Blog Post #8

Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which one learns to associate stimuli and anticipate events. An example of classical conditioning is if I got burned by a hot pan, then I would associate hot pans with getting burned. In the future, I would anticipate that touching a hot object would result in pain and probably learn not to do it again. Operant conditioning is a form of learning when a person learns to associate a response and its consequence. They then repeat things followed by good results and avoid things that have bad results. An example of that would be if a person didn't do their homework. The teacher would probably be angry with them and give them an F or a bad grade. The next day, the person does their homework, for fear of getting in trouble again and another bad grade. They then receive a good grade and the teacher is no longer angry with them. The difference between these two forms of conditioning is that classical is when you learn from repeated events and remember not to do bad things in the future, and operant is when you learn to do better from negative responses and thrive upon positive ones. This affects my life because sometimes I make mistakes and have to deal with the consequences. After that, I don't want to do it again. I have also been in situations where things didn't always go right for me, and then the next time I found myself in the same situation, I can anticipate what's going to happen next.

Positive reinforcement is when you increase someone's behavior by presenting a positive situation. An example of that would be that you fail a test in school. The teacher offers everyone who gets an A on the next test some sort of reward. Therefore, you study hard, ace the test, and receive the reward. Your teacher was happy with you, and it makes you want to do well on every other test. Negative reinforcement is when you improve a behavior by reducing negative stimuli. An example of this would be if you don't wash the dishes when you are told, your parents may add on to that with more time-consuming or annoying ones. You will then wish you had done the dishes in the beginning because now you have a bunch more stuff to get done. Punishment is a process that decreases bad behavior. People get punished, they are less likely to do the bad action again. If you break your curfew, for example, your parents may ground you or shorten your curfew for next time. They are punishing you for not listening and now you have to pay for the consequences.

I found learning about associations very interesting. I think it is funny that we associate things that cause us harm together. For example, I once burned myself on a hot pan used for cooking buns at work. It hurt so much and left a huge scar. Ever since then, I have been afraid that I was going to burn myself on that same bun pan. I don't worry that much about burning myself on other hot things as much, however, because I associate the burn with the bun pan. Learning about this more in depth has showed me the associations that I do on a regular basis. I will apply this to my life by remembering to be careful around all hot things, not just the stupid bun pans :)