Chapter 9 Learning Log

What?
In class we discussed behaviorism. Dr. Cox passed out small sheets of paper and indicated that she would give us stickers for our contributions to the discussion. At the end of class, which ever groups had 5 stickers on their papers they would get to choose a prize. This is an example of operant conditioning as well as a token economy. Dr. Cox would give us a reinforcer each time a contribution was made and the students in the classroom were making more comments than usual to the discussion. In the end, if each group had five stickers we could get a better prize.

Behaviorism’s definition of learning is a semi-permanent change in behavior and the visual analogy for this is a black box. This means that we don’t know what’s going on in the brain, and we don’t care to know. One advantage to the definition is that the change in behavior is measurable. One disadvantage is that we want motivation to come from within not from a reinforcer. Two types of reinforcers discussed include extrinsic reinforcers and intrinsic reinforcers. Extrinsic reinforcers are provided by the external environment and might include an actual object, gesture, sign, or an opportunity to engage in an activity. Intrinsic reinforcers come from the learner themselves and are things like feeling good about doing a task well or feeling pleasure or satisfaction from accomplishing something.

The two types of conditioning which we discussed were classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is when a neutral stimulus is presented at the same time as an unconditioned stimulus and eventually, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the same or similar response that the unconditioned stimulus did. Pavlov discovered this with dogs and salivation. He began flashing a light at the same time as he presented dogs with their food and they would salivate. Soon, he could flash the light without having food present and the dogs would still salivate. Operant conditioning is different in that a response is strengthened when it is followed by a reinforcer. An example of operant conditioning was shown by Dr. Cox during class with her stickers. The students in the class were experiencing operant conditioning and we were participating more in class as a result of her reinforcer.

There is a difference between a reinforcer and a punishment. Reinforcers can be positive or negative but they both increase the frequency of what we are reinforcing. A punishment on the other hand is meant to decrease a behavior. The problem here is that sometimes we might be reinforcing poor behavior, and what is punishment to one student, might be enjoyable to another.

So What?

Through Dr. Cox’s object lesson we were able to discover several things. First, it is very time consuming to keep up giving reinforcers. Second, when one student was told that he couldn’t receive anymore stickers for his comments, it discouraged him from commenting anymore. Third, sometimes Dr. Cox did not give stickers to students who commented and they may have wondered what was wrong with their comment not to have received a sticker. As a class, we discussed that reinforcers should be used sparingly and that we should try to help students understand there are intrinsic rewards for doing their school work well. Reinforcers are stimuli that increase a behavior whether good or bad. Punishments are supposed to decrease a behavior. As an educator, I need to be careful to use punishment only in situations where it is absolutely necessary. I also need to be aware that one person’s punishment may be a reward (or reinforcer) to another.

Now What?

I need to keep in mind that I need to create a classroom environment where the stimuli including my own behavior is likely to create responses of enjoyment and relaxation. When my students associate my classroom with a pleasant circumstance, they are likely to learn that school is a place that they want to be. On the other hand, if I create a stressful environment, it may create responses of stress and distaste. My students then would associate my classroom with unpleasant circumstances and they will likely learn that school is a place they do not want to be. As I prepare to teach kindergarten, I will need to evaluate the reinforcers I use in my classroom. I believe that I would be interested in using a token economy for some reinforcement. However, I want to instill in my students that intrinsic rewards that are associated with doing tasks well are far better than reinforcers. I need to make sure that the praise I give is genuine and specific to each of my students. I will need to study different methods of reinforcement to determine what will work the best in my classroom. In addition, I will need to be very careful not to reinforce behaviors that I would like to extinguish. I will monitor progress in the classroom to see if my chosen techniques are working and adjust them as necessary.