Reading Activity Week #5 (Due Tuesday)

I liked how detailed section 2.2 was in its description of terms. The section gave clear definitions and examples of each. Section 2.2 also clearly specified the difference between similar terms such as intrinsic and extrinsic. One thing I did not like about the section was that it did not provide the correct answers for the check box for primary and secondary reinforcers. I enjoy practice exercises such as the text box but it is somewhat difficult to determine if my answers are correct without an answer key. The content I will remember most about the section includes the unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, and conditioned response. All of these terms are associated with classical conditioning. I will remember these terms from Pavlov’s observation regarding the salvation of dogs and the stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus in this context was the meat powder which caused the unconditioned response of the dogs to salivate. Each time the meat powder was administered, a bell was rung. The dogs were conditioned to associate the bell with the meat powder. In doing so, the bell became the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response to the bell was the salivation of the dogs.

I liked that section 2.3 explained why some people believe that reinforcement should always be used instead of punishment. The section describes punishment as aversive to both the recipient and the person emitting the punishment and that punishment can be seen as controversial. What I disliked about the section was that when it favored reinforcement over punishment it did not provide many examples on how to use reinforcement instead of punishment. It is difficult for me to look at a behavior that I want to decrease the frequency of/ punish, and change it to a reinforcing behavior. An example that was given from our book was eating less unhealthy food. To change this behavior to a reinforcing behavior we could say I want to eat more healthy food. I understand the concept however it is difficult for me to actually change behaviors involving punishment to reinforcement. I think that more examples would be helpful, thus desirable to me.

Three things I will retain from this section are positive punishment, negative punishment, and disrupting the operant behavior. Positive punishment as described in section 2.3 involves the introduction of an aversive stimulus. I will remember this from my own example; Billy did not do his homework so his mother gave him extra chores to do. Negative punishment is defined by our book as the removal of a desirable stimulus. Again I will remember this term from an example; Billy did not do his chores so his father took away his Xbox. Finally there is disrupting the operant behavior which occurs when the behavior is neither punished nor reinforced rather disrupted. I will remember this from the book’s example of telling a story to your friends when the phone ringing. The behavior is disrupted by the phone in which you stop the behavior (telling the story) to answer the phone. Our book describes disrupting the operant behavior as an effective alternative to punishment.

These readings have built on my knowledge of behavior modification by teaching me the effects of reinforcement and punishment on behavior. I have learned that reinforcement has been viewed as more effective due to its desirable consequences. Punishment can be viewed as controversial and is generally aversive to both the recipient and the person emitting the punishment. I learned that there can be alternatives to punishment such as changing the situation to reinforcement or disrupting the operant behavior.

Terms: reinforcement, punishment, disrupting the operant behavior, emit, desirable, aversive, conditioned response, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, consequence, behavior, frequency, primary reinforcers, secondary reinforcers, intrinsic, extrinsic

Section 2.2
I like reviewing over the positive and negative reinforcement and the example boxes, because it helped me refresh my memory. I also enjoyed reading Pavlov’s experiment with the dogs, because I learned this before and was able to remember points my psych teacher made and connect it with this. I also like the pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because it provided me with a visual aid. The comparison of intrinsic value and extrinsic value made sense to me- and I thought of it as something you find valuable- like your grandmother’s ring, while others don’t understand the importance of it to you, it is in fact very important to you. Three things I will specifically remember are:
1)When responses and stimuli are not unconditioned they aren’t learned, however when conditioned they are learned and associated with unconditioned stimuli.
2)The difference between extrinsic and intrinsic.
3) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Basic needs need to be met before you can move up the pyramid.
I found the primary and secondary reinforcers a little confusing and I wish there were more examples and comparing the two. I also found the generalized reinforce a bit confusing as well, and don’t quite understand how cash and debit cards are generalized reinforcers so it was difficult for me to give examples of those as well.
Section 2.3
I’ve struggled with understanding negative punishment, so reviewing that clarified things for me. I also enjoyed the sidenote about water boarding and liked how there was an opinion box. I also liked how there was another opinion box on whether you thought punishment or reinforcement was better. Punishment can only be effective if it is reliable, consistent, intense enough to make a difference, and if it occurs immediately after the problem. Sometimes modifying the environment will prevent the problem in the first place. I liked where there was another box encouraging the changing of the antecedent instead of punishment. You can also disrupt the operant behavior, which prevents punishment, rather and lets them control the outcome. I thought the ideas in this chapter were very well organized so it was easy to follow along. Three things I specifically remember:
1.) Punishment is only effective if it is reliable, consistent, intense enough to make a difference, and if it occurs immediately after the problem.
2)Modifying the environment and disrupting the operant behavior are two ways to prevent a problem without punishment.
3) Punishment needs to be ethical, and this includes torture.
Terms I Used: positive and negative reinforcement, hierarchy of needs, intrinsic and extrinsic values, stimuli, unconditioned, conditioned, extrinsic, intrinsic, primary and secondary reinforcers, generalized reinforcers, negative punishment, operant behavior

SECTION 2.2

I enjoyed reading about the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic. It shows that personal interpretation is very important in making judgements and reinforcing behaviors. We wonder why we are so different to each other but also so much the same, and this is because we have both intrinsic and extrinsic values that direct our behavior. It makes a lot of sense!

Generalized Reinforcer - I had trouble comprehending examples of the generalized reinforcer. I understand that the key difference between generalized and primary/secondary reinforcers is the number of behaviors they influence. The former reinforces many behaviors whilst the latter only influences a few. This is not hard to understand but I couldn’t think of particular reinforcers that effect a lot of personal behaviors. Maybe the weather?

Primary Reinforcer - I recall the primary reinforcer as I made a mistake with my interpretation of it. It is an unconditioned reinforcer, which I immediately associated with discriminative stimuli. Whilst the two seem the same they are not. Discriminative stimuli is conditioned responses.

Secondary Reinforcer - Discriminative stimuli would fit under the classification of a secondary reinforcer because operant conditioning has reinforced the behaviors it emits, such as the stop sign example.

Context affects reinforcers influence - That context affects reinforcers is memorable as it is associated with the concept of culture and punishment in the next section. Where an individual is located very much effects their behaviors, beliefs and their values. Thus it makes sense, what reinforces us in one culture or context may not in another.

SECTION 2.3

For punishment to be effective it must be enforced immediately upon the undesirable behavior. This fact stuck with me because it also clarifies that aversive punishments are most effective if frequently applied over the short term. As stated, punishment is not enjoyable for both the punisher and individual being punished, thus the importance of understanding when it should be applied and how frequently for a short period of time is vital.

I disliked reading the section on torture. It’s a tough topic to comprehend when ethics about liberty and freedom from cruelty are so heavily proclaimed by the US, yet with non-US citizens such as those in Guantanamo Bay, it’s legal. I find this completely hypocritical. As a method to extract information, it could possibly be justified, but when behavior modification is applied in such an unjust, unethical, discriminative sense by a country that preaches otherwise, I cannot be justifiable.

