Blog Post # 8

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. Most now agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning by which all organisms adapt to their environment. There is the unconditioned response, unconditoned stimulus, conditioned response, and conditoned stimulus that can all relate to classical conditioning. An example a dog drools when it sees food before conditioning and when it hears a bell it does not salvate. During conditioning, you ring the bell which is the neutral stimulus and give the dog food. Therefore as time goes on the dog will know it is getting food when the bell rings. When the bell rings after conditioning and no food is present, the dog will begin to salvate because it is assosicated food with the bell and thinks it will be given food. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. For example, if you are late for curfew and there is a resulting consequence such as being grounded or losing your phone. You then learn from that behavior and don't do it again. Classical conditioning associates between different stimuli and in operant conditoning, organisms associate their own actions wtih consequences. Classical conditioning is a respondent behavior that occurs as an automatic response and is involuntary. Operant conditioning is operant behavior that operates on the environment and and consequences. This is interesting because there are different techniques to teaching organisms acquired skills. There are many benefits to having teaching methods for organisms. I can apply this to my life in how I act and what decisions I make. Operant conditioning may give me reasons to obey commands so I don't have to suffer from the consequences.

Positive reinforcement is when you increase postive behavior by presenting a positive stimuli. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that when presented after a response can strengthen the response. Negative reinforcement can increase behavior by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that when removed after a response strengthens the response. Be sure to remember that negative reinforcment is not a punishment. A punishment is an event that decrease the behavior that it follows. A punisher is any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior. There can be positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment can administer an aversive stimulus and negative punishment can withdraw a desirable stimulus. An example of positive reinforcement in my life would be helping my mom out around the house and doing chores and then in return she pays me an allowance for helping. An example of negative reinforcement when a person is not wearing a seatbelt it dings every minutes very loudly and is super annoying. I then put my seatbelt on to make the annoying sound go away. An example of punishment is most common is my life with my parents. If I receive a bad grade, I will not be able to do anything during the week and instead work on homework. If I am late for curfew, I get punished and I am grounded for a few days.

The most interesting thing I learned was classical conditioning and how you can apply it. Pavlov's experiment was very interesting and it is amazing how we can teach organisms certain behaviors for everything with different stimuli. There are different processes such as acquistion, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination that can be directly related to classical conditioning. Classical conditioning can be applied for different techniques in drug addicts that are recovering, teaching a child to be potty trained, and parents disiplining their children. This changes the way I look at things because you can look at it and decide how certain organisms were taught certain things and how you can teach someone or something that needs to be taught.