Blog Post #8

Classical Conditioning is a type of learning in which a person learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. An example would be that you learn that fire is hot, and that it can hurt and burn you. So when you're sitting around a campfire and someone is about to squirt lighter fluid on the fire, you may be scared of the big flames that will soar up and you may scoot your chair back away from the fire to anticpate the heat and flames.

Operant Conditioning is when a person learns to associate a response and its consequence and thus to repeat acts followed by good results and avoid acts followed by bad results. An example is when potty training a child, when you reward them with candy or stickers after they completed going to the bathroom, they are more likely to keep repeating that act. The consequence they recieved was positve and enjoyable so in turn, their positive potty behavior is strengthened.

The difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning is that classical conditioning is linking stimuli and anticipating events, while operant condtioning is learning to associate a response and its consequence. This is interesting because it's very true and relevant. I use classical conditioning all the time when I'm cooking or dealing with something that could harm me. Operant conditoning was used on me when I was a child and getting potty trained.
A postive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli. An example would be when my mom started paying my cell phone bill when I started getting really good grades, her paying it encouraged me even more to keep my grades up.

Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. An example is that I get migraines all the time, so I'm always taking medicine to get rid of my migraines. It has now become a habit because if I'm able to get rid of something negative, then of course I want to do it.

Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example is when I was younger, I would always talk very sassy to my mom when I was mad, so as a result she would send me to my room or take away objects that I could use such as the TV or computer.

The most interesting thing I learned in this section was about the mirror neurons. This was interesting to me because it explained so much about children, how they completely imitate what they see and hear because of the mirror neurons. I found it very interesting how when children often experience physical punishment, they tend to display more agression. It's so interesting how everything is linked together. This changes the way I think about children who curse and hit others because in a way, it's not really their fault, they're just mimicking what the see/hear. I can apply this to my everyday life by trying to be more understanding of why people act a certain way, even if I believe that their actions are negative.