Operant Conditioning in Psychology Essays -- science

operant Conditioning in PsychologyAn Example of Operant Conditioning As a student at USC, one brook assume that Ive always taken schoolwork seriously and whitethorn even infer that I imageake a considerable stratum of enjoyment from it, which is by all in all means an accurate assumption. However, in my earlier childhood I was often characterized as unruly, uncooperative and impulsive in nature. At that age I had been more interested in well-disposed endeavors more so than anything relating to analyse or doing schoolwork. It was always a prejudicial issue when I brought it up in a conversation, and that assumption was strengthen through subsequent agreement amongst my peers. Coupled with negative criticism from my teachers of the purported view I had in regards to school and my elders, the environment in which I was laid made me all the more indifferent towards donnishs in general. Instead of examine after school, I would spend most of my time watching TV at home or play ing with friends before walking home. At that point in my life my father and mother had been pursuing their careers in bio-medical engineering and audiology respectively, so I did not receive as much boost or parental monitoring as more of my friends did In fact my dad would often leave home for weeks at a time to make presentations in other countries about the advancements in biomedical engineering concerning his specialized field and my mom would come natural covering from work in the early evening. The only immediate source of encouragement came from my grandparents who were living with us at the time. Yet because they could only speak Spanish and knew so little about schools in general, they were unable to really religious service me out with any problems that I would hurt. One day my parents, after reviewing my spread abroad card with another assortment of unsatisfactory grades, decided to take deuce steps to try and encourage me to find better grades. The first was a tra nsfer to a different school, and the second was a little corpse they set up For each A I received on my next progress report I would receive $15 and for every B $5. While I was upset because I would not get to see any of my old friends at the new school, the second part surprised me a little. The fact that the prospective cash out for grabs was an tremendous amount for a 7 year made me anticipate all the things I could do with that money. Even ... ...ivation declines which translates to harder work while the respect is in place and conversely to a lower frequency of work when the reward is withdrawn. I must also point that something interesting happened as before long as the material reward was withdrawn and replaced with praise The act of studying and finalizing my homework then became an intrinsic motivation as my association of it with agonistic work changed to one of enjoyment, which was reinforced by my success academically. Final news Conclusion From then on I began to observe those who were likewise excelling in academics and began to imitate them. What probably drove me was a strong sense of self-efficacy or my perception that I could perform as successfully as they were. This self-efficacy persists to this day, where I now have a strong extremity for self-actualization, or the need to achieve my full potential. In recent years I have also learned of both self-reinforcement and self-punishment, and how to associate the motivation behind my academic progress not extrinsically as most people do, but intrinsically, something that I am doing just for the sake of doing it. This way I can attain the most from my college experience.