Operant Conditioning - Term Paper Example

Sniffy” Research Paper Background Information on Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning refers to a process by which animals and human beings learn to behave in particular ways so as to avoid punishments and obtain rewards. Therefore, reinforces/behavior enhancers and punishers/behavior suppressors become the two main selecting consequences that guide it. Flora (2004) states that; subjects or individuals modify their behaviour as a result of the association between a particular behaviour with a given stimulus. Operant conditioning only applies to voluntary responses where the behaviours of individuals are triggered, controlled and maintained by their consequences. According to Neuringer (2002), operant conditioning takes place under four contexts. These are positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement and negative punishment. Positive reinforcement takes place when a response/behaviour is followed by a stimulus that is rewarding and thereby increasing the frequency of occurrence of that behaviour. An example is the active class participation that is followed by a weekend outing and consequently, a massive and continuous active class participation is achieved. Positive punishment is said to take place when a response/behaviour is followed by a stimulus that results to a reduction of that behaviour. An example is leaving a misbehaving child behind when gong for family outing. This makes them to behave well and reduces the occurrence of unwanted behaviour. Negative reinforcement occurs when a response is followed by the elimination of an aversive stimulus hence increasing the frequency of the behaviour. On the other hand, negative punishment takes place when a response is followed by the withdrawal of a stimulus as a result of undesired behaviour (Domjan, 2003). An example is denying a child their favourite drink as a result of eliciting unwanted behaviour. This leads to a reduction in the undesired behaviour. Although consequences guide on the behaviour of subjects undergoing operant conditioning, there are factors that could affect the effectiveness of the consequence and cause the subjects not to behave as expected when the stimulus is presented. These factors include immediacy that is time that elapses between a response and consequence, and contingency, that consistency in the administration of the consequence after a response. Other factors include cost-benefit or size of consequence in relation to the response and satiation, that is, satisfaction of the subject’s appetite for the source of stimulation. Those consequences that are adverse or have more costs are more likely to maintain effectiveness than those whose consequences are pleasant. Experiment 1 Operant conditioning is demonstrated using a very simple exercise of pressing bars. The aim of the experiment is to make the rat press the bar in order to get food. The rat is systematically trained for a specific response. Whenever the space bar is pressed, the operant chamber delivers food pallets into the dish of food. The aim is to teach the rat to recognise the sound of food pallets when they drop into the dish. Improvements in rat responses can be observed from the operant’s association’s windows by sound food at the bar graph. Consistent and systematic repeat of this experiment will make the rat learn to discover presence of food, as well as get the food on itself. Experiment 2 Another experiment for operant conditioning for sniffy rat aims at stopping the rat from destroying foodstuffs in the house. Therefore, foodstuffs, not food pellets are kept in a separate side of the window. Whenever the rat tries to reach them, you click the bar so that it it hit. Therefore, it will avoid such foods and go for the food pellets. With continued repeat of this experiment, the rat will w\learn that it is wrong to eat foodstuffs, but it is allowed to eat food pellets that fall in the food dish. The Significance of the Topic or Experiments of Operant Conditioning This topic is important in identifying the strength of stimulus in attaining a voluntary modification of behavior. The experiment provides several programs and modules that allow students to explore, besides setting up, several experimental conditions. The experiments can also be applied in homes to prevent rats from destroying foodstuffs by providing them with their own food and then conditioning them. The topic of operant conditioning and/its experiments also explains the importance of modifying a behavior, for example the reward and punishment associated with a behavior. In the first experiment, the rat learns to identify presence of food in the food dish. Therefore, it will be able to access it whenever it is there by listening to the sound of food pellets. The second experiment is also very important because it prevents destruction of foodstuffs by rats. Rats are very nuisance and notorious in destroying food stuffs as well as clothes. Conditioning them in such a way that prevents such can be a relieve to many, especially those that do not like cats. Data from the Experiments in Relation to Theoretical Explanations in Operant Conditioning The data from the two experiments designed above provide evidence that support theoretical explanations in the area of operant conditioning. For example, from the experiments, we can prove that a stimulus can be very effective in modifying the behavior of individuals. They also point out that in operant conditioning, the stimulus presented causes the subjects to elicit voluntary behavior and not reflex actions as seen in classical conditioning. The avoidance destroying foodstuffs and learning to get their own food are voluntary actions. These experiments also provide evidence for the use and effectiveness of rewards and punishment, or negative and positive reinforcement in operant conditioning. They therefore identify the various contexts in which operant conditioning takes place. The first experiment conditions the rat to get food without any punishment, but merely with simple training. The second experiment uses punishment to make the rat learn to only eat its food, and not any other foodstuff Data from the two experiments give evidence for the various factors that strengthen or increase the effectiveness of a consequence. The various responses were immediately and consistently paired with their respective consequences and this strengthened the power of the consequences. The rat learnt to only eat its food and to determine the presence of the food. If the rat was not punished after eating foodstuff, it could have continued destroying every foodstuff in the house, since it could never notice the difference. However, hitting it whenever it approached the food made it to only eat what was meant for it. This data provides evidence for consistently applying the stimulus so as to strengthen the consequences, a n d hence behavior change. Evidence of size, or cost benefit consideration is also demonstrated. If the rat stays away from foodstuffs which are not in the food dish, it is not punished. However, trying to reach this food makes it face the consequence of being hit which is very expensive. Therefore, the rat opts to stay away and only eat the food that is not associated with any cost, hence beneficial. Furthermore, it gets food by learning to listen to the sound of food pellets. How Sniffy Behavior Relate to Human Behavior and Thinking Just like in the Sniffy behavior, human behavior and thinking are guided by the principles of contingency/consistency and immediacy. When a person experiences stimulus, their brain’s dopamine pathways are activated. According to Schultz, (1998), short pulses of dopamine are released by the network of pathways onto many dendrites and this broadcasts a signal of reinforcement to postsynaptic neurons. This leads to plasticity of these synapses and this makes the synapses that have been recently activated to become more sensitive to efferent signals. This increases the chances of the occurrence of the recent responses that come before the reinforcement. The ability of dopamine to act upon the right synapses is reduced when the administration of reinforcement is applied less consistently, or in fewer contingents. Similar to how the rat learns what is right and what is wrong is the same way that human beings, especially children, learn. Children are also easily conditioned through rewards and punishments. For example, children can be exposed to fiercely barking dogs to make them fear playing with them. They can also be made to touch hot surfaces to prevent them from burning themselves by walking near fire. With time they learn to make their own decisions on what is right or wrong as their minds record and remind them of such dangers, every time they get close to such dangers. References Domjan, M. (2003). The Principles of Learning and Behavior (5th Ed). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Flora, S. (2004). The power of reinforcement. Albany. State University of New York Press. Neuringer, A. (2002). Operant variability: Evidence, functions, and theory. Psychonometric Bulletin and Review. (4) pp 672–705. Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive Reward Signal of Dopamine Neurons. The Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), 1–27. Read More