7/31/2019 Lesson 3 Essay for NVU

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Brad Frey

Lesson 3 Examples of Classical and Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning Conditioning that results from the individuals actions and the

consequences they cause. (Psychology and You, 3rd

Edition, McMahon & Romano, 2000)

Examples of Operant Conditioning

1. My first example of operant conditioning occurs in my classroom, Teachers are, by

definition, behavior modifiers. (http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html

Students are in school to learn, be it academics or citizenship. If students are not better

behaved at the end of the year than they were in the beginning of the year, then we haventdone our job as teachers. One way that I use operant conditioning in class is when I introduce

a new topic. In teaching honors math, we are sometimes doing very difficult math concepts.

To get students to respond, I will positively reinforce any answers that are remotely close.

Students are praised for their effort and willingness to answer. (social rewards, Mayer p 249.)As the day or lesson goes on, the answers or responses need to be more accurate to receive

reinforcement. In this example, the stimulus (S) is the encouragement or words of praise, the

response (R) is the students hand being raised, and the reinforcers are the continued praise

and encouragement.

2. My second example of operant conditioning in my classroom deals with students andtheir behavior in class. As I said, I have upper classmen math honors courses, the best of the

best. Behavior is not a very big concern in classes, but now and again, even the best of

students will act up. In those circumstances where students continue to carry on conversations

during class or are busy doing something else, I simply ask them to leave for 10 minutes.Because these are honor students, this is a very remarkable and unusual happening. These kids

are not used to being punished for classroom behavior and certainly have rarely been kickedout of class. In this example, the stimulus (S) is being considered a good student, the

response (R) is the student stops misbehaving and removal from the room is a punishment,not a negative reinforcer.

3. My third example is at home with my children. Each week my children are given theirown set of chores to complete during the week. Every time they do their chores, they put a

check mark on the scorecard on the refrigerator. At the end of the week, if they have

completed enough of their required responsibilities, they are given an allowance. This is an

example of a token economy (Mayer, p249.) In this example, the stimulus (S) is the allowanceearned, the response (R) is my children doing their assigned work, and the reinforcers are the

praise and encouragement from my wife and I, an central feeling of a job well done and the

things they can buy with their earned money.

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.htmlhttp://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html

7/31/2019 Lesson 3 Essay for NVU

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Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlovs method of conditioning, in which associations are made

between a natural stimulus and a learned, neutral stimulus. (Psychology and You, 3rd Edition,McMahon & Romano, 2000)

Examples of Classical Conditioning

1. My first example of classical conditioning is a ringing phone. As a child, my mother, an x-

ray technician, would be on call every other weekend. If she was needed to go to the hospital,

someone from work would call and she would go and take the necessary x-rays. Many times,

especially if it was early evening, she would take me with her to the hospital. This wasespecially fun for me as it was time to spend with my mom learning about her job and I also

got to run around and play in doctors offices and ride up and down the hallway in wheelchairs

(good stuff for a 10 year old.) Every time the phone rang (neutral stimulus NS) on my moms

night on call, I would immediately get the warm fuzzies (unconditioned response UCS) inmy head, because I knew she would have to go to the hospital and I would get to go with her.

Even now, as an adult, when the phone rings (conditioned stimulus CS) when Im home andmy kids arent around, I immediately get that same feeling in my head (conditioned response

CR).

2. Second example has to do with my first job as Vice President of Clearing at a commoditiesfirm. The nature of my job was to get positions (amount of each commodity a trader had) and

report it to the trader before the opening of the markets. On many days, a traders position

would be incorrect, different from what he had expected. This would throw his strategy for the

day off and sometimes would cost him and our company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Inthese cases, the trader would eventually make it to our department and begin ripping me a new

one. As this happened about once a week, the mere daily occurrence of sending the trader his

positions would put a pit in my stomach until about an hour after the opening. If the traderhadnt come up and screamed at us by then, we were confident the number were right and my

stomach would feel better. Every time I saw a trader at the pop machine or in the cafeteria

(neutral stimulus NS), I would get a pit in my stomach (unconditioned response UCS) untilI was sure everything was ok. Even today, every time our principal stops me in the hallway to

talk (conditioned stimulus CS), the pit in my stomach immediately returns even though I

know the conversation has nothing to do with me or my employees messing something up.

conditioned response(CR).