B.F. Skinners theory of punishment

Essay by XCgordoUniversity, Bachelor's March 2003

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When you think of punishment and reward you think of a reaction; but man has come up with theories of why we do the things that we can do. Conditioning and learning is defined as change in behavior, which is resulted by different types of practices and experiences. In this report the main topics will be classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive-social learning, and neuroscience and evolution. Every time we do something good or bad the outcome determines our reactions in future situations. This learning process that is associated between environment stimuli and behavioral responses.

Breaking down the rewards system you come along reinforces and reinforcement. Both are good ways to get a conditioned response. First we primary rein forcers, this increases the chance because it satisfies a need for sex, food, and water. Secondary rein forcers increase the probability of a reaction because of value, money, and possessions through learning.

Positive reinforcement is a reward that adds stimulus to increase chances of responses. Positive reinforcement would be a paycheck for a job well done. Negative reinforcement is the exact opposite removing or taking away stimulus of the action not occurring again.

The two types of conditioning we are covering is classical and operant. Conditioning is learning through repetition of exercises of rewards or punishment to get a response. The pioneer scientist in classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov. Classical conditioning is also known as a Respondent or Pavlovian conditioning. Classical is also involuntary which is one of the major differences from operant conditioning. Classical conditioning happens when an unrelated response through association with a stimulus that already makes a similar or related response. An example of classical conditioning is for some people when you hear the sound of running water you need to use the bathroom.

The other types of...