Blog Post #8

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. An example I found in the book would be a female rape victim. She feared particular people and places, but in general, it was all people and places. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. An example of this could be a little kid told he or she will get a candy bar if they go to the bathroom while being potty trained. Furthermore, this example would be considered positive reinforcement. The difference between the two is that in classical conditioning, an individual learns associations between events it does not control while in operant conditioning, an individual learns associations between its behavior and resulting events. I think this is cool, because it goes to show that there are differences between things in your life that you can control and what you can't.



Positive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. An example would be winning a gold medal for placing in a competition. An individual would probably push themselves harder and harder knowing that they could be rewarded for being good. After all of their hard work was done, and if they did place, they would get the medal and all of their work would have paid off. Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. An example would be your mom telling you to clean up your room all of the time and then you finally do it. An individual would procrastinate so they wouldn't have to do this work, but know that they would eventually do it. After they finally got fed up of being narked at, they would finally give in and clean up the room. Afterwards, they would probably feel a sense of relief of finally completing the task. Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example would be getting a spanking when you didn't listen to a parent. You obviously did something that you knew you weren't supposed to, but did anyways. As a result, you get punished, and you feel bad for your actions (most of the time anyways.)

I think the most interesting thing I read in Chapter 7 was about prosocial and antisocial effects. I never actually stopped and thought of why people do the good (or bad) things that they do. Prosocial behavior is defined as positive, constructive, helpful behavior. Antisocial is obviously the exact opposite. An example the book tells of prosocial behavior is if you want children to be encouraged to read, read to them or make books available to them in their environment. Furthermore, there are negative effects people have on each other, called antisocial effects. An example the books shares is if a child has abusive parents, they may tend to be more aggressive than other children. I can relate this to my life because of my two little siblings. I have a sister who is 5 and a brother who is 2. They mean the world to me and I only want what is best for them. By me doing the things that I want them to do too, I realize through the concept of "prosocial effects" that I may be able to accomplish this.