Punishment changes with culture - This idea is frequently in the news, someone on holiday has drugs in a country where it is completely illegal and warrants the death penalty, then gets caught and complains its not right for them to get the penalty because they’re not from there. If you fly to another country you must understand the culture and rules including punishment, because no one is going to change their culture for you (except in the US where torturing criminal aliens is probably encouraged but definitely not so when concerning US citizens).

Aversive procedures are a last resort. If punishment must be used to change an extreme behavior that does not respond to the non-aversive techniques of reinforcement then aversive punishment is justifiable.

The intensity of punishment is important with a positive relationship between how strong the behavior is and how strong the punishment must be. This makes complete sense. There’s no way behavior modification will occur when you pat a serial killer on the head, tell him to start being a good boy then send him on his merry way. Thus I understand the US’ justification for torture in Guantanamo Bay. But by golly, they better be 100% sure they are torturing people who deserve it, of which they are not!!!

Reading both these sections has acted as solid reinforcement for many concepts, and as a consequence my confidence in talking in terms of behavior modification is on a steady increase. Repeating examples of concepts solidly reinforces how to actually apply what we are learning to real situations which also makes it all easier to remember. All in all, learning a lot and enjoying the personal little experiments I have been conducting to analyze my own behavior.

TERMS: intrinsic, extrinsic, reinforcing, generalized reinforcer, primary reinforcer, secondary reinforcer, context, unconditioned reinforcer, discriminative stimuli, conditioned response, operant conditioning, emits, punishment, undesirable, aversive, frequently, punisher, culture, intensity, modification, consequence

section 2.2
One thing that I really liked about this section is how it goes over all types of reinforcement. One thing that I was happy to see clarified was positive and negative reinforcement. It is mentioned not to think of them as good or bad reinforcement, which can be a common misconception. Instead, we are reinforced that positive means addition of something desirable and negative means removal of an aversive stimuli. I think this section did a really good job going over reinforcement and establishing the definitions of each type. It is something I can refer back to if I ever get confused on any type of reinforcement. I did not like the section on generalized reinforcers. I feel like I was still a little confused on what it means when I was finished reading. The examples helped but I had to read it a couple times.
The first thing I will remember from this section is that reinforcement can be broad or limited. Limited reinforcers could include candy because it is only enjoyed for short period of time. A broad reinforcer would be the example of health insurance. It is continually reinforcing you. The second is the clarification of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. I have always had a little trouble in distinguishing between the two, but after reading this section I feel as though I have a good understanding of the differences. The last thing would be primary reinforcers and the Maslow hierarchy of needs. This chart will help me better understand whether a reinforcer meets a basic need. This is what makes it a primary reinforcer.

Section 2.3
One thing I found to be really interesting was the emphasis of punishment as a secondary technique. It is always better to reinforce than punish. This can sometimes be hard in real life cause you almost expect some things. If you expect your roommate to do the dishes, you will most likely punish them when they don't. Also, if they proceed to do the dishes you think they are doing something they should be doing anyway so you are more likely to not reinforce. It is important to be calm so that you can effectively reinforce, even if you think they should be emmitting the behavior in the first place. I found the part on a society without punishment to be interesting but I disliked it. I think that we are so far along in our society that it would be impossible to put something like this into place. Maybe you could start fresh somewhere else but people are too used to the current system.
The first thing I will take from this section is that punishment should occur almost immediately after the behavior to be effective. The longer you wait, the less likely the punishment will be effective. Training dogs is a good example of this principle. The second is that punishment can reduce a behavior, such as reading, in other contexts. This can be a bad thing. It is important to be specific in your punishment so they know it is part of the current context. The last thing is the fact that punishment has many cultural differences. It is important to adjust to the current culture and it's norms to effectively modify a behavior.

terms: positive punishment, negative punishment, emit, contexts, reinforcer, reinforcement, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, conditioned stimuli, unconditioned stimuli, primary reinforcers, secondary reinforcers, generalized reinforcers, aversice, Maslow, basic needs, hierarchy of needs

Section 2.2

My favorite part of this section was learning about the primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers are “biologically relevant,” we need them to survive. Some examples given in the book were water, food, sex, and air. An example specific to me could be ice cream. It satisfies a basic biological need (food/hunger). The hypothalamus regulates motivation toward primary reinforcers. A primary reinforcer is unconditioned, so no learning had to take place for the stimulus to become a reinforcer. I can relate this back to the section on Pavlov. When Pavlov’s dog salivated to the meat powder, the meat powder was serving as a primary reinforcer because it was unconditioned and served a basic biological need (assuming the dog eats the meat powder). When the dog salivated to the bell, the bell was serving as a secondary reinforcer because it was conditioned (learned) and has no reinforcing value when it stands alone (a bell means nothing to a dog that hasn’t been conditioned that the bell is associated with the primary reinforcer of food). Secondary reinforcers are only reinforcing because they are paried/associated with primary reinforcers. Secondary reinforcers are conditioned (learned). Some examples from the book of secondary reinforcers were music from an ice cream truck or a can opener for a cat. I liked these concepts because they were well explained and I feel like I understand them fairly well. Except…

I didn’t like trying to come up with my own secondary reinforcers. I found it difficult for some reason. I am a little confused about the hierarchy of needs. Is everything in that diagram a primary reinforcer? I thought it was only what was biologically relevant. Does that mean that my phone ringing with my boyfriend’s special ringtone wouldn’t be a secondary reinforcer? Because talking to my boyfriend doesn’t serve a biological need, does it? I just need a little clarification on what the exact guidelines are. I know that a cheeseburger is a primary reinforcer because it obviously satisfies a basic biological need. However, I am not sure where things like “promotion” & “affiliation” should fall. I think they would be secondary reinforcers because I don’t see how they satisfy a biological need, but I am not sure.

I will remember the basic definitions of primary and secondary reinforcers because I read about them, wrote down their definitions in my notes, and discussed them in this blog. I will also remember the basic definition of a generalized reinforcer because money was the example. Generalized reinforcers are used to acquire other reinforcers. For example, you can use money to buy a hamburger. An example specific to me would be dining dollars. I can acquire any food item (primary reinforcer) with my dining dollars (generalized secondary reinforcer). However, I am not able to purchase any non-food items. I will also remember that context matters because it can affect the effectiveness of a reinforcer. For example, Canadian currency is a generalized secondary reinforcer in Canada, but in the United States it isn’t all that reinforcing because we can’t use it to obtain primary reinforcers.

Section 2.3

I liked that this section gave us a bit of a break from definitions. We have already discussed positive and negative punishment, and there weren’t many other vocab words introduced. Positive punishment occurs when something aversive is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again. Negative punishment occurs when something desirable is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again. This section also reviewed B.F. Skinner and his belief that reinforcement should be used whenever possible over punishment.

I didn’t like the parts that discussed the ethics of punishment in behavior modification. I feel that we have touched on it a number of times, and it’s becoming a little redundant. It should be common sense that we need to be ethical whether we use reinforcement or punishment. We should not reinforce behaviors that would be aversive to the individual. For example, you wouldn’t want to reinforce someone for gorging themselves with unhealthy food, or reinforce your son for hitting his sister. Manipulating people using behavior modification is ethical as long as the behavior bothers the individual, bothers others around the individual, is illegal, or it could lead to problems.

