Positive and negative reinforcers affect our everyday lives, and have probably been used on everyone single of us without even realizing it. As we discussed in class, positive reinforcement is presenting a positive stimuli to encourage a desired behavior, which increases the likelihood of the behavior occurring again. Negative reinforcement is increasing a desired behavior my removing a stimuli. It took a little while for me to comprehend that negative reinforcement is not the same punishment. With negative reinforcement the behavior is still increasing by removing a stimuli, but with punishment there is no increase in a particular behavior. While we discussed positive and negative reinforcement, it made me think of a particular example from my childhood. When I was about four or five years old, I played soccer. I really did not like it and would cry before each game. My parents wanted me to explore different activities that I might be interested in and thought that it would grow on me eventually, so they kept me on the team. Before every game, my mom found that if she promised me a new Webkinz stuffed animal, I would play in a soccer game without throwing a fit. So, every time I did well in a game and played without getting upset, she would take me to the toy store and I would leave with a new Webkinz. This is an example of positive reinforcement, by increasing a positive stimuli (a Webkinz stuffed animal), she was able to increase her desired behavior, which was me to be motivated and enjoy playing soccer. I also thought of another example when we were going into depth about negative reinforcement in class. When I was younger and sitting in the back seat of the car behind my mom and dad, I remember hearing the constant dinging from the car because my dad did not put his seatbelt on. He would say to my mom “it’s only a few minutes, relax”, but she was extremely annoyed by the sound and would complain until he fastened his seatbelt. Not only did the annoying dinging of the car force my dad to put on his seatbelt, but my mom’s constant complaining also made him do so. By fastening his seatbelt, the noise stopped, and my mom stopped complaining to him. Before we discussed this in class, I didn’t even realize all of the reinforcements that occur around me each day.
Author: mjp6358
Implicit Memory
For the majority of my life I have been a competitive dancer. Ever since I was about four years old, dance has been a tremendous part of my life. Lyrical and ballet are my two favorite styles of dance. It is fascinating how over the years I have accumulated so many skills in dance, that I can perform them without needing to assert any conscious thought into it. Many things became a second nature to me. At the dance studio I danced at, I assisted one of the dance instructors in teaching jazz choreography to 6th grade girls once a week. I realized when I was trying to teach the girls how to do turns (pirouettes), it was rather difficult for me to explain how to do it step-by-step. It was quite frustrating to me because I truly wanted them to understand what I was trying to teach them and pick it up with ease. I realized during our lecture in class, this was due to procedural memory or implicit memory, meaning performing certain tasks without conscious awareness of previous experiences. For example, riding a bike is very hard to describe to someone else because it requires learning and practice. I have done those turns countless times and I could perform them without putting much or any thought into it, but it was difficult for me to explain how to do them to the girls and all I could do was show them and try my best to describe my actions. I found it quite interesting that even though we can become so good at something and have so much knowledge on it, it can be so hard to teach it to someone else.
My Experience Participating in a Survey
During summer session II at Penn State, I took an effective speech course that required me to participate in a research study for credit. The study I opted to participate in, was an online survey based on how students at Penn State take care of themselves when they become sick. The researchers conducting the study gathered data of my knowledge of antibiotics, and asked me when I believe it is necessary to use them. In our psychology class, we discussed surveys and how they are a common method in descriptive research. Descriptive research is a type of data collection that focuses on characteristics of a population and what is going on within the population. A survey is a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions, or behaviors of people. Researchers conducting a survey should be aware of the representative sample they are trying to reach. The representative sample is a key factor in conducting a successful study, as the results will only be accurate if the information is gathered from the group in which the study is targeted at. In the survey I participated in, the researchers were looking for information from a very wide representative sample, they wanted to collect as much information from as many Penn State students as possible. This eliminates the possible problem of being unable to reach the representative group that they were interested in from arising, because the online survey could only be accessed by Penn State students. This is also an example of random sampling, which gives each member of a population, in this case the Penn State community, an equal chance of being selected for this study. The survey first started by asking me questions such as: how often I become ill, what medications I take when illness occurs, if I visit a medical professional right away, and if I ask their doctor for an antibiotic immediately. Then, I was instructed to watch a video about antibiotics that showed how and when to use them appropriately. The video also showed how they can be harmful if I use them when it is not necessary. After the video, I was presented with more questions based on the video, to test my knowledge based off of the information they presented to me. I was then asked questions that were very similar to the ones I was asked before I watched the video, that regarded my personal preferences about if and when I think I should take antibiotics to cure different types of infections. The survey did not use words that would be difficult for students to understand, and was based on a topic that every student is familiar with and has some previous knowledge on. In a survey, it is common for the wording of questions in a survey to lead the representatives to answer a question in a certain way. This survey worded questions in a very straight-foward manner and allowed for students to answer openly and honestly. This study was not trying to sway their participants in a certain direction, but rather collect their knowledge about antibiotics, and educate them. Also, in case any students were unfamiliar with how antibiotics worked, they provided information in the video and even included information that students may not have previously known.