Month: November 2019

The term I choose to focus on was Operant Conditioning. Operant conditioning forms between behaviors and resulting events. The Law of Effect is an example of Operant Condition because the behavior results on the end effect, a reward. The rewarded behavior is likely to reoccur more often if the reward is given each time after the behavior. For example, if you are training a dog a new trick you will reward the dog for completing the new trick. However, if the new trick is multiple steps, another operant conditioning is successive approximations. If you are teaching the dog to roll over you will reward it after each step until it gets the entire trick down without the successive approximations.

When my family got a new dog for the first time we struggled to train it until we started rewarding his good behavior for listening. For example, before bed each night my brothers and I were responsible for taking our new puppy out to use the bathroom. When we first got him, he would rarely use the bathroom before we went to bed, so we took him out for no reason, and he would end up going in the house while we were a sleep. However, after he used the bathroom we started to reward him with treats. This trick allowed him to use the bathroom every time we took him out because he knew he would receive a treat if he did. So, every time we took him out before bed he would instantly use the bathroom and run inside looking for a treat, this conditioning made it easier for my brothers and I because the puppy took care of his business because he knew we would reward him for obeying.

This relates to the class because Operant Conditioning is common when training animals and even babies. We trained our dog by using a reward and this is exactly what the Law of Effect states. You can basically get anyone or anything to repeat a behavior if you reward them after. The end result will influence ones behavior.

In Lecture 16 titled, “Cognitive & Observational Learning”, we learned about the Cognitive Learning Theory. Part of this theory included the idea of learned helplessness. Learned helplessness can be defined as the failure to escape from a situation because of previous failures. In class, we looked at an experiment testing learned helplessness with dogs. There were two platforms with a divider between them. The researcher delivered a shock to the one platform inducing pain in the animal. The dog quickly realized that he could jump over the barrier to the other side and avoid being shocked. The researcher then raised the barrier so that the dog could no longer jump to the other side and avoid being shocked. Once the researcher lowered the barrier once again (allowing the dog to jump across and avoid a shock), the dog didn’t bother trying to jump across. He simply sat there hopeless. The dog failed to escape shock from his previous failures. This is a prime example of learned helplessness caused by successive failure.

Last weekend, I watched a movie called “Trafficked” with my parents. The movie was about three teenage girls from across the world getting captured, and sold, into sex slavery. “Trafficked” was extremely graphic and accurately represented the horrendous experiences that victims of human trafficking endure. The three girls were held hostage with other victims at a brothel in rural Texas. Dozens of girls tried to escape by fighting, running, and manipulating those around them. Each attempt they took failed and resulted in painful consequences including death. After several years (and hundreds of failed attempts) the victims grew hopeless. The girls exhibited the classic symptoms of learned helplessness when they became defeated. Eventually, one of the girls created an elaborate plan and was able to escape. The other victims were freed by the authorities shortly after.

The movie “Trafficked” depicts learned helplessness at an extreme (yet accurate) level. Learned helplessness is the failure to escape or preserve because of other failures. After so many failed attempts to escape, the girls lost hope and no longer saw a chance at survival. Many of us can not relate to the intense level of learned helplessness that the girls exhibited, however, learned helplessness can also be found in day-to-day life. For example, if you keep failing every Econ test that you study for 20+ hours, you may feel hopeless and quit studying for the next exam.

Schizophrenia is a mentall illness that affects about one in 100 people worldwide.  It is often found in people during late adolescent and early adulthood (right round college age).  Symptoms can be delusions (fragmented, bizzare thinking that can cause distorted beliefs), disorganized thoughts, possibly selective attention failure, possible perception of things that are not there (hallucinations).  Most commonly the hallucinations are auditory rather than visual, olfactory, gustatory, and somatosensory.  Schizophrenic people can have inapproproate emotions and actions.  For example, they may laugh at the news of the death of a loved one or they may show no or extremely little or no emotion.  Within the many many symptoms of schezophrenia they are catogorized into positive and negative symptoms.  Some postive symtpoms are the presence of inapropriate behaviors, disorganized thinking, delusions, hallucenations, and inapropriate emotions.  Some negative symptoms are the absence of appropriate behavior and emotions and a rigid or expressionless face and body.  The actual brain abnormaliy is that there is an overacity of dopamine.    The specific medicine that is used to help with scheziphrenia tries to reduce dopamine levels in the patient.  Scizophrenia is extremely genetically tied.  It is most common that someone who has Schizophrenia’s relative also has the disease.  Different external stressors can trigger an indivual who was already predisposed to the disease.

