UGC NET - PSYCHOLOGY PAPER II – UNIT 2 Instrumental Learning Operant conditioning - Introducation • Other names: instrumental learning or instrumental conditioning. • It is the study of how behavior is affected by its consequences. • Defn: Operant conditioning explains how voluntary responses are strengthened or weakened depending on positive or negative consequences. • In classical conditioning the original behavior is a natural biological response. • On the contrary, operant conditioning is applied on the behaviors that are voluntary.
Skinner – Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist Skinner, which is why you may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian conditioning. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior.
In its place, he then went further to recommend that, we as humans ought to come across only at the external, observable causes of human behavior. Describe the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning defines as learning from which an intentional response is weakened or strengthened solely depending on its encouraging or fault-finding outcomes. Operant conditioning is one of the fundamental concepts in behavioral psychology. The guarantee or chance of a reward within itself has the ability to cause an enhance in a person’s behavior, however operant conditioning can also be used to diminish a behavior.
This involves two forms of conditioning which are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is based on the research that Pavlov carried out. Classical conditioning is when individuals learn to associate things with specific experiences. This association is automatic – individuals are not aware of it. Operant conditioning is based on the research that skinner carried out.
Building on the earlier work of Thorndike, B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) began to elaborate and extend Thorndike’s ideas on learned behavior. Skinner differentiated between what he termed respondent (or reflexive) behavior, and learned (or operant) behavior. Operant behavior could be characterized by “the observable effects it has on the environment. Operant conditioning, therefore, is learning in which the probability of a response is changed by a chance in its environment (PM, n.d.).” Reinforcement and Punishment Two concepts important to an understanding of operant conditioning are reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcers and punishment are specific types of consequences.
Example a Person being told to hold a book (stimulus) would respond by holding the book. This stimulus response theory forms the basis of conditioning which suggests learning in humans and animals can take place through the association of a response with particular stimuli. It also assumes that we are all born as a blank slate also known as tabula rasa and so equal at birth. It is environmental factors rather than genetic or biological differences that make people behave differently. This approach is based on the concept of explaining behaviour through observation, and the belief that out environment is what causes humans to behave differently or suffer illnesses.
Structuralism was developed by a man named Edward Titchener who was a student of Wilhem Wundt. Titchener was extremely interested in learning about the structure of the consciousness. He believed in the use of experimentation for the science of psychology (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). The second school of thought, functionalism, along with structuralism was the two schools of thought which were dominant in the beginning of psychology (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Functionalism studied the psychological processes which enable individuals to be able to adapt to their environments; each psychological process has an important role which is their main point of focus.
This therefore results in behaviour being determined by the environment for example conditioning. Classical and operant conditioning are two important concepts central to behavioural psychology. While both result in learning, the processes are quite different. Classical conditioning was first described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist and it involves placing a neutral signal before a reflex and it focuses on involuntary and automatic behaviours. Whereas Operant conditioning was first described by B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist and it involves applying reinforcement or punishment after a behaviour and focuses on strengthening or weakening voluntary behaviour.
On the other hand, cognitivists believe that by reflecting on our own experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world. Though theses two schools of psychology are very much different, they do have their similarities. Behaviorism and cognitivism are similar in that they both attempt to explain and describe how learning occurs in individuals. Both are also valuable learning theories. They observe the response individuals make to different situations or different conditions.
[citation needed] According to Jungian psychology, individuation is a process of psychological integration, having for its goal the development of the individual personality. "In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated [from other human beings]; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology. "[1] 'The symbols of the individuation process...mark its stages like milestones', prominent among them for Jungians being '"the shadow, the Wise Old Man...and lastly the anima in man and the animus in woman"'. [2] Thus 'there is often a movement from dealing with