Formal Blog #8

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. For example every time you see someone, you would say hi. The person would then say hi back after you said hi first. Therefore, every time you say hi from now on, you would expect to hear it back. Operant conditioning is learning be associating a response and its consequence to repeat acts followed by good results. One example of this would be a cat using the litter box. Every time the cat uses the little box it receives a treat, this will strengthen the skills. Classical conditioning you don't get rewarded for learning, operant conditioning you do. Classical conditioning applies more to my life. This is because when you repeatedly do something, you get used to it and it becomes natural.

Positive reinforcement increases behavior in a positive manner or using rewards. Negative reinforcement is increasing behavior by stopping negative behavior. Punishment is designed to decrease the frequency of bad behavior. One example of positive reinforcement would be studying for a test and receiving an A on that test. That would encourage you to study more often. Negative reinforcement example would be when my mom constantly tells me to clean my room, I get sick of hearing it. So eventually I will clean my room, and not have to hear her nagging all the time. An example of a punishment would be if I didn't get my room clean, I wouldn't be able to do anything on the weekend.

The most interesting thing I learned in this section was that some people can learn through association. I think this is interesting because it can apply to everyone. For example when I was a little kid, I used to wipe out on my bike all the time. After a while I never wanted to ride my bike because I was afraid of wiping out again. Eventually after a while I started riding my bike again, however, when I didn't it was because of association.