My uncle has schizophrenia and was diagnosed when he was a late teenager.  His family later learned that his mother’s uncle had schizophrenia and that it was genetically passed down to him.  Throughout his childhood, it did not seem he had a problem.  It was nto until he started heavily using hallucinegenic drugs that the symptoms began to arise.  In the case of my uncle, drugs like LSD were the triggers that made his predispostion present.  My Uncle’s symptoms were voiced he heard in his head that were very mean and negative toward him.  As a person he did nto like to talk much but when he did it was something extremely sweet and caring.

Operant conditioning can be used to increase the frequency of positive behaviors and decrease the frequency of negative ones. I have used many of the principles of operant conditioning while babysitting. The two main components are reinforcement and punishment, each of which can be positive or negative. Reinforcement seeks to increase a positive behavior, while punishment seeks to decrease a negative one. Positive reinforcement involves introducing a positive stimulus, and negative reinforcement involves removing a negative stimulus. Positive punishment involves introducing a negative stimulus, and negative punishment involves removing a positive one.

One of my favorite babysitting strategies is positive reinforcement. I like to give the kids a reward to work towards, like getting to stay up a little bit later or having dessert after dinner. I always explain this reward at the beginning of the time, but they will receive it at the end on the condition that they behave.

Sometimes, I use negative reinforcement to improve behavior. One family that I babysit for during the summer asks that the kids have an hour of quiet time in their rooms each day. I usually tell the kids that they can come out after 45 minutes if I do not have to come up and remind them to be quiet.

In other cases, punishment is a more effective technique. I try to avoid using punishment while I am babysitting, but I have seen my parents use positive and negative punishment with my siblings.

Once, my brother was very disrespectful to his teacher at church, and my mom found out. She used positive punishment and forced him to write an apology letter and deliver it to the teacher. He was in second grade, so writing was still a challenge for him, making this an effective punishment and an educational experience. My parents also use negative punishment at times. My sister often gets her phone taken away when she is misbehaving.

All four types of operant conditioning can be effective, but it is important to analyze the situation to decide which one is the best to use.

Over the summer I worked as a camp counselor for a summer camp with campers ages 5-12. Anyone who’s worked with kids this young know that they can be very hard to control sometimes. In order to get them to listen and follow directions, I frequently had to use positive reinforcement. One instance I remember is when this one boy did not want to help clean up after a game. To get him to help, I decided to use positive reinforcement by telling him that for every toy that he picked up and put away, I would push him on the swing for that many minutes. By offering a rewarding stimulus (the swing pushing) after he performed a desired behavior (cleaning up) I was using positive reinforcement to get the boy to behave. After a few times of doing this, I noticed that I did not have to ask the boy to clean up, he just did it on his own, and eventually he even forgot about the swing pushing. This is just one example of how positive reinforcement can be used in order to achieve a desired outcome.

