Author: akr5565

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.

The topic that I am going to focus on for this post is the idea of schemas. A schema is a pattern of knowledge in long-term memory that helps someone to remember, organize, and respond to information. Everyone has schemas about everything that they experience. These are constantly developed throughout life. When children experience something for the first time, they form a schema about it, and then they see the world through the lens of that schema.

Once we have schemas and we experience new things, 2 processes take place: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the use of preexisting schemas to understand all new information. Accommodation occurs when we learn new information that changes a preexisting schema. These two processes work together to mold and shape the way that we view the world throughout our lives.

I am the oldest of five children (11 year age gap), so I can understand many of the topics that we have covered related to child development because I remember my siblings going through the stages. One misconception that all of my siblings had when they were very young was that all meat was called chicken. My family eats chicken more often than other types of meat, so my siblings all developed a schema that meat and chicken were synonymous.

My brother used to call salmon “pink chicken.” In this case, he used assimilation to connect his new experience (salmon) into his preexisting schema (chicken). Over time, he began to use accommodation as he realized that different kinds of meat were distinct foods. Later, he further accommodated his schema when he realized that it is not a coincidence that there is a food called chicken and an animal that is also called chicken.

By the time my siblings reached school-age, most of their schemas fit into society. However, we all still have our own schemas that may or may not match someone else. We all have things to learn from each other to help us interact with the world around us.

The nervous system is controlled by electrical and chemical signals between nerve cells called neurons. These neurons (shown below) communicate with each other through chemicals called neurotransmitters. When a neuron receives an electrical impulse of a certain magnitude, it travels from the dendrites to the axon and down to the axon terminals. This is called an action potential. The neurotransmitters are stored in the axon terminals, and are released into the synapse, which is the space between two neurons. These neurotransmitters fit into the dendrites of the receiving neuron like a lock and key and set off an action potential in that neuron, creating a chain reaction.

(from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-07-neuron-axons-spindly-theyre-optimizing.html)

Different neurotransmitters produce different psychological and physiological responses. For example, serotonin affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Low levels of serotonin lead to adverse effects. Chronically low levels of serotonin lead to clinical depression. Agonist drugs can mimic the effects of certain neurotransmitters, which is why Prozac has proven to be effective in treating depression by imitating serotonin in the body.

Even people who do not have a clinical mental illness are affected by different levels of neurotransmitters on a daily basis, and there are different ways that we can naturally increase serotonin levels. My favorite way to improve my mood by increasing neurotransmitter levels is exercise. Most runners describe a “runner’s high” after intense physical activity. Of course, this is different from getting high from drug use, but some components are similar. Like Prozac, many recreational drugs are agnostic drugs that mimic the effects of serotonin and other mood-enhancing neurotransmitters. Exercise causes the body to naturally produce more serotonin and endorphins, which improves the mood.

A little bit of exercise can make a big difference. Sometimes I jog for ten minutes if I don’t have time for a full workout, and even that is enough to improve my mood for the rest of the day. Understanding the biology of why we feel the way we do can help us to make choices that improve our overall mental health.