Example and criticism of operant conditioning

An example of the everyday life of Operant Conditioning is, teaching a child to behave in a certain way by giving him/her a reward after he/she shows that particular behaviour. For instance, you want him/her to eat vegetables, thus, each time that he/she finish his/her vegetables, you give him/her a sweet.

Operant conditioning has been criticised because it does not take in account neither genetics nor cognitive factors nor social environment.

References
McLeod, S. (2015). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html [Accessed 19 Nov. 2015].

Example and criticism of classical conditioning

An example of Classical Conditioning can be, for instance, when you smell a perfume and you associate it with a person. The perfume is the neutral stimulus, but as you smell it always in a specific person, each time that you smell it, even if it is not that person  who is wearing it, your conditioned response is to think in that person.

Classical Conditioning has been criticised because it claims that everything can be learned, it does not give any importance to the nature of a person. In addition, it is reductionist, it explains human behaviour by breaking it in small parts, but, a disadvantage of this is that it can make it too simple. Lastly, it is deterministic, this is to say, it does not take in account  free will. In spite of this, it uses the scientific method to prove its theory.

References

McLeod, S. (2015). Classical Conditioning | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html [Accessed 19 Nov. 2015].

McLeod, S. (2015). Reductionism and Holism in Psychology | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/reductionism-holism.html [Accessed 19 Nov. 2015].

Classical Conditioning vs Operant Conditioning

 Two of the main differences between the Classical Conditioning and the Operant Conditioning are, firstly, that the former focus on involuntary or automatic behaviours (reflex), and the latter focus on increasing or decreasing voluntary behaviours. Secondly, in Classical Conditioning the neutral stimulus is established before a reflex, and, in Operant Conditioning the punishment or reinforcement is placed after a behaviour.

References
Cherry, and Cherry, K. (2015). What's Different Between the Classical and Operant Conditioning?. [online] About.com Education. Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/classical-vs-operant-conditioning.htm [Accessed 18 Nov. 2015].

Schedules of reinforcement

Reinforcement is anything that increases the possibilities of something to occur. Therefore, if something that is desired is given after a determinate behaviour, it is more likely that the same behaviour will be repeated. But if this reinforcement stops the behaviour will be extinguished eventually.
Behaviourists found that different patterns create a quicker learning or an extinction of a behaviour, named schedules of reinforcement.
The most effective manner of learning, that also provide a slow extinction rate is when the behaviour is  reward randomly, or when the reward is given after an unpredictable amount of time after the behaviour is showed.
On the other hand, the less effective manner is if the behaviour is rewarded automatically every time it occurs, and, in addition,  the extinction rate is fast.

References
McLeod, S. (2015). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2015].

Skinner experiments

Skinner looked at what motive an action and its effect, from this, he believed that the consequences that follow an action motivate the behaviour.
He placed a rat in a box ('skinner box'), which had different keys that the animal had to press in order to get food or water.  The rat would press the key accidentally while walking around the box and food will be obtained, subsequently, it would learn that when that key is pressed, food will be obtained, therefore, this behaviour will be repeated.
On the other hand, when the rat showed a behaviour that Skinner did not want them to repeat, he applied electric shocks to them, which reduce the repetition of that behaviour.


References
Cherry, and Cherry, K. (2015). What's the Skinner Box in Psychology?. [online] About.com Education. Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/sindex/g/def_skinnerbox.htm [Accessed 12 Nov. 2015].

McLeod, S. (2015). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2015].

Operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning can be defined as a way of learning , in which positive behaviours are rewarded and negative behaviours are penalised. This is to say, the behaviours that are considered positive are rewarded, therefore will be more likely to be repeated, what is called reinforcement. On the other hand, the behaviours that are viewed as negative are penalised, thus, there are more unlikely to be repeated.
Operant Conditioning does not look at internal thoughts of motivations, only at  external and observable behaviours.
The founder of this theory is Skinner, and was one of the major psychology trends in the 20th Century.

References
 Alleydog.com, (2015). Operant Conditioning definition | Psychology Glossary | alleydog.com. [online] Available at: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Operant%20Conditioning [Accessed 12 Nov. 2015].


Cherry, and Cherry, K. (2015). Operant Conditioning: What You Need to Know. [online] About.com Education. Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm [Accessed 12 Nov. 2015].

From unconditioned stimulus to conditioned response

Therefore, Classical Conditioning consists in associate an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned response.
The unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response or reflex, which is automatic. By adding a neutral stimulus, that is to say, a stimulus that at the beginning does not produce any special response but as it is presented always along with the unconditioned stimulus, after a while it is associated with the unconditioned stimulus. Consequently, a conditioned response will be produced.
Hence, the response is conditioned because it is caused by a neutral stimulus, and the unconditioned stimulus does not need to be introduced any longer to produce that response.