Everyone has a different way that they parent their children. Some might be too strict, too relaxed, or just right. The way that you raise your child has a huge impact on the kid’s identity and how they develop over the years. I am going to talk about three different types of parenting styles. They are Authoritarian, Permissive and Authoritative. Authoritarian parents impose rules and expect obedience. They want a lot of control over their kids. Permissive parents submit to children’s demands. They are not strict and allow their children to do whatever they want most of the time. And Authoritative parents are demanding, but responsive to their kids. They have rules the kids must follow, but they are also very loving and respect their kid’s needs. The perfect way to parent is to be Authoritative. The kids understand what is right or wrong, and they also have the encouragement  from the parent’s side. It is known that children raised in an authoritative lifestyle have higher self-esteem, self-reliance and social competence. I am going to give an example of these different styles through certain families I have seen. One family I know gives their children very strict rules, that if they do not follow they get in trouble all the time. I can tell that they love their kids, but they want so much control over them that the kids barely have any freedom. As they start to grow up I can tell that the kids are getting sick of how they are being raised and are going to start to rebel against their parents. That is authoritarian parenting. Another family I know, let’s their children do whatever they want and they have absolutely no rules. The kids are crazy and the parents are just very relaxed and don’t see anything wrong. That is an example of permissive parenting. And finally, for an authoritative style I am going to use my family as an example. My parents gave us certain rules we must follow, but they also gave us freedom and chances to explore. Because of that, my siblings and I are respectful people who know what is right from what is wrong. Nobody can tell you how to parent your kids. In the end, it is totally up to the parents. If you want kids who are happier, develop quicker and find their true identity better than others, then you should try to switch to be more authoritative. It is the style right in the middle, not too hard and not too soft.

Anxiety Disorders Blog Post 3 (click link to go to word document)

Depression has become an often talked about topic within the realm of mental disorders. Within recent years, there has been an observable increase in the amount of cases of depression, especially amongst teenagers. Depression is also the most common reason people seek professional help through medical professionals and therapists. This disorder can cause behavioral as well as biological changes in the patient. Many people experience depression after a past or current loss, although the disorder can sometimes develop without an obvious cause. Having this disorder can slow the individual down, suppress aggression, and also lessen the acts of risky behavior the person partakes in. Biologically in the brain, we see that individuals that have developed depression actually have decreased amounts of norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain, which are neurotransmitters that help regulate our sleep and stress levels, and also allow us to experience feelings of pleasure and happiness. In order to regain biological balance again, often times those with recurrent or prolonged symptoms of depression can be prescribed antidepressants from a medical professional in order to change the way the way the neurotransmitters bind to receptors in the brain, lessening the individual’s feelings of depressed mood.

I have personal experience of watching multiple people in my life go through periods of depression depending on what they are dealing with at that point in their lives. Some of the symptoms I have observed with the people I have seen go through depression are oversleeping or not sleeping enough, lack of motivation to do anything such as school work, eating too much/too little and unhealthily, and showing lack of concern for the future. These are some of the most common symptoms of depression. While it is hard to watch someone go through this, with the right form of therapy, there is always light at the end of the tunnel for individuals struggling with depression.

Schimelpfening, N. (2019, August 2). Do You Know About All the Treatment Options for Depression? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/treatments-for-depression-1065502.

In this blog, I am going to be discussing classical conditioning: a type of learning in which an organism learns to associate a stimulus. The example we discussed in class was Pavlov’s experiments and how he was able to create a learned response (conditioned response) based on a stimulus (conditioned stimulus) that his subjects, the dogs, would originally not have that response to. Classical conditioning occurs when the neutral stimulus comes before the unconditioned stimulus, which is the thing that naturally elicits a response. With this type of learning, extinction occurs when the conditioned response, which is the response to the conditioned stimulus, diminishes because the unconditioned stimulus no longer follows the conditioned stimulus. This is seen with Pavlov’s dogs beginning to not salivate at the sight of the conditioned stimulus (bell) when the unconditioned stimulus (food) is not presented after. My experience with classical conditioning comes from my dog and food too. Whenever we open the door to the pantry, my dog hears it and runs to it, waiting for a treat. He associated the sound/sight of the door opening to him getting a treat. The unconditioned stimulus is the treat behind the door and the unconditioned response is him getting there to beg for it. After many times of the door opening and us calling to give him a treat, he only has to hear the door open, which is the conditioned stimulus, and he waits and begs for the treat, which is now the conditioned response. Extinction would occur here if my dog ran to the door after he heard it open and a treat wasn’t given to him repeatedly. This is because he would eventually dissociate the stimuli and not give the same response. This example in my life shows classical conditioning because of my dog being conditioned to think a treat was coming to him when it was just a door opening.