I will remember from this section that if you are using punishment, it should occur immediately after the undesirable (target) behavior is emitted because it is important to know in order to decrease the likelihood of the behavior being repeated effectively. I will also remember that punishment has to have the appropriate intensity. For example, if a police officer has to restrain someone, handcuffs might not be severe enough to stop the behavior. He may need to utilize a taser, etc. I will remember that punishment also has to be consistent. A behavior that has been punished may occur again and again. We would all like it if the behavior ceased forever after just one punishment, but we know that it often doesn’t.

Reading these sections has built on my idea of behavior modification. We went more in depth on punishment and reinforcement. It is becoming more complicated, but I feel like I am understanding it for the most part. We built on reinforcement with primary, secondary, and generalized reinforcers. We also built on punishment with more specific guidelines like appropriate intensity and immediate punishment.

TERMS:
Primary reinforcer, secondary reinforcer, reinforcer, conditioned, stimulus, generalized reinforcer, target behavior, emitted, aversive, behavior, positive punishment, negative punishment

I found this section very interesting. It gave more specifics for reinforcement, which we have used throughout the book thus far. I enjoyed the intrinsic vs extrinsic value of reinforcement section. The value of the reinforcement is something I hadn’t really considered in great detail. Intrinsic value refers to the value that the individual places on something. The value must be specifically important to the individual personally. Extrinsic value is defined as the value others place on something, such as society. It is critical when choosing a reinforcer to consider which value it will be. If the focus is an extrinsic value, one must make sure that this value is also intrinsically valuable to the individual, otherwise they will not respond. An example is many children are offered the option of pop if they are good when they go out to dinner. Personally I would not respond well to this reinforcer, because I don’t like pop and never really have. If pop was the only reinforcer my parents used for good behavior because it works for most children, I would have been one rowdy child. Focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic values are important when deciding on a reinforcer.
I found secondary reinforcers very interesting, because they are things that we have learned to associate with specific things causing us to respond, even to a jingle from a moving truck. When doing the activity boxes on secondary reinforcers was difficult. Secondary reinforcers have been so integrated into our society that it’s hard to think of ones. I could only think of a bell to get out of class when you were in K-12 grade and a rose that is received on the bachelor. The bell is associated with getting out of class and the day ending. The rose on the bachelor is now associated with staying another week and the absence of a rose indicates to the participants that they are going home. There are so many secondary reinforcers that we aren’t even aware of anymore that it is hard to distinguish examples.
I will remember the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. I will remember this because positive reinforcement is the addition of a desirable stimulus and negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus, both to increase the frequency of a response. The second thing will be secondary reinforcement because they are used everywhere in the world, whether I can point them out or not. It is important to understand these because they work very well as behavior modification techniques, especially for animals. Finally intrinsic and extrinsic values, because when choosing a reinforcer it’s important to decide if it has intrinsic value to the individual or is extrinsically valuable to the individual.
I found this chapter to be very intriguing. There are many things that we are punished for every day, but I didn’t consider all the things that you have to consider when implementing punishment. The questions that were asking in the activities I got me thinking of things I wouldn’t have normally considered. Punishment can produced many unintended consequences to the one administering it, such as negative emotion towards them. This could lead to further complications. The individual could specifically not produce the correct behavior in spite of the individual giving the punishment. Punishments could also decreased the frequency of other behaviors which the person punishing or organism being punished may not necessarily benefit from. An example could be verbally punishing someone for a personal flaw could cause self-confidence or body image issues and psychological problems, which weren’t intended by the person delivering the punishment.
There wasn’t anything I didn’t find interesting in this chapter, so I’ll discuss another thing I found interesting, the section on a society without punishment. Skinner’s idea for the perfect society, which only uses reinforcement instead of punishment, was an interesting idea. Using only reinforcement to increase the desirable behaviors to create a peaceful environment. The controversy incorporated with this idea is not only the removal of free will, but also how will we know desirable things, if punishment is no longer in a society? Desirable things as we have learned in the previous chapter are specific to the individual and what is an intrinsic reinforcer to one person could be considered a punishment for another. Although it would be nice to only reinforce people to increase a behavior, it’s not realistic.
The first thing that I will remember from this chapter is the importance of disrupting the operant behavior. Instead of using punishment to decrease a behavior, simply disrupting it will stop it. Causing this disruption will not have a negative affect of the individual or the person trying to modify the behavior. This is more effective as well because the modifier has complete control of the situation. The second thing that is important to remember is when punishment should be delivered. It’s critical that right after the target behavior occurs punishment needs to follow directly after. If you wait too long it will decrease the effectiveness of the punishment. The principle of immediacy is key to remember. Finally ethics should always be considered when punishment is being distributed. There are strict policies regarding psychologist and interrogation techniques. Ethical responsibilities must be adhered to when using extreme negative reinforcement, such as water boarding and knowing these before engaging in any sort of behavior is important.
These chapters have built on our current knowledge of punishment and reinforcement. It explained more of the specifics of each. The different types, things to consider when using either type, social and personal concerns one must take into account. Knowing these specifics will help us to develop the most effective reinforcement or punishment for the individual to elicit the desired response.

Terms: Secondary reinforcer, intrinsic value, extrinsic value, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, aversive, desirable, behavior modification, reinforcer, punishment, elicit, disrupting the operant behavior, negative affect, target behavior, principle of immediacy, ethics, extreme negative reinforcement, consequences, punishing

Section 2.2

I really enjoyed how this section did a sort of compare and contrast format with the terms. It helped my understanding of each term and made it easier to come up with examples for the always-good interactive examples. I also liked the explanations of the Pavlov and Skinner experiments. I was familiar with these experiments but being taught them from a straight psychology it was interesting to see them from a behaviorism perspective. One thing that I did not like was how vague some of the explanations of terms were. While I did like the comparative element, after that some of the terms fell through in explanations and examples given for each term. Other then that I really liked this section because I felt like it was reinforcing what we have already learned in previous sections and helping us to elicit a critical thinking behavior. One thing that I will remember is the difference between the Unconditioned Stimuli and the Conditioned Stimuli—especially when I reminisce about the Pavlov and Skinner examples. Another is how money can be used to buy other reinforcers that may have a greater impact on the continuance of a certain sequence of behaviors. One of the last things I will remember is how to use aversive instead of negative and desirable instead of positive. Since we have been discussing these terms for a while now I feel a lot more comfortable using them in my normal language.

Section 2.3

The first example made me laugh a lot and definitely helped me retain the knowledge of a punishment both positive and negative. Compared to the last section, I feel like these examples were more memorable due to comic relief or relativity to our everyday lives. I also appreciated the detail that this section went into when discussing the ethical issues surrounding behavior modification and how there are laws set in place to control these problems. There really wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about this section but if I had to pick one it would be the lack of interactive examples that could be used to help summarize and put to memory the terms. One thing I will remember is how to keep my roommate from stealing my beer!!! I will also remember that water boarding is a very controversial subject due to the use by American government agencies to retrieve information and the ethical problems surrounding it. Another thing that I will remember is that to make a punishment plausible and useful, it must be abrupt, immediate, and consistent.

