The Premack Principle

The premack principle is based on the notion that reinforcers can be viewed as behaviors rather than stimuli. This principle states that high probability behavior can be used to reinforce a low probability behavior. For example, if you are hungry you are more likely to eat than work out. In this situation, eating food can be used to reinforce the target behavior of exercising. This video provides further examples of when the premack principle can be applied. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjjGSY_T9ss

Reciprocal Determinism

Reciprocal determinism is the assumption that environmental events, observable behavior, and person variables reciprocally influence each other. This term was created by Bandura and according to him, how we think can influence our environment- through environments we are in and how we perceive them. Reciprocal determinism stimulated the development of cognitive- behavior therapy. This therapy treats psychological disorders by altering environmental variables and cognitive processes. Cognitive-behavior therapy can be used to help individuals with disorders such as anxiety and depression. The attached video explains this evidence based therapy it great detail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6aAQgXauQw

Chimps and American Sign Language

Something I found very interesting in this textbook was language and the abilities that animals have when it comes to language. specifically, the experiment with American sign language and chimps is what intrigued me the most. although they did not fully grasp the concept of sign language, they still were able to use what was trying to be taught to them to ask for food meaning they understood at least some of what was being taught to them. after reading about this I decided to look up videos and was very impressed with how smart these animals can be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNuZ4OE6vCk

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

The textbook talks a lot about contingencies and the four different types. Two of them being positive and negative reinforcement. Both of these things most of us should be familiar with from experience, even if you have not heard of it before taking this class. Positive reinforcement is defines as the presentation of a stimulus (one that is usually considered pleasant or rewarding) following a response, which then leads to an increase in the future strength of that response. Negative reinforcement, on the other hand, is defined as the removal of a stimulus (one that is usually considered pleasant or rewarding) following a response, which then leads to a decrease in the future strength of that response.
Both of these reinforcements can be beneficial depending on your situation. For example, if you're a teacher and you have a student that does well on a paper and you want her to continue to put forth the same effort, you will praise that student individually on how well she did on the paper. this would be considered positive reinforcement. an opposite situation would be if a student did not do their homework but you want them to do it in the future, for that specific homework assignment you will give them a zero to encourage them to actually do their work the next time. this would be considered negative reinforcement.

Sign Tracking

Sign tracking is displayed when an organism approaches a stimulus that signals the presentation of an appetite event. In 1941, Pavlov reported that during a classical conditioning experiment one of his dogs approached and licked the light that signaled when food was going to be delivered. Not much attention was paid to this occurrence until recently. Sign tracking is referred to as an instance in which classical and operant conditioning overlap. In this video, raccoons in a study with placing poker chips in slots exhibit sign tracking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52sQJEQI0Y

Blog Post 2- Escape, Avoidance and Punishment

Blog Post 2- Escape, Avoidance and Punishment 

   Reading through this chapter I have learned that there is a two process theory that goes along with avoidance. Just through reading the chapter I was able to determine that avoidance behavior is basically when people run away from they’re problems and try to avoid it. In all honesty I am able to say I have done this before. One time I ran into a problem that I was personally scared to own up to and instead I avoided it for a couple of days. After doing that, I have honestly learned my lesson to always own up to what you do and never avoid your problems because they will only get worse. Punishment I have learned is being punished for something that you have done that isn’t correct. For example, if you break the law and steal something then as a punishment and a lesson you would spend sometime in jail.

Theory Of Mind

Theory of mind is an important social-cognitive skill that involves the ability to think about mental states, both your own as well as others. Developing this skill gives us the ability to understand that other individuals thoughts and beliefs may be different from your own and consider the factors that have led them to the mental state that they’re in. We evolve skills that help us attribute mental states, including emotions, desires, beliefs, and knowledge. 

