Do you think either (Classical or Operant Conditioning) plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role here at Wilson? Explain.

I believe that Classical Conditioning plays a role in how one responds to a teacher, but that it does not play role in one’s academic role at Wilson. It can play a role in how someone responds to a teacher in many ways. Say for example that a teacher smells like cheese. In most cases, from then on you would associate the smell of cheese with your teacher. Well, what if you don’t like cheese or you have a bad experience with it? In that case, a bad experience and your teacher could be related. This would also occur in the opposite way if you liked a smell your teacher wore! Moreover, I don’t believe that Classical Conditioning plays a role in a student’s academic role because a student’s academic role, in my opinion, just has to do with who they are. Second, I believe that Operant Conditioning plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role. It plays a role in how you respond to your teachers because if he/she is a pushover when you complain, then you are likely to do it again. Also, if they enforce punishment, you are likely to rebel. On the other hand, if they use reinforcement in a good way, you may like them and respond to them in a good way. Lastly, I believe that Operant Conditioning may play a small role in an academic role at Wilson because if you have a good teacher and they encourage you properly with reinforcers, your grades may raise as you increase your good academic behaviors. The way I see it though it that Classical does not relate because it can not make you suddenly be a better student. Operant can only reinforce your confidence.

Your textbook has a very positive bias when explaining the implications of Skinner’s research on operant conditioning. Do you agree or disagree with this bias? Explain by providing at least two examples that illustrate your point.

I believe that Skinner did create the basis of Operant learning so he should be respected in a positive way. Although his research was very simple and did not carry very far before his death, he definitely started a concept that was never truly explored before. An example that really shows that he started a concept was his design of the Operant chamber or the Skinner box that he implemented. The box was typically soundproof and recorded the responses of animals as they were tested. This was a totally new concept and was never explored in this way before. Another great thing that Skinner brought about with his research in operant conditioning was his creation of partial reinforcement schedules. He and his researchers used fixed-ratio schedules, variable-ratio schedules, fixed-interval schedules, and variable-interval schedules to further study the principles of operant conditioning. Through these schedules, he contended that these reinforcement principles are universal and behavior has astonishingly similar properties throughout species.

Let’s not forget learning by observation: Think of something that you do that might be influenced by what you have observed and explain it and how it applies to both the psychological aspect of out study and also the biological.

Something that I do that was probably influenced by what I observe is being optimistic. I think that I learned from a lot of different people around me and how the things they did made others happy. Through the years, I think I have pieced together examples from multiple people. The way I learned to be optimistic was through prosocial models. This is psychological because people who exemplify good behavior can spark this behavior in others. Modeling another person is something that all humans do in one way or another. This applies to the biological aspect because mirror neurons in the frontal lobe fire when they observe something. This also applies because my parents are very positive people and it shows how their influence made me grow up to be a positive person.

How does biology play a role in how we develop learning strategies for learners?

Biology plays a role in how we develop learning strategies for learners because we know that mirror neurons in the frontal lobe help us observe other behaviors and act them out. Knowing this, we can see that a good way to teach learners is to have them observe good examples. Another way biology plays a role is that we can base the way a parent learns and use the same aspect for a child.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7