These sections have reinforced what we have learned so far—reinforcement and punishment. They also have put more awesome examples from each term into my memory—some I may have to use later on. It also helps me understand that while behavior modification can seem easy at times, there are ethical boundaries that must be followed as well as some of limitations behind the terms.

Terms: reinforced, reinforcement, punishment, behavior modification, ethical, positive, negative, behaviorism, reinforcing, elicit, unconditioned stimuli, conditioned stimuli, aversive desirable

Section 2.2

In this section, I really like how they describe both positive and negative reinforcement. It seems like people always talk about positive reinforcement like it is the only type of behavior modification for aversive actions. I was glad that the text took a closer look at how each are defined as well as the way in which they are implemented to elicit a change in a behavior.
I didn't care for the section on secondary reinforcers. It was so wordy that I am not sure how much I was able to take away from that section of the text. Hopefully there will be follow up on the topic of conditioned reinforcers and how exactly they function in the behavior modification process.

The three things I will remember from section 2.2 are,
1)Positive reinforcement uses a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a response. This happens when a emitted target behavior is positively reinforced by a desirable outcome. I learned from the text that, "Most reinforcement procedures involve positive reinforcement."

2)I learned that there are three different roles that reinforcers play. They can be primary reinforcers. These do not need to be paired with any other stimuli to be a reinforcer. They can also be secondary reinforcers. This reinforcer acquired its function to function as such, after pairing with a stimulus which functions as a reinforcer. They can be generalized reinforcers as well. This type of reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with other reinforcers to obtained the reinforcing function.

3)I was reinforced on my knowledge of the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value. If you think of intrinsic as being the internal value and extrinsic or external value really helped me remember which one was which.

Section 2.3

This section does a really good job of defining the two types of punishment, both positive and negative. As we continue to build on the fundamentals of behavior modification, I know that we are going to be focusing on the different types of punishment frequently. It is important to have a firm understanding of these concepts. I think the text did a good job of accomplishing this, at least by way of introduction.
However, the text did get wordy again. It gets difficult to understand whats being talked about when definitions are strung together in long sentences. It would be nice if new words would be gentally introduced into the material.

The three things I will remember from this section are,
1)Ethical issues raised about the use of behavior modification techniques to change behavior in those around us. I don't see a problem with learning how to use punishment and reinforcement as long as it is in the right context and is serving the right purpose. People seem to abuse everything good or bad so the ideal lesson here would be to use the knowledge of behavior modification with discernment and in proper dosages.

2)Immediacy of punishment is necessary for punishment to have full desired impact on a behavior. The effectiveness of the punishment will be a lot more complete if done immediately after the undesired behavior.

3)The intensity of the punishment has to match the severity of the behavior. The examples of this in the text talks about the force police use to subdue a criminal. These ideas were influenced by people such as Durkheim, Foucault, & Bentham throughout the Enlightenment period.

By building on what we have already learned concerning reinforcement and punishment, I was able to gain a little more understanding of the concepts we are going over in behavior modifications. There were good explenations for each term being used. I know we are going to be focusing large amounts of attention on these areas so it was good to get an indepth look at these characteristics.

Terms: Negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, emit, undersirable, desirable, punishment, aversive, primary, secondary, and conditioned reinforcers, stimuli, interinsic,extrinsic

2.2
In this section I liked how the terms positive and negative reinforcement was clear. When I think of negative I think of something that is bad but that is not necessary the case when it comes to negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is introducing a desirable stimulus and negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus like your insurance company charging you less for insurance if you havent had an accident or ticket in so long.
One thing i didn't like about this section was the limited verses broad value. I felt like there wasn't much information and I am still a little confused on what exactly they are.
Three things i will remember:
1.Positive reinforcement is introduction to a desirable stimulus to get a desirable behavior to happen more often.
2. Negative reinforcement is the removal of a stimulus to get a desirable behavior to happen more often.
3. A primary reinforcer(unconditioned reinforcer) does not need to be paired with another stimulus to be used as a reinforcer.
I will remember these three things because they were clearly understood and been talked about over and over to make sure we understand exactly what the terms are.
2.3
what I liked about this section was how much it talked about punishment and how it can be used in a bad way or a good way. Obviously punishment is used in a good way when it is used to stop the frequency of an undesirable behavior- If you go over your minutes on your cell phone plan, you get your phone taken away. Punishment can also be used in a bad way. Like the example in the text, if a bar manager scolds the ID checker for reading then he may accidentally give minors a wristband to buy drinks. Also the section on the US using water boarding to get information- I believe that it should not be used. although punishment can be used to harm someone(punching friend for eating your food) we need to think ethically and remember that we are all human and should be treated in a certain way.
There was nothing i did not like about this section- everything was well put.
Three things i will remember:
1. Positive punishment involves the introduction of an aversive stimulus- getting pulled over for speeding(undesirable behavior) and you get a ticket you must pay(consequence).
2. Negative punishment is the removal of a desirable stimulus- you stop getting invited to parties because you drink too much and cause drama, break things, and/or puke and make a mess.
3. Intensity of punishment- Punishment needs to be intense enough to stop a behavior. This is different for different people. As a kid not getting a piece of candy or getting a time out would be devastating and you would not do that specific behavior that got the candy taken away from you or put you in time out. For a person getting arrested and acting crazy an officer would not threaten to take away candy or put them in timeout, that would not work. The officer would have to take much more intense actions to stop them from going crazy.
These sections have really showed me that almost everything we do in life has to do with behavior modification. We are reinforced and punished that change our actions and that is happening constantly throughout our life and even daily.

Section 2.2
One thing that I particularly like about this section is how it described primary and secondary reinforcers. When I first read the definitions I was not sure that I had the entired concept grapsed and I had lingering questions as to what falls into each category. What particularly helped me to understand the difference in these two terms is the comparison to conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Knowing from previous psychology classes the definitions of these terms allowed me to understand the terms better. It made it clear that a primary reinforcer is a reinforcers that is not conditioned, meaning that it does not have to be paired with another stimulus in order to reinforce a target behavior. The addition of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs layed out well what all can fall under this category, clearing up any grey area that I had. The section also made it clear that a secondary stimulus is a conditioned stimulus, which means that it must first be paired with a primary reinforcer before it is able to be a reinforcer on its own. It amazed me how many things fell into this category and the examples allowed me to realize that this is a much broader category of stimuli than I originally had thought.

One thing that I did not like about this section was the section covering limited versus broad value. I was left not completely comfortable with the difference between the two terms as to what should fall into each category. I understand the money example but had a hard time coming up with other broad value reinforcer examples. I may be overthinking the terms and have a clearer understanding than I am aware of, but I would have like to have more examples so that I would know for sure what falls into each category.

