Applying Operant Conditioning to Human Behaviour Essay

Applying Operant Conditioning to Human Behaviour Operant conditioning is when a way of learning by consequence. To put it basic, an action which is rewarded is more likely to be repeated, along with an action that is punished is less likely to be repeated. To apply this to an example of human behaviour, young children may have shaped behaviour due to operant conditioning; where desireable behaviour is rewarded (e.g. by giving a toy) the behaviour is being positively reinforced and is likely to occur. If a young child behaves in an undesirable way, then they may be punished (e.g. a toy being taken away from them) therefore this behaviour is negatively reinforced and is less likely to reoccur.†¦show more content†¦Observational learning is seeing what happens to other people and whether they are rewarded for their behaviours, or punished for their behaviours. The imitative side to this is repeating the desirable behaviour which was observed, or avoid repeating the undesirable behaviour. E.g. Kevin is walking down a street and sees a gentleman drop his wallet on the floor without knowing. Somebody then quickly picks up the wallet and runs and gives the gentleman the wallet, who then offers to buy the person a drink for their help. This is a reward for the person, and Kevin would recognize this, and learn from the occasion, even though Kevin was not directly reinforced. This is known as Vicarious reinforcement, which is observing somebody else. However, if the behaviour of the person was undesirable, such as they picked up the wallet and ran away, then Kevin is likely to see this as a lead to punishment rather than reinforcement, and because of this, is less likely to imitate the behaviour. Observational learning takes place around models, and the model in the example was the person who picked up the wallet. The differences between Observational, Imitation learning, and the operant and classical conditioning learning, is that operant and classical only relate to the single organism and its respon sesShow MoreRelatedEssay Operant Conditioning1743 Words   |  7 Pages Classical conditioning is a method used in behavioral studies. It is known as classical because it is the first study of laws of learning/conditioning, It is a learned reaction that you do when evoked by a stimulus. Ivan Pavlov was the scientist who discovered classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov was born in Russia. He lived from 1849 - 1936 . Pavlov’s field of study was physiology and natural science. One of Pavlov’s discoveries was the conditioning of dogs. While working withRead MoreChallenging Behavior in People With Learning Disabilities Through a Psychological Perspective887 Words   |  4 PagesThis task will be focused on a service user group, more specifically on adults. 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