and realize they do not understand all of the information. Learning techniques are vital when trying to fully grasp information that is being read or viewed. There are a variety of techniques; some may work better for others, so it is a good idea for all techniques to be viewed and tested before deciding which ones are best. The techniques that are most common are organisation, elaboration and comprehension monitoring. These techniques will enable a person to fully grasp the topic they are learning, to research further if need be, and to organise everything into a simple way for future reference. Works Cited Ayllon, T. (1999). How to use token economy and point systems. New York: Pro-Ed, Inc. Gerdes, L. (2003). Media violence. Los Angeles: Cengage Gale. Gersley, E. (2001). Phobias: Causes and treatments. AllPsych Journal. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/journal/phobias.html. Murre, Dr. Jaap. (2009). Elaboration. neuroMod. Retrieved from http://memory.uva.nl/memimprovement/eng/elaboration.htm. Read More