Things to remember
1. One thing that I will remember from this section is the term generalized reinforcer. A generalized reinforcer is a type of secondary reinforcer because it can not reinforce without being paired with another reinforcer. The thing that makes a generalized reinforcer a specialized secondary reinforcer is that a generalized reinforcer becomes a reinforcer by being paried with many other reinforcers. Because it is able to be paired with many different reinforcers there are many different contexts in which the reinforcer will be able to reinforce. This is important because when selecting a reinforcer it is crucial to keep context in mind and using a generalized reinforcer will more likely be able to transer the reinforcement to other contexts in which the target behavior is desired.
2. Another thing that I will remember from this section is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value and that it varies from person to person as to which motivation is stronger for particular reinforcers. This is important because it comes into play when selecting a reinforcer for a particular person and target behavior. A reinforcer may not be successful if it plays to a particular motivation and the person has a stronger motivation in the opposite aspect. The intrinsic value and extrinsic value are not the same for each person and can go against what the cultural norm may be, which is not necessarily wrong but rather something to take note of if there are going to be attempts of modificatoin.
3. I will also remember from this chapter the importance of context and the effects that it has on reinforcers and their proerties. A reinforcer that is effective in one context will not always be reinforced in another context. This is something that happens even with general reinforcers which shows that when striving to modify a behavior one must consider the values and context in which they are attempting to modify the behavior.

Section 2.3
The one thing that I really liked about this section was the explaination given for why, if possible, a person stays away from punishment procedures. There are situations that call for the need of punishment procedure but many times situations in which punishment is used it could be reformed into a reinforcement procedure or disruptence could be used. When using punishment, many times it can cause other behaviors to be punished as well besides the target behavior. Punishment may also elicit aversive emotions towards the person administrating the punishment. Punishment is a procedure that elicits more immidiate results, which may be required in some situations that include the safety of the person emitting the behavior and those around them, but also requires continuous punishment or a large enough aversive stimulus. The punishment must also come immediately after the emitted target behavior for it to have the greatest amount of success. There are many times moral and ethical issues that come about with the use of punishment which makes it desirable to avoid when possible.

The one thing that I did was left confused about in ths section is how disrupting an operant behavior is not classified as a punishment. My undestanding of disruption is that you immeidatly interupt the undesirable behavior and to do so there must be an addition of a stimulus (making it positive)that inherently decreases the frequency of that unwanted target behavior (making it punishment). The book says that it is not a punishment because the person that is emitting the behavior is in full control of the outcome. The way I understand it in the way of the ABC's is that the consequence of that undesirable behavior is the addition of the disturbance which would make it a punishment in what I understand thus far of behavioral language.

Things to remember
1. One thing that I will remember from this section is that the best tools suggested for behavior modification are positive reinforcement and extinction because they do not include the use of aversive procedures. It is important to know what is the best way to be successful in modifying behavior even if that may mean going in a different approach than what we have grown up knowing and believing. This may be harder for some to accept due to their own personal experiences.
2. I will remember from this section that punishment require constant and consistant emittance of the punishmer in order for it to produce sustaining results. The punisher must also be abrupt enough so that it is considered aversive enough to reduce the behavior but also must be careful not to be overly abrasive as to remain ethical and moral in their actions.
3. I will also remember from this chapter that there are differences in culture which lead to differences in how punishment is viewed and to what extinct it is seen as acceptable. This is viewed differently around the world but also has opposing views within our own country as to how we should set our laws to deal with and set restrictions against punishment.

These readings have given me a deeper understanding of the basic punishment and reinforcement procedures that we had previously been introduced to. It provided more information at to what types of reinforcers to use and why certain reinforcers work and when. It also showed how to use punishment if it must be done and how it can bring about the desired effects with frequency and intensity. Before these readings I believed that punishment could be just as successful as reinforcement but after reading the second section I now understand and agree thant using reinforcement whenever possible is the best option.

Terms Used: primary reinforcer, secondary reinforcer,conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, reinforce, target behavior, broad value, limited value, generalized reinforcer, intrinsic value, extrinsic value, aversion, punishment, distrupt, elicit, emit, positive, extinction

Section 2.2

This section was a good review for reinforcement for me because I was still having a bit of trouble with positive and negative reinforcement. The examples used which described why a behavior was emitted from the specific consequence really helped me grasp these concepts. I liked the examples about Ivan Pavlov and classical conditioning. The Consumer Behavior class I took described this example as well. The dog salivating from the bell was an easy way to understand the difference between unconditioned responses and conditional responses. It made sense why the dog emitted the behavior from the bell after it was conditioned. I also liked the explanation of a primary reinforcer and a secondary reinforcer. Maslows Hierachy of Needs was a good tool to help me organized the different types of reinforcers such as sex and money. I thought the material described a generalized secondary reinforce effectively by using the money example. The fact that there are drawbacks was a good addition to this section.
I did not like the explanation of extrinsic and intrinsic because I thought it was difficult to put myself in other peoples’ positions to think of what is intrinsically important to me or extrinsically important.

1. I will remember limited versus broad value because of the chewing gum example and the money example.
2. I will remember the classical conditioning example because of the dog salivating example.
3. I will remember primary reinforcers deal with basic needs because of the Hierarchy of Needs.

Section 2.3

Just as with section 2.2, this was a good review of punishment. It gave me a better understanding of positive and negative punishment. The water boarding example was interesting to me because of how well it can work and how it demonstrates negative reinforcement. Something that I thought was interesting was how many people think that modifying behaviors is a bad thing. I personally do not think it is a bad thing because it is a way communicate more efficiently. If you can elicit a certain behavior from someone you are trying to influence in a positive way for both parties, then the situation will be a win-win. I liked how the text explained that punishment should be a last resort because most of the time aversive procedures are used. These procedures are not comfortable for either party. If punishment does have to be utilized, it needs to be used consistently. If not, then the procedure will not be effective.
Something I did not like was the example of disruption of punishment. I had a hard time of wrapping my mind around it.
1. I will remember that punishment should not be used as much as reinforcement because it may not be as effective
2. I will remember that punishment needs to be consistent or else the person or thing may get confused
3. I will remember that punishment is different among cultures because of the different perspectives.
These readings have helped build upon my foundation of behavior modification. It has allowed me to become more familiar with the terms to use in conversation.

Terminology: Behavior, reinforcement, classical conditioning, unconditioned response, reinforcer, emit, elicit, limited, broad value, intrinsic, extrinsic, aversive, punishment,

Section 2.2

I liked reiterating again the definition and examples of reinforcement. Rewriting and rereading helps me better understand the term and its purpose. I liked reading about classical conditioning and Pavlov; I remember a lot of this from intro to psychology. I also liked the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs chart. I find it interesting that the primary reinforcers like food and water are so low on his chart. One would assume that should be at the top of the chart for everyone needs the physiological needs to survive. Whereas I also recognize why they would be on the bottom; it’s kind of what we want, we don’t need and what we need, we don’t want, if that makes sense. I enjoyed learning about intrinsic and extrinsic values; being an education major I hear about these a lot. One does not become a teacher for the money. It was a nice cross over in my classes.

