...The field of psychology has different types of methods that are used in order to control, change, or alter behavior. There is no one specific method is that universally agreed upon or is better than another. Rather, the method used depends upon the intended outcome, and the reason for some type of conditioning or punishment. Operant conditioning is one type of method used by psychologist. In addition, there is positive punishment, negative punishment, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement. Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through a system of rewards and punishments for a behavior. With this type of conditioning, there is an association between the behavior and the consequence for the behavior. This was created by B.F. Skinner, who was a behaviorist and believed that a person’s internal thoughts and motivations can be used to explain a person’s behavior. Reinforcement is a key concept in operant conditioning. Specifically, the two types of reinforcers are positive, in which favorable events or outcomes are given after a behavior, and negative reinforcers which involve the removal of an unfavorable event or outcome after a behavior. An example of operant conditioning is when a child complete their school work and is rewarded by the teacher and receives either praise or some type of physical reward, such as candy. The one ethical concern that may arise from this method is that a child who knows that they will not be able to finish their school...
Words: 867 - Pages: 4
...DeMartino et al. first describe the large amount of alcohol consumption that is taking place in today’s college setting. The increasing amount of excessive alcohol use is attributed to freedom from parental control, social influence, and the notion of binge drinking being considered acceptable. The researchers draw hypotheses from Akers’s social learning theory of deviance (SLTD), which “focuses on the social influences of deviant behavior, and the positive as well as negative reinforcements for such behavior” (DeMartino et al., 2015, p. 480). The hypotheses are surrounded around the ideas of differential association and reinforcement, the former being an identification with the norms (i.e. alcohol consumption) of social groups while the latter focuses on the difference between the positive and negative reinforcements of a behavior (DeMartino et al., 2015). The three hypotheses combine to form a research question whether differential association and differential enforcement influence the associations of the three kinds alcohol use demographically, quantitatively, and...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...Deviant behaviour is learned through interaction with people in a process of communication. As John B. Watson once said "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors" – in other words criminals are not born but shaped not only due to circumstance but through learning from intimate relationships with others. Throughout the course of this paper I will focus on why people behave in ways that lead them to be defined as deviant...
Words: 896 - Pages: 4
...ORBH 250 Spring 2015 Prof. Learning Plan Part II ! As for the future three years before I enter labor force (since I plan to go to graduate school), the biggest thing I want to work on is to find what I really want to do in the future as my career. I am currently a sophomore majoring in Accounting and to be honest, I am not pretty sure about what I want to do for living As long as I am considering right now, there are three possibilities for me as for my career—work in an investment bank as an analyst, work as an author in china. As for being a author, the very first reason is that I love to express my opinions through languages. Indeed I started thinking about being an author when I was in my first year of undergraduate. I was mostly motivated by the book, The Seventh Day, written by Chinese famous journalist Hua Yu. In that book, He expresses his opinions about political, social and economical events though relating fictions life after the death of the main charter. Therefore, I was motivated by his several sentences, hoping to become an author so as to perform my own values in Chinese writing filed. The major difficulty so far that get in the way for me to be a an author here is still the language barrier. The reason is that I did not get the formal training for this. For now, I accept American education, and totally stop accepting any Chinese stuff. In addition, I spend lots of time working on do my Finance and Accounting class, so I don’t have more time to consider...
Words: 2042 - Pages: 9
...Learning and Cognition Michelle Snare-Otto PSY/390 April 30, 2012 Robert Hicks Learning and Cognition Learning is considered taking in something that we did not already know. Behavior changes are related to learning. When we learn our behavior tends to change so that we may take in the materials that we are learning. Not all learning is done through conditioning. Learning can be observational, listening to instructions, or imitating a behavior. Cognitive learning is considered an influential method that provides us with the information that we need to have to learn new data. This essay will take a look at all the aspects related to cognition and learning and how behavior is affected. Definition of Learning According to Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009, learning is a significant topic within this present day by psychologists. Learning is an exceptionally difficult idea to define. Learning can be defined as gaining the knowledge, mastery, or the comprehension of experience or information. Some psychologist do not particularly care for this definition and see learning as referring to changes in observable behaviors (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). A popular definition of learning was suggested by Gregory A. Kimble as learning being a permanent change in behavior that would occur as a result of reinforced practice (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). Learning allows for individuals to do something that they could not do before learning took place. Role Behavior Plays Learning ...
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...The Social Learning Theory is based on imitating a person’s behavior and adopting similar beliefs and values as part of identification. This theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. The Social Learning theory, the psychology is that people learn from one another including such notions as observational learning imitation, and modeling. Theorist Albert Bandura has lead such studies to back these hypothesis, proposed that behaviors could influence both the environment and the person. Early experiences frame the life of a child and determine in most cases what personality traits they will take on. According to Bandura (1977) learning would be exceedingly laboress not to mention hazardous if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Most behaviors that have been studied resorts back to observation, the behaviors have in turn modeled the basic interepatation of the perceived. Deviation from these behaviors are the choice of the individual but hard for them to change due to only knowing one way of living. The psychological theories prove that early stages of moral and cognitive developments in behaviors down the line. All behaviors we observe are not always learned or carried out, each determines on the rewards of the behaviors. The three core concepts of the Social Learning concept are, the idea that people learn through observation, secondly that the idea that internal mental state are essential...