In order to interact with others, it is important to be able to apply your existing knowledge to your current situation. Along with having the capability to connect what's going on in someone else's head to infer their intentions which influence their actions. This includes hopes, fears, beliefs, and expectations. Some social interactions can be more complex than others which can lead to misunderstandings, but once you have a firm grip on your bearings then you are able to respond accordingly. This part of a child’s developmental process is vital. 

Theory of mind can be enhanced by opportunities such as:

• to engage in rich pretend play;

• to talk about people’s thoughts, wants, and feelings, and the reasons why they act the way they do.

• to hear and talk about stories, especially those involving surprises, secrets, tricks, and mistakes, that invite children to see things from different points of view (for example, Red Riding Hood doesn’t know that the wolf is dressed up as grandma).

  This video is an example of the false belief test: 

  https://youtu.be/8hLubgpY2_w

  

Fixed Action Pattern

A fixed action pattern is an instinctive activity pattern that causes animals to act in a specific behavior sequence that is unique to their species. It is a pattern that is relatively unchanging within species and normally plays itself out to completion even if interrupted. These action patterns are produced by a mechanism that is called an innate releasing mechanism which is produced within a neural network. Examples of this include ducks flying in a v pattern, squirrels that bury nuts, and spiders making webs.  

Dishabituation

Simply put, dishabituation is the way we respond to an old stimulus as if it were new again. When we repeatedly experience a stimulus, we eventually get used to it, and stop responding the same way we did when we first encountered it. We become habituated to it and stop paying attention until we are given a new stimulus.Then when we are once again given the original stimulus, we respond to it with a renewed interest. The previous habituation to it has been reversed.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic

Motivated Behavior is typically driven by one of two forms of motivation.

• Extrinsic- motivated to perform an activity by gaining a reward and avoiding punishment.

• Extrinsic comes from within.

• Intrinsic- motivated to perform and activity due to your own personal reward, goal and/or interest. 

• Intrinsic comes from outside forces.

( Both are derived from some type of incentive. )

Habituation

Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations. It is considered to be one of the simplest and most common forms of learning. Habituation allows people to tune out non-essential stimuli and focus on the things that really demand attention. If the habituation stimulus is not presented for a long enough period before a sudden reintroduction, the response will once again reappear at maximum strength.  This is something that happens regularly in your everyday life and it often goes unrecognized.  

Classical versus Operant Conditioning

    During Classical conditioning, behavior is involuntary and inflexible. The behavior is elicited by the stimulus. Conditioning deals with stimulus-responce. During Operant conditioning ,the behavior is voluntary and flexible. The behavior also is emitted by the organism. This type of conditioning deals with a stimulus-responce, just like Operant Conditioning. This conditioning usually does not involve patterns of behavior that are innate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTVQHhbhYbA

Pavlovs Classical Conditioning

Pavlov's Classical Conditioning:

Classical conditioning is thinking by interaction and has been developed by Pavlov. In basic words , two inputs are connected together to produce a new acquired reaction in a human or animal. There are three stages of classical conditioning which are Before Conditioning, During Conditioning and After Conditioning

Negative reinforcement

Negative reinforcement is a term described by B.F. Skinner in his theory of operant conditioning. He explains it as a response or behavior that is strengthened by stopping, removing, or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus. 

Think of this reinforcement as something being subtracted from the situation. 

Negative reinforcement uses two different types of behaviors: escape and avoidance. 

In escape behavior the occurrence of the behavior terminates the aversive stimulus. Where in avoidance behavior, the occurrence of the behavior prevents the presentation of an aversive stimulus. 

Both escape and avoidance are types of negative reinforcement, both result in an increase of the behavior that terminated or avoided the aversive stimulus. Both create emotional responses that say, phew, thank god that is over. 

This reinforcement is seen most effective when reinforcers are presented immediately following a behavior. When a long period elapses between the behavior and the reinforcer, the response is likely to be weaker. 

For example, with animals the beep on the shock collar before the shock. The dog is now aware of what that noise means due to its conditioning history that the beep predicts pain if the current behavior continues. 