Not that I didn’t like learning about the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR; learning them in my other psych classes I always mixed them up. I understand unconditioned is not learned and conditioned is learned, but I always managed to mix them up. Perhaps I will be able to keep them straight this time around. I think I got a good understanding of primary and secondary reinforcers, but I feel like the generalized reinforcer information was very short.

Three things I will remember from this chapter 1) Operant Conditioning is related to Skinner and Pavlov and his dogs are more of Classical Conditioning. 2) Hopefully I will remember, and keep straight, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. 3) Primary reinforcers are our basic needs whereas secondary reinforcers are learned reinforcers, such as a lunch bell.

Section 2.3

Again, I like that these two sections delved further in explaining reinforcement and punishment. Stating more examples and further clarification of the terms help me. I liked reading about the ‘dark side’ of behavior modification. I feel as if behavior modification can be taken wrongly or it can be used in the right way. It all depends on the individual modify the behavior and his/her purpose for doing so. I do agree sometimes trying to modify someone’s behavior can be wrongly justified, such as some of the examples stated in the reading. Furthermore, as we discussed in class a few times, reinforcement is typically more effective than punishment when wanting to change a target behavior.

There was not much I didn’t like about the section. A lot of the main topics helped utilize the effectiveness of punishment, not necessarily encouraging punishment. The statement, ‘punishment is often upsetting for all parties involved’ is a good statement to return to if the question between reinforcement and punishment arises. The section about Skinner’s controversial view’s about a society without punishment was really interesting; I doubt it would happen, but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless.

Three things I will remember 1) the abruptness, intensity, and immediacy of the punishment all factor into the punishment’s effectiveness. 2) Punishment should always be ethically motivated. 3) Punishment is not fun for either party.

There was a good deal of material that built upon previous sections. Reinforcement and punishment, I have a feeling will be reoccurring terms throughout the entirety of this class. They are the motivation, positive or negative respectively, to modifying behavior.

Terms: reinforcement, classical conditioning, primary reinforcers, physiological needs, intrinsic values, extrinsic values, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, secondary reinforcers, operant conditioning, punishment, target behavior

2.2

There wasn’t anything that I necessarily disliked about this section because it is all good information that is needed to keep learning about reinforcement. I like the fact that we keep learning about it in more and more detail and there is just more that keeps getting added to it. Something particular that stuck out to me was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is a primary reinforce which does not require pairing other stimuli to function as a reinforcer. Examples of primary reinforcers are water, food, sex, air. Primary reinfocers are unconditioned, whereas secondary reinforcers are conditioned. Like I said earlier there was not a lot from this section that I didn’t like. There are a lot of new different types of reinforcers that we have learned about and all tie together. All in all, context is important as some stimuli may lose their reinforcing properties depending on their context.

2.3

Along with the reinforcement section, there wasn’t a lot from this section that I didn’t like. Punishment is also something that has been tying along with everything else and a thing just keep getting added to it and is making more sense and it is easier to put two and two together in the outside world. Something that stuck out to me is the cultural differences in punishment. Some of the punishments may be viewed as sever to those who don’t consider certain behaviors worthy of certain punishments. Certain countries punish people via public canings, in which the person being punished for emitting an undesirable behavior is beaten with a came in the town square while other members of society watch. I thought that the motion picture, Brokedown Palace was a good example of this. All in all, the point is that different behaviors lead to different consequences depending on the culture you find yourself in.

Terms: Reinforcement, stimuli, reinforcer, unconditioned, conditioned, punishment, behavior.

Section 2.2
One thing I liked about this section was the way it described in depth but in a simplistic enough for me to understand it well. I also liked how it gave examples that are very relateable so it made it easier to connect the terms to real life applicability. Then after you think you have the terms down the boxes ask you to give your own examples to the terms. I think this really helps solidify the term definitions and allow me to use them in a real life setting rather then just in the class room. I really didn't have any dislikes with the section and havent yet so im assuming that if the format of this book is consistant then I won't have any complaints about the book.
1)I will remember the Pavlov dog experiment mostly because I have heard about it so many times that it has been imprinted into my brain.
2)I will rememeber the intrinsic and extrinsic value because it is a fancier frasing for sentemental value. It is very aplicable to ones personal lives and applies to the economy and supply and demand.
3) I will remember how this section was set up. For me this format of learning by reading is working well for me and allows me to really grasp the information.

Section 2.3
I like how this section is put right after the reinforcement section. If you understood the concept of reinforcement then you should have already made the connection that this section is going to be mostly the opposite of the last one. This makes the learning, I feel, much easier because you already have an idea of what the section is going to be more than just looking at the title of the chapter and inferring what it will be about. Since the this section is so similar to the previous one then, big shocker, I don't have any complaints about this secion either for the same reasons I put in the last section.
1)I will remember Skinners theory that reinforcement is always preferable to punishment. This plays a big part in parenting tecniques, which is better to punish my child to reach target behavior or to reinforce the target behavior to increase its frequency.
2)I will rememeber the difference between punishment in different cultures. It is interesting to read about different types of punishment that seem odd to us in America like the caning in which a person is publicly beaten in the town square when emmitting a undesirable response.
3)I will rememeber the frequency of punishment. I find it interesting because it is a complex way to elicit a target behavior. Also because not all behaviors respond the same way to punishment so you have to know what type of punishment and the frequency in which you apply it.

After reading this section it was a lot of review from the behavior section in my intro to psych class last semester. It also built upon it by adding more specific terminology to stimuli, reinforments, and types of punishment. I like the way this book is going because it takes things you already know, review them in the beginning of the chapter and gradually build on it with new information which i feel is a great way to learn new information that has a lot of terminology.

Terms: behavior,stimuli,reinforcement,punishment,intrinsic,extrinsic,target behavior,frequency,emmiting, undesireable,elicit,response

Section 2.2
One thing I really liked from this section was the clarification of the terms intrinsic – value to the self – and extrinsic – value to the culture or society – because the former is commonly used and one had not been able to discern the meaning from context alone.
One thing I disliked from this section was how confusing the idea of conditioned stimuli and unconditioned stimuli when you throw in the term ‘unconditioned stimuli’ into the definition of ‘conditioned stimuli’. It took me three tries of reading through the definition to understand. Still not quite sure if the concept has sunk in.
Three things I will remember from what I read in the section are the definitions of intrinsic and extrinsic value, primary reinforcers are unconditioned and secondary reinforcers are conditioned, and money is a generalized reinforcer.

Section 2.3
One thing I really liked from this section was the notion of reinforcement, specifically positive reinforcement, being more powerful than punishment, due to displacement of the target behavior, aforementioned in a previous section. I like the idea of a punishment-free society.
One thing I disliked from this section was the fact that there is actually a proper term for the aversive spraying of water – misting. Even though it is a technique I have used in the past, it is a punishment and, therefore, only displaces the behavior in the long-run.
Three things I will remember from what I read in the section are the differences between punishing a behavior and disrupting a behavior (a punisher is almost always disrupting, but a disruption need not be a punisher), the fact that torture is actually an extreme case of negative reinforcement because it wants to increase the frequency of information revealed, and the fact that reinforcers are more likely to take away free will than punishers.

