Introduction
Operant conditioning is a major concept which is used in behavioral psychology. Another term used to refer to operant conditioning is instrumental conditioning. The theorists who led to the development of operant conditioning include B. F skinner, John Watson and Edward Thorndike. This concept involves the use of punishment and reward to reinforce a certain behavior for learning to occur. An association is made between the consequence and the behavior. Operant conditioning through the use of punishment can be used to prevent or decrease a certain negative behavior, for example, when a child is told that he/she will lose some privileges in case he/she misbehaves, it leads the child in reducing the undesirable behavior. For instance being punished if they talk in class may cause the child not to be disruptive. These are some of the examples of how we use operant conditioning in our every day activities. (Coon, 2006 10th edition).
There are various concepts that are used in operant conditioning. The main ones include reinforces and punishment.
Positive Reinforcement
Reinforcement is a term used to indicate something or a process that strengthens a certain behavior. An example of positive reinforcement is when a parent is talking with the kid. The parent is supposed to use positive language even though he/she is correcting a wrong behavior. The parent is supposed to start the conversation with a positive comment as people respond more to statements that are positive. This positive reinforcement will help to correct a certain undesirable behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
There are two types of negative reinforcement: escape and avoidance. Negative reinforcement leads to learning because of some negative condition is avoided or stopped. An example of how negative reinforcement can be applied in everyday life includes a person who leaves home early in order to avoid the heavy traffic. Leaving home early is a negative behavior which is reinforced by the avoidance of traffic. Both negative and positive reinforcement helps to strengthen a certain behavior whereas punishment and extinction helps to weaken a certain behavior. (Coon, 2006 10th edition).
Punishment
Negative reinforcement leads to learning (strengthening a certain behavior) by removing the undesirable stimulus but on the other hand punishment leads to learning (weakening a certain behavior) by adding or increasing the negative stimulus. For example when a child is punished for making noise in class, this can lead to the reduction of the bad behavior and thus the child can be less disruptive.
Extinction
In operant conditioning, the term extinction is used to refer to the withholding of reinforcement. This is especially so for a behavior which was earlier reinforced. For instance a child who seeks attention by hiding under the desk can be ignored by every one until the undesirable behavior is done away with (the child stops seeking attention).
But when using consequences to modify behavior, there are various factors that can affect the effectiveness of the consequences. They include:
- Immediacy: Immediate feedback will result in learning. For instance if a kid is punished two weeks after a Wrong deed, then this will not be effective in changing the behavior(learning).
- Satiation: learning or change in behavior can only happen if the person is deprived of something that is important to them. For example a person who is not hungry can not learn if he/she is not given food.
- Contingency: The consequence has to be consistent in order to achieve the set target. For example a kid who is always reprimanded but does not change his/her behavior can not learn unless the punishment is changed.
- Size: if the consequence is worth the effort then learning will take place. For example if an employee doe not get any rewards, then he/she will not feel the need to work hard.
The above factors can affect the effectiveness of the consequences and also determine if behavior modification will occur. (Coon, 2006).
Memory Cue
Memory can be defined as a personal ability to retrieve past experiences whereas learning is an experience which is gained with time and involves some change. The two processes are therefore dependent on each other. A person can be able to decide what to do in a certain conditioned situation. This is further encouraged if the brain records a reward. Our memory is able to store and retrieve information differently in either the absence or presence of a reward. If an action is rewarded then the brain stores that action and retrieves it again when a need arise. A long period of training therefore means that an action or behavior will be stored in the memory. For example if a kid is rewarded for performing well in school, this action will be stored in the memory and will always be retrieved every time this kid feels lazy or does not want to do certain tasks. This action will be a reinforcer to the kid, by using the memory cue. Another example of memory cue is the use of language. Language is know to shape the life of young ones. For instance a kid who goes up getting a lot of negative words usually has esteem issues. This is because the words are recorded in his/her brain(memory). If a kid is told that he/she is good for nothing and can not perform well in school, then this words will be stored in the memory and will influence the behavior of the kid. If its about performance, the kid will not work hard as it is recorded in the memory that performance is not his/her thing. These past experiences can and normally does influence the behavior of people.
Perception
As defined by Coon (2006) perception is the creation of the brain that involves the input of the sense organs. The sense organs help to detect the changes in the environment and then transfer the information, as nerve impulse. Sensory neurons then carry the information/action to the brain. When this actions/information reaches the brain, they are interpreted and the brain makes a perception. Using memory people make different perceptual interpretation and inferences about the world. The process of perception begins with a stimulus that is transmitted to a sense organ. Different cells in the brain respond to different and specific stimuli from the environment, for instance heat, cold or chemicals. The first stage of perception is the reception, whereby the stimulus is introduced to the sense cells. For example we one touches something that is hot (stimulus), the heat is transferred to the brain through the sensory nerves and the brain then makes a perception that the object is hot and thus the brain informs a person to let go of the object. It is through the use of the senses that perceptions are created. This is why people are able to make out the shape of a car while the car is still far. Because the visual image seems to appear larger and larger as it approaches. Senses and perception are like one and the same because there are like one continuous process and help to interpret our immediate environment and that is how people form their memory. For instances advertisements are a perfect example of how perceptions are formed. When people see or hear a certain advertisement, they interpret it differently. At times people are so engaged with the advertisement that they tend to believe the slogans used. If this advertisement are interpreted positively, they are then stored in peoples memory. And when people go shopping they end up buying the advertised products. This is all perception.
In operant conditioning therefore, these two concepts are very important as they help in learning. For example a certain stimulus is associated with a certain consequence or reward when this is continuously stored in the memory, people or organism end up learning. For instance, according to a research carried out by B. F Skinner with rats, he noticed that the rats would notice the lever and they pressed it whenever they wanted food. The rats therefore interpreted the availability of food with the pressing of the lever. This was stored in their memory and therefore learning took place. This shows that memory cue and perceptions are important concepts in operant conditioning because they help to explain how people learn. (Coon, 2006).
References
Coon, D. (2006). Psychology: A modular approach to mind and behavior. New York: Routledge.
Coon, D. (2006). Psychology: A modular approach to mind and behavior. (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. 2008. Web.