Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning Research Paper

Then, on seeing that the rearing has become a little bit familiar to him, sniffy is therefore, reinforced when he rears at a point with the bar.

After several attempts of the previous steps, sniffy was encouraged to rear up nearer to the bar as possible. During the regular training observation, incase sniffy rears so close to the bar this increases the likelihood that sniffy will press on the bar. Immediately, sniffy presses the bar, a magazine sound will be heard and he will identify the sound with the food pellets which he will rush to eat.

At this stage, the Bar-Sound relationship begins to develop. This association can be further confirmed in Operant Association Window by observing the red bar shown in it.

This experiment is repeated severally until he learns that if the bar. During the observation, he started by pressing the bar once or twice also after rearing up near the bar. After thorough training by reinforcement wherever he rears up without pressing the bar, with time sniffy consistently learned to press the bar three or four times in rapid succession (Andrzejewski, 2011).

At this stage, shaping was stopped so as to observe the behavioral effect of the shaping process. Sniffy could now be seen to press the bar more often as time goes. In this experiment, our achievement are observed on the Operant Association mind window, where the bar level of the Bar-Sound association rose gradually to the maximum level.Response to the experiments

The previous analysis gives us a clear picture of how organisms learn. Operant conditioning uses rewards and punishment to modify the behavior of both animals and human being. Therefore, explaining how a person's behavior can be curved to fit a specific need.

The data exhibited concurs with the theoretical explanation given by the experiment. From the experiment conducted, sniffy exhibited signs of change in behavior as expected. The Operant Association mind window showed the extent at which change is being achieved in comparison to the driving force and the duration taken to achieve the desired change in behavior.

Sniffy's behavior is similar to that which is normally portrayed by a human being in the following ways. A human being is likely to change his/her behavior if there is evidence of a reward after doing what is required of him/her or a punishment when he/she does something not recommended. Operant conditioning is can be applied to all age groups but can mostly work well when applied while the subject is still young.

References

Andrzejewski, M.E., Schochet, T.L., Feit, E.C., Harris, R., McKee, B.L., & Kelley, a.E. (2011). A comparison of adult and adolescent rat behavior in operant learning, extinction, and behavioral inhibition paradigms. Behavioral Neuroscience, 125(1), 93-105. doi: 10.1037/a0022038.....