Reading the first section has built on what I have learned so far about behavior modification by introducing the terms unconditioned – referring to a response or stimuli which is unlearned – and conditioned – unlearned responses or stimuli associated with the above term, unconditioned stimulus. I didn’t realize the nuances of the term ‘conditioned’ as clearly as I do after reading the text. Reading the second section has built on what I have learned so far about behavior modification by stating all forms of punishment and negative reinforcement are all aversive procedures, and all aversive procedures are less effective than positive punishment at modifying behavior over the long-term.

Terms Used: Intrinsic, Extrinsic, Conditioned Stimuli, Unconditioned Stimuli, Primary Reinforcers, Secondary Reinforcers, Generalized Reinforcer, Reinforcement, Positive Reinforcement, Punishment, Displacement, Target Behavior, Aversive, Misting, Behavior, Punishing, Disrupting, Punisher, Negative Reinforcement, Unconditioned, Conditioned, Aversive Procedures, Positive Punishment.

What I enjoyed most about the beginning of this section is how it reinforces few of the past terms used in previous sections. Giving us more clarification on what the terms mean and how they can be used.
Also in this section the introduction to the different types of reinforcements was introduced. Which follows along with using the words aversive or pleasurable rather than negative and positive so that we do not get confused. Negative reinforcements is when an individual removes an aversive stimuli in the hope that it will increase a target behavior. Positive reinforcements is the addition of a desirable stimuli in the hope that it will increase the repeat of a target behavior in another individual. In this section there was also a few new terms introduced. Conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, I will remember this due to its connection with B.F Skinner. I remember briefly going over his studies in Intro to psychology, B.F Skinner coined the term Classical conditioning during his research with canines. Another example of classical conditioning would be salivating when u smell food (unconditioned) vs. salivating when you hear the lunch bell go off in high school school (conditioned). Unconditioned stimuli is something that happens naturally in this case the body salivating when it assumes food will be coming soon. Conditioned stimuli is something that is learned to be associated with in this example, hearing the lunch bell go off for lunch, your body begins to associate the sound of the lunch bell with food and begins to salivate. I will also remember the difference between primary and secondary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers can be related to unconditioned stimuli, as it is not learned but is a basic need such as food. Secondary reinforcers can be related to conditioned stimuli, as it is a reinforcer that is learned such as giving praise when an individual does a specific target behavior

2.3
Again I enjoyed the reinforcement of reviewing the difference between the terms positive and negative with aversive and desirable stimulus. Negative punishment involves the removal or subtraction of a desirable stimulus. While positive punishment is the addition of aversive stimulus in the hope that it will stop or decrease the target behavior. Because the complication between Intensity of punishment, immediacy of punishment, and frequency of punishment it is clear that punishments should be avoided when possible. Intensity of punishment is how severe a punishment is, it is important not to not over punish a target behavior as in doing so will only make the individual feel over punished. Immediacy of punishment refers to the between when the unwanted behavior occurs and when the individual receives the punishment. It is important to apply the punishment right after the unwanted behavior occurs. It is safe to assume when using this form of behavior modification that there will be times when the individual or subject does not receive a punishment when the unwanted behavior occurs due to other variables. Lastly is frequency of punishment, this is how many time the target behavior is punished when the undesirable behavior happens, this should be consistent. Although this can be problematic due to other variables for example the undesirable behavior happens when the individual that is applying the punishment is not around. Research has shown that by just disrupting the operant behavior using different forms of reinforcements can be more effective in stopping undesired behaviors with less aversive effects than punishments.
Terms
Positive reinforcements, negative reinforcements, aversive stimuli, target behavior, desirable stimuli, conditioned, unconditioned stimuli, B.F Skinner, classical conditioning, primary reinforcements, secondary reinforcements, immediacy of punishment, intensity of punishment, frequency of punishment, pos. punishment, neg. punishment, disrupting the operant behavior.

One thing I really enjoyed about section 2.2 was how much review it was. It reviewed reinforcement, and the differences between positive and negative reinforcement. I liked that this section was a lot of review because I think you learn for redundancy. This section gave detailed explanations of what positive and negative reinforcement are. It gave several examples, and practice problems that helped me understand the terms thoroughly.

One thing I disliked about this section was that there were several terms that were introduced. I find it easier to learn and retain information when there isn’t a ton being introduced at once. Although all the terms that were introduced in this section were fairly easy to grasp, I prefer only a small amount of behavioral terms to learn at once.

Three things that I will remember from section 2.2 are: 1) That positive reinforcement is introducing a desirable stimulus in order to increase the behavior in the future 2) That negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus in order to increase the behavior being emitted in the future and, 3) primary reinforcers are unconditioned reinforcers that are biologically relevant. I will remember that positive reinforcement is adding a desirable stimulus to increase the behavior in the future because positive means that something is being added to the situation, and reinforcement is when you’re trying to manipulate a behavior in order to increase the behavior in the future. I will remember that negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase the behavior in the future because the word negative refers to the taking away of something aversive, and reinforcement means a target behavior is trying to be manipulated to continue in the future. Lastly, I will remember that primary reinforcers are unconditioned reinforcers that are biologically relevant, for example they are things such as: food, sex, and air. They are unconditioned because they are biologically relevant things that we need to survive.

One thing I really liked about section 2.3 is the detail of punishment that was explained and discussed. It talked about positive and negative punishment and our thoughts on punishment. I enjoyed this because I felt like it let us interact with our opinions on punishment and whether or not we agree with certain punishments. This section also gave several examples of positive and negative punishment. As well as several opportunities to practices and give our own examples of negative and positive punishment.

One thing that I disliked about section 2.3 was how little they explained how changing the antecedent could change the consequence. I did like this part of the section but I thought it could have given more examples. I liked the idea of being able to change the environment before the behavior occurred, but I felt like there are exceptions and I thought this section could have explained this better.

Three things I will remember about section 2.3 are: 1) that positive punishment is the addition of something aversive to decrease the behavior from being emitted in the future, 2) that negative punishment is the removal of something desirable in order to decrease the target behavior from being emitted in the future and, 3) I will remember how there are ethical issues that people have with punishment. I will remember that positive punishment is the addition of something aversive to decrease the behavior from happening in the future because positive refers to adding something aversive, and punishment means to decrease the likelihood of that behavior being emitted in the future. I will also remember that negative punishment is removal of something desirable in order to decrease the target behavior from happening again in the future because negative refers to the removal of something pleasurable, and punishment is the decrease of something happening again in the future. Lastly, I will remember how there are several issues surrounding using punishment in order to change a behavior because the last half of the section was devoted to whether or not punishment should be used and why some people believe punishment should never be used.

These sections have changed and built on my knowledge of behavior modification because it went into great detail about punishment and reinforcement, along with the ethical issues that co-inside with punishment. I never knew there was such an issue with punishment. After reading this section I can see why reinforcement is preferred over punishment in certain situations. Although this might be true, I think punishment is necessary in some cases.