Words: 1447 - Pages: 6
...Learning and Cognition Spencer Surjue-Bowens Psych390 Prof. Gayle Ball October 10, 2012 Throughout history there have been many theories on the different styles of how people learn and retain information. There have also been different speculations on how these different learning styles pertain to certain types of behavior. Although this has been a strenuous taskresearchers have been able to conclude some theories by correlating learning to behavior. There are many variables to consider when discussing learning and cognition. According to Bietz (2010) “Learning is often defined as a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of experience. Learning became a major focus of study in psychology during the early part of the twentieth century as behaviorism rose to become a major school of thought. Today, learning remains an important concept in numerous areas of psychology, including cognitive, educational, social, and developmental psychology.” People normally link learning with the different experience that occur in life. Most can relate what they learned to a certain emotion that presented itself at that time. Behavior is at the core of psychology; it is behavior that we study,analyze and experiment to understand the psychology of any person (Changani, 2011). There are numerous behavior types and most behaviors are a series of learned conditions that one experienced. Behavior plays a considerable role in learning because it is through one’s behavior that...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...Learning and Cognition Paper Jan George PSY/390 University of Phoenix Learning and Cognition Paper Learning is a basic function for all the living. Humans were born with certain behaviors such as innate (general influence at birth) as a result specific unlearned and some particular types conduct; while some obtain from learning. Learning, in the area of psychology is the most suitable in a human beings conduct likely the reaction from skills and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs For that purpose, of getting a complete comprehension of the process of learning, in the view of the psychology field, it is really powerful for a person to first comprehend the specific role that takes part in by the behavior, of a person and also when understanding, the unusual parts of learning as well as the relationship between the two; learning and cognition (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005). Definition of learning and the role behavior play in learning Learning is influential form of conduct and alters information that come to light and many procedure are developed, but can be used for motor expertness, to cognitive skills, such as education, and to viewpoints and benefits, such as preconception. As result verification is mentally disturbed indication and structures of cognitive disorders are also acquire conduct Behavior plays a major role in consideration to learning and people comprehend more concerning it, but to be able to understand...
Words: 751 - Pages: 4
...Learning“ A relatively permanent change in the behavior occurring as a result of experience” Two approaches to learning are offered by operant conditioning and social learning theory. Organizational learning complements these approaches by stressing the importance of commitment to learning throughout an organization. Organizational members, especially newcomers, must learn how to perform new tasks. Experienced employees must learn how to use new equipment and technology or how to follow new policies and procedures. Learning is a fundamental process in organizations. This chapter discusses principles of learning that managers can promote to maintain desired organizational behaviors such as good customer service or manufacturing high-quality products. L earning consists of a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviors that result from practice or experience. This definition has three key elements: (1) permanent, (2) change, and (3) through practice. A temporary change in behavior or knowledge is not characteristic of learning. Learning takes place through practice, or the experience of watching others, although it is tempting to take shortcuts. Theories of learning, operant conditioning, and social learning theory emphasize different ways of learning. Methods of Shaping Behavior Reinforcement is the process that increases the probability that desired behaviors occur by applying consequences. Managers use reinforcement to increase the likelihood of higher sales...
Words: 640 - Pages: 3
...Learning theory may sound like an esoteric idea, but understanding how people learn has many practical implications for both formal and informal workplace learning because it can provide best practices for teaching on the job as a trainer or a manager. Here’s an overview of the most popular behavioral learning theories. Reinforcement Theory Reinforcement Theory suggests that behavior is controlled by its consequences and therefore individuals are motivated to perform or avoid behaviors because of past outcomes of those behaviors. Reinforcement comes in several forms: Positive reinforcement involves positively rewarding desirable behaviors. Negative reinforcement means removing an unpleasant outcome to promote desirable behaviors. Extinction involves withdrawing positive or negative reinforcers to eliminate a behavior. Punishment involves decreasing a behavior by presenting an unpleasant outcome after the behavior. Workplace learning implications: The trainer must have a general understanding of which outcomes a learner finds positive or negative and strategically connect those outcomes to the course content, as appropriate. Social Learning Theory Social Learning Theory suggests that people learn by observing other people and attempting to copy their behaviors. Social learning is influenced by self-efficacy, which is an individual’s belief that he/she can successfully learn knowledge and skills. This means that the learner may not be able to adopt the behaviors...
