Operant vs. Classical

Classical Conditioning describes is the involuntary or automatic response to a stimulus. Sometimes this is known as respondent conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning as a result of Dr. Pavlov's experimentation with dogs in the early 20th century. Classical conditioning is learning to associate among things meaning that you learn how to link things that go together. Like, when one things happens (you drop your food), another thing will follow shortly (the dog will eat the food). In all the cases, there is an ability to predict the relationship among the events so the animal or you can be able to learn to respond to the first event in anticipationg of the second event.

Operant conditioning is a set of principles showing how to learn to survive in an environment through consequences. In other words, learning the behaviors that are altered by the consequences that follow them.

http://www.dogmanners.com/conditioning.html

Flaws in Punishment

1.
PUNISHMENT OFTEN FAILS TO STOP, AND CAN EVEN INCREASE THE OCCURRENCE OF, THE UNDESIRED RESPONSE. Since attention is one of the most potent rewards available, and since it is difficult to punish without paying attention to the offender, punishing may serve more as a reward than as a punishment.
2.
PUNISHMENT AROUSES STRONG EMOTIONAL RESPONSES THAT MAY GENERALIZE. Once the strong emotional responses are aroused the degree and direction of generalization is largely uncontrollable. The result may be excessive anxiety, apprehension, guilt, and self-punishment.
3.
USING PUNISHMENT MODELS AGGRESSION. The meaning of "social power is exemplified.
4.
INTERNAL CONTROL OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT LEARNED. The offender may learn to inhibit the punished response during surveillance, but once surveillance ends there is no internal control mechanism to continue inhibiting the behavior.
5.
PUNISHMENT CAN EASILY BECOME ABUSE. Most parents who abuse children do not intend to do the damage they inflict. Most of the damage and injury occurs when the parent loses control, and goes beyond the boundaries of reasonable behavior.
6.
PAIN IS STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH AGGRESSION. The pain of punishment often leads to a display of aggression against either the source of the pain or, in some cases, an innocent scapegoat.
7.
PUNISHMENT WORKS BEST WHEN IT OCCURS EVERY TIME. While reward works best when given on an intermittent basis, punishment works best when a continuous basis. The degree of vigilance required to constantly monitor behavior so that every occurrence of the undesired behavior can be punished is rarely possible. The undesired behavior is, therefore, intermittently reinforced when it is not punished, and the behavior continues.

(Not in my own words)

http://www.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/PunishmentProblems.html

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1Et5CM/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253D2lXh2n0aPyw

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning describes the effects of the consequences of how a particular behavior will be altered later in the future. This splits into a branch of 4 different types of Operand Conditioning: Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, and Negative Punishment.

(+,-)Reinforcement strengthen a behavior and Punishment weakens it, or so it's supposed to.

Positive Reinforcement- Through a positive condition, a particular behavior is strengthened.

A hungry rat presses a bar in its cage and receives food. The food is a positive condition for the hungry rat. The rat presses the

bar again, and again receives food. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is strengthened by the consequence of receiving food.

Negative Reinforcement- A particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of having it stopped or avoided in a negative condition.

A rat is placed in a cage and immediately receives a mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a negative condition for the rat.

The rat presses a bar and the shock stops. The rat receives another shock, presses the bar again, and again the shock stops.

The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is strengthened by the consequence of stopping the shock.

Positive Punishment- When a particular behavior is stopped after the consequence of something unpleasant is presented.

An example of positive punishment is when the negative behavior of an employee decreases as the result of being criticized by a supervisior.

Negative Punishment- A particular behavior decreases as the result of the removal as something pleasant after the behavior.

An example of negative punishment is when the frequency in which an employee is late for work deceases as a result of losing the right to listen to music while he or she works.

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html

B. F. Skinner

B. F. Skinner was a radical scientist that developed the theory of operant conditioning. This states that behaviour is either reinforced or punished in both negative and positive ways to either increase or decrease the behavior prior to the consequence. His approach to behaviors was different than an internal mental process and believed that the mind was not a separate object from the soul or body but believed that our thoughts were just to be analyzed as private behaviors regarded as pubicly observed behaviors.

He invented the Skinner Box to insert an animal or person inside so they would be isolated from outside influences and other distractions. He made this as a crib for his baby Debora and she managed to grow up as a healthy child. Soon he published a book called Walden Two in 1948 as a utopia where the families are perfect and then in 1971he wrote Beyond Freedom and Dignity proving that individual freedom is false, illusion.

http://www.nndb.com/people/297/000022231/

Winter Blues

Seasons change throughout the year and as they do, the skies get darker, the sun losing it's light. Being humans, we fear darkness naturally, we can't see what is in it and we fear of what to do, awaiting the solstice that will bring light, or hope. People naturally get sadder every winter, as a time they once enjoyed for gifts but the surprises grow old as do the people. The environment the same, the numbing sensation you get from just staring out a window wondering what to do. It all kind of adds up and creates a huge burden on you but you are able to change it only if you hold the desire to. This would be the time to understand your environment, accept it, enjoy it as it is because the world changes every year and the changes make us regret what we couldn't stop to look at for even a second. Enjoying this is a cure. There are many other ways of curing this temporary depression but the one I consider most effective and so positive, so heart-clenching is just to stop and stare at nature.