Terms: behavior modification, punishment, reinforcement, positive punishment, aversive, behavior, emitted, negative punishment, target behavior, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, primary reinforcer (s), unconditioned reinforcers, stimulus, manipulated, desirable, undesirable, and unpleasurable

Section 2.2

In this section we learn more about positive and negative reinforcement, as well as more types of reinforcers. Verbal praise and good consequences make up the basis for positive reinforcement, and it is the most-utilized type of reinforcement. I think that reinforcement is a better tactic than punishment in most situations; reinforcement is kind of a sneakier way to get people to do what you want them to. Punishment, on the other hand, is more “in your face,” and can create harsher negative feelings. I have always found Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to be interesting. I am not sure though, that his chart can be the same for everybody, so it is interesting to me at how he arrived at this chart. I also found primary and secondary reinforcers to be interesting. The fact that we have internal needs that are beyond our control is unfortunate at times, because we cannot always satisfy or obtain means (primary) of satisfying these needs. Pavlov and the dog drooling experiment is also something that I’ve learned about previously in other psychology classes. However, I’ve never thought about it in context of “behavior modification,” so this text makes me see it differently. The conditioned stimulus in this situation, or experiment, which was the bell, is pretty amazing in the fact that the dogs did not smell anything, but they simply reacted the exact same way as they did to the smell of the meat. This breakthrough helped Pavlov gain more insight on stimuli and reinforcement. I am experiencing this right now as there are people around me eating food. I was not hungry until they brought the food into the room and smelled it. I also gained more terms to add to my behavior modification vocabulary; like: generalized reinforcer, intrinsic, limited value, and broad value. Generalized reinforcers are items that can be used to gain other things; they also do not need to be paired with any other reinforcers. A prime example of this is money; money can be used most anywhere, but in the United States for us as long as it is American currency.

Terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, reinforcers, consequences, punishment, primary, secondary reinforcers, behavior modification, conditioned stimulus, stimuli, generalized reinforcer, intrinsic, limited value, and broad value

Section 2.3

This section discussed positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment is the addition of an aversive stimulus when an undesirable behavior happens, so that the behavior will be decreased in frequency. An example I had was, “My brother broke my phone, so I made him buy me a new one”. Negative punishment has the same goal; however, it involves removing a desirable stimulus. One example I wrote down was, “My parents took my phone away because I snuck out of the house”. Or, another was, “My car got towed because I parked in a spot that I wasn’t supposed to park in”. I think that it is unethical in most situations to use these techniques to make someone do something unethical. However, I’m not sure if it should apply in a military context; they are only trying to protect our freedoms, and if they need to go to extremes to find something out, then I think they should. But that’s just my opinion. Furthermore, I think if the military wants to do that kind of thing, they shouldn’t ask for psychologists’ help. I think the APA is right to ban psychologists from taking part in the misuse of punishment procedures. Why does our society place such a great emphasis on punishment? I believe it is because our society is solely based on rules/norms and keeping people in line is important to our society. I don’t think punishment works well with everyone, contrary to what most people believe. People think that it is the most efficient way of getting people to do what they want, when in many cases It isn’t the best way. Punishment can cause negative feelings toward the “punisher”, and therefore when punishment is over, may cause the “punishee” to act out in different ways. Verbal punishment would be a good example of this; if you scold a child for something, they may not like you for it, which will cause bad feelings in them for you. Another example I came up with was a musician getting booed offstage. He is less likely to come back on stage for a while. I personally believe reinforcement is always a better choice if it is possible in a particular situation.

Terms: positive punishment, negative punishment, aversive, stimulus, undesirable, behavior, frequency, desirable, unethical, ethical, APA, punishment, verbal punishment, reinforcement

I found superstitious behaviors very interesting. These types of behaviors are something that most people do in some more of way, but I never thought about it in respects to reinforcement. This type of behavior emerges when an organism is unsure of which behavior they are performing is being reinforced. This was first studied in Skinner’s lab involving pigeons. The pigeons were reinforce at random times, but the birds thought they were getting reinforced after flying to their left so they began to do it superstitiously to receive the reward. We can see examples of this in everyday life. Many athletes perform rituals before, during or after games as to not “jinx” himself or herself or team.
Discrimination confused me in the chapter. I found it hard to come up with specific examples of it in everyday life. I understand that it is the detecting differences between stimuli, which allow one to distinguish them apart. I found generalization very easy to understand, quite possibly because like superstitious behaviors they are easy to detect. Discrimination is how one stops generalization from occurring. Discrimination must be more in our subconscious than we realize, increasing the difficulty of finding examples of it.
I will remember the extinction because it is an aversive and reduces the frequency of a behavior but is not punishment. Remembering the distinction between punishment and extinction is important to remember as to not get them confused. Extinction is reinforcement because the behavior being extinguished was previously reinforced. Secondly, extinction burst and the problem that can arise when they are happening. They are often successful in eventually obtaining the desired reinforcer. It’s aversive to the one delivering the extinction burst to ignore the individual, such as a child calling for their mother. It’s important to understand the process of extinction fully to be able to carry out the full thing. Finally, it’s important to remember the effectiveness of discriminative extinction. This is particular stimulus in the environment that indicates no reinforcement will result from emitting a target behavior. Discriminative extinction stimuli are everywhere in our environment, giving us a heads up that a specific behavior is not going to be reinforced such as a out of order sign on a vending machine.
I found continuous reinforcement to be quite interesting in this section. It is when the subject is reinforced each time the target behavior is performed. This type of reinforcement has been integrated into our fast paced society so much that it makes a non-reinforced response troublesome. Humans today need to be instantly reinforced or else they will just move on to find something that will. The increase in technology has also played a part in this. Take cell phones for example. Companies are constantly adding little tweaks to create frenzy in society to have the most up-to-date phone. If the littlest thing goes wrong on our phones we instantly go and buy a new one; if we are not continuously reinforced we find something that will.
I found VI, VR, FI, and FR very interesting, but also confusing. I understood each of them separately but trying to distinguish which one is which got complicated. Variable interval is when one is reinforced after an average amount of time. During interval ratio is after an average amount of times a target behavior is performed. Fixed interval is being reinforced after a specific amount of time where as fixed ratio is reinforced after a specific number of times the target behavior is performed. As I was writing this paragraph I got confused with the abbreviations and the combinations of all the words.
First I will remember is continuous reinforcement, because is simple and is easily explained with its name. It is also seen in our society everyday. Secondly, I will remember fixed interval because it is after a specific amount of time, such as waiting 20 minutes for muffins to bake. Lastly, I will remember intermittent reinforcement because it is reinforcing something every now and then. Its name also explains which type of reinforcement it is. All of these topics build every further on reinforcement. Describing with greater detail each of the specifics involved when reinforcing a subject.

Terms: Reinforcement, reinforcing, fixed interval, intermittent reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, variable internal, variable ratio, fixed ratio, extinction, aversive, punishment, extinguished, extinction burst, reinforcer, effectiveness of discriminative extinction, emitting, target behavior, reinforced, discrimination, stimuli, superstitious behavior