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 of this is when a cat hears a can opener and they come running for their food. The sound of the can opener is associated with opening a can of food so they think they are going to get fed. 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 is when a puppy sits they get a treat but when they pee in the house they get yelled at and put outside. The difference between the two is through classical conditioning an organism associates different stimuli that it does not control and responds automatically to those stimuli, while through operant conditioning an organism associates its operant behaviors (those that act on its environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli) with their consequences. Both these learning techniques are interesting because of the way the deal with our minds. With classical conditioning, once we are trained to react a certain way we just do it automatically without thinking about it. Some animals can be trained to do weird things just by hearing a bell or seeing a light. Operant conditioning deals a lot with our lives. Our parents use operant conditiong when we are younger to teach us what is right and wrong. When we would do good things we would get praise and bad things let to some sort of punishment. We also use operant conditioning when we train pets to pee outside and not to bite.
Positive reinforcement is a type of reinforcer that strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasureable stimulus after a response. An example of this is when you are training your puppy to sit, you give him a treat when he sits. The puppy then thinks that if he/she sits then they will get a treat so next time you say sit they sit. Eventually you don't give them as many treats but they continue to sit when told. Negative reinforcement is a reinforcer that strengthens a response by reducing or removing something undesirable or unpleasant. An example of this in my life is when I get into my car. If I don't buckle my seat belt my car starts to beep. It's very annoying so I buckle up to make it shut off. Now when I get into my vehicle I automatically buckle up because I don't even want to hear my seatbelt beeper thing. Punishment is just the opposite of a reinforcement. A punisher is any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior. An example of a punisher is an electric fence. When an enclosed animal touches the fence, it gives them a shock and they learn not to touch the fence again. It can also work with young kids. Most of us as kids probably have touched an electric fence. For most of us the shock was enough to teach us not to touch it. Some of us still touched it even though it shocked us but it is supposed to teach both animals and people not to touch it.
The most interesting thing of this chapter for me was learning about observational learning. Not only do humans learn through observation but so do animals. Monkeys will copy other monkeys that get rewarded, even if by copying they get nothing. I also found it interesting that little kids will give their dolls spankings after seeing their parents give them or their siblings spankings. Also I liked how the book explained our mirror neurons. I always thought it was interesting how when we see something that looks painful we somehow feel a sense of pain ourselves, even though nothing is being done to us. I find it interesting how our minds cause us to feel these sensations.