What I Have Used From Psychology
What I Have Used From Psychology
I've always been interested and curious about Psychology. In Chapter 5, Learning and Cognition (or more so the Classical and Operant Conditioning) interested me the most. Who we are now is the direct result of how and what we learned as children. Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about through experience. Through our experiences in life, it teaches us new behaviors, attitudes, and skills. We also develop problem-solving strategies, and through learning we develop our personalities. Not all changes in behavior are the result of learning, but through the permanent changes. For example, if a quarter back on a football team throws the football differently because his coach or teammates has shown him a better way that is the result of learning. And if the quarterback continues to throw the ball in that way then a permanent change has occurred. The way we learn through life is by two basic ways of learning, Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning.
Classical conditioning is the type of learning made famous by Pavlov's experiments with dogs. The basis of the experiment is this: Pavlov presented dogs with food, and measured their salivary response (how much they drooled). Then he began ringing a bell just before presenting the food. At first, the dogs did not begin salivating until the food was presented. After a while, however, the dogs began to salivate when the sound of the bell was presented. They learned to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of the food. As far as their immediate physiological responses were concerned, the sound of the bell became equivalent to the presentation of the food.
Classical conditioning is used by trainers for two purposes: to condition (train) responses, such as the drooling, producing adrenaline, or reducing adrenaline (calming) without using the stimuli that would naturally create such a response; and, to...
Please login to view the full essay...