Words: 704 - Pages: 3
...Learning and Cognition Paper Introduction In today’s society the source of learning may come from several outlets, such as the television, the internet, or a magazine. Believe it or not we all learn something every day, whether we know it or not. Although most of us learn from our own experiences and some of us learned from watching other people's experiences as well. Since birth we all have been able to do things naturally and perform certain actions on our own, meaning we exhibit a great deal of behaviors. Though in the paradigm of learning, in the jurisdiction of psychology, is best described as, “Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or in behavioral potentiality that results from experience and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs” (Olson and Hergenhahn, 2009). Nevertheless, a whole understanding of the contrivance of learning, as it relates to psychology in todays society is mostly established on the sympathetic of the unambiguous role that behavior plays in learning today. Learning and Behavior When a person is learning a new activity they are progressing information by using existing knowledge in which they learn throughout their life. Learning is the ability to progress new information by altering existing, values, behaviors, preferences, skills, knowledge, and includes producing different categories of information (Cherry, 2009). According to Gregory A. Kimble “learning as a relatively...
Words: 973 - Pages: 4
...Brief History of Behaviorism Behaviorism and education examines the behavior of a student rather than the mind of a student. The base of behaviorism lies in the understanding of how students verbally or emotionally react to influences or stimuli of external forces (their environment). Behaviorists believe that learning takes place because of a response that follows on a specific stimulus. By repeating the stimuli-response (S-R) cycle, the subject, whether it is animal or human, is conditioned into repeating a response whenever the stimulus is present. Simply put, the sources of a behavior and learning are external (environmental), not internal (scientific psychological processes). Modern Behaviorist take into account that people are not born as blank slates, what they become, how they learn, and what they learn is based on environmental conditioning of outside forces, i.e. parents, teachers, culture, as well as genetic makeup. However, the result of a direct stimuli response does create a chemical response in our brains, which can change our behavior, intelligence, etc. Therefore, learning and behavior are unquestionably affected by positive and stimulating environments, but does not exclusively rely on this. Behaviors and learning are also programmed by events in our past, ideas adopted from other people in our environment, and how our chemical biology responds to this stimulus. When parents, teachers, doctors, and psychologists first began to study children and...
Words: 1084 - Pages: 5
...What is Social Learning Theory? The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura has become the most influential theory of learning and development. Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning. While the behavioral theories of learning suggested that all learning was the result of associations formed by conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment, Bandura's social learning theory proposed that learning can also occur simply by observing the actions of others. His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational learning (or modeling) this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors. People learn through observing others behavior , attitudes and outcomes of those behaviors. Social Learning Theory explains human beahvior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive , behavioral and environmental influences. Necessary conditions for effective modelling are: ATTENTION: various factors increases or decreases the amount of attention paid. In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that distracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning. RETENTION: remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic...
Words: 760 - Pages: 4
...Learning and Cognition Paper Salma El Gharabawy PSY 390 University of Phoenix Everyday, people tend to learn something new in their lives; whether through watching other people or through their own experiences, people learn. We all “know” things, and naturally perform a lot of actions, meaning we exhibit in a lot of behaviors. Ever stop to think where all of this came from? Some are innate, while others are only acquired actively; therefore, any knowledge or behavior that we have now and were NOT born with, was one way or the other, “learned”. Learning is an integral part of all living things’ lives; some certain behaviors we are born with, innate (genetically predisposed at birth or maybe even during conception) such as certain reflexes and some specific species behaviors; while others are only gained through learning. Learning, in the field of psychology has been best described as “ . . . .a relatively permanent change in behavior or in behavioral potentiality that results from experience and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs” (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005). That said, in order to get a complete understanding of the mechanism of learning, in regards to the psychology field, it is really important for a person to first understand the specific role that is played by behavior, in learning, the different types of learning as well as the relationship between the two; learning and cognition. Needless to say...
Words: 1137 - Pages: 5
...Cognitive Theory of Learning Social cognitive theory of learning is a theoretical perspective that focuses on learning by observing others and eventually assuming control over one’s own behavior (Ormrod, 2011, p.323). Social cognitive theory is a perspective that helps us understand about learning by observing other people doing the same thing. This theory is a blend of behaviorism and cognitive psychology (Ormrod, 2011). Behaviorism theory relates to learning as a stimulus- response relationship and suggests that learning involves a behavior change whereas according to social cognitive theory learning is an internal process that may or may not lead to a behavior change. According to social cognitive theory, people and their environments mutually influence each other (Ormrod, 2011). People learn from the environment they are in, people they interact with, and behaviors they watch. People can learn by observing others and as they become older they can set their goals based on the accomplishments and the results of that learning. People learn by observation is the basic assumption of the social cognitive theory. The person who demonstrates a behavior for someone else is the model for the learner (Ormrod, 2011). According to instrumental conditioning, learning is a process of trial and error (Ormrod, 2011, p.324). Learners observe different behaviors and try to adopt those behaviors, if any of the learned behaviors bring desirable results; those behaviors stay with the learner ...
Words: 766 - Pages: 4