Example of Negative reinforcement in the show Big Bang Theory:

https://youtu.be/LhI5h5JZi-U

Self-Awareness and Differentiating Self From Others

There is a self-awareness test called mark and mirror task designed by Gordon Gallup, an animal behaviorist, and Beulah Amsterdam, a clinical child psychologist. This test was invented to understand the ability to see oneself as separate from others. Both researchers knew that young children and apes had a liking for mirrors, but were curious if they were using them for the same purpose. 

We are not innately self-aware. Once we develop this state of mind we gain the ability to notice our traits, behaviors, and feelings. Changing our focus and applying our attention to ourselves. Allowing us to achieve differentiation so we can truly understand our experience and learn from situations in our environment with people we are connected to.

Quote from Gordon Gallup: 

“Once you can become the object of your own attention, and you can begin to think about yourself, you can use your experience to infer comparable experiences in others.” 

It is found that both humans and animals develop self recognition before the age of 3. 

Video explaining Gordon Gallup mark and mirror task: 

https://videopress.com/v/uhQkCBcU

Blog Post 1- Classical Conditioning: Underlying Processes and Practical Aplications

Blog Post 1- Classical Conditioning: Underlying Processes and Practical Applications

                

               While reading throughout this chapter it has helped me gain not only knowledge about Classical conditioning, but also all of the processes and practical applications that go along with it. One of the things that definitely stood out to me the most in this chapter is "Additional Factors in Phobic Conditioning." As stated on page 186, not all phobias are not always received through  a direct process of what is called classical conditioning. In fact, something that I had learned throughout this chapter that I thought was very interesting and something that I did not know was that many people who have phobias do not particularly recall any symptoms that are related to any classical conditioning as mentioned in this chapter. "Temperament is an individual's level of emotional reactivity, which is to a large extent genetically determined" (powell 187).  I personally believe that this means that when someone gets upset it's dependent on their level of emotions, how badly they react. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqWiTG-o2Y 

Schedules of Reinforcement

Skinner's operant conditioning is based through rewards and punishments for behavior. Either positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement may be used as a part of operant conditioning. In both cases, the goal of reinforcement is to strengthen a behavior so that it will likely occur again. A schedule of reinforcement defines which instances of behavior would be reinforced. As the book states, "a schedule indicates what exactly has to be done for the reinforcer to be delivered. A continuous reinforcement schedule is one in which each specified response is reinforced, while a partial reinforcement schedule is one in which only some responses are reinforced. The occurrence of a reinforcement is critical to the learning process and the likelihood of increasing a response.

Understanding Phobias

Classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is associated with an unrelated stimulus (US) to produce a behavioral response otherwise known as a conditioned response (CR). This learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. What I found interesting is it's involvement in the development of fears and anxieties. Phobias are "an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something." As the book states, "a conditioned fear response can be elicited by a previously neutral stimulus that has been associated with an aversive stimulus. In most cases, this sort of fear conditioning is a highly adaptive process because it motivates the individual to avoid a dangerous situation." Phobias however, occasionally become exaggerated due to this. Irrational fears develop from the CR which lead to over-generalization, "a conditioned fear response can be elicited by a previously neutral stimulus that has been associated with an aversive stimulus. In most cases,this sort of fear conditioning is a highly adaptive process because it motivates the individual to avoid a dangerous situation."

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura's social learning theory acknowledges other behaviorist learning theories such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning and that mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses. As the book states, "Bandura was very much interested in imitation, which he referred to as observational learning. It strongly emphasizes the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior." Bandura's social learning theory is especially applicable to children's development. Children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. They pick up behavior from their environment which is why it is important for those models to display behavior they wish to see in their children.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that results in someone having abnormally low body weight, in fact <85% normal body weight. Someone with this disorder has a constant fear of gaining weight because they fear of becoming fat, or just want to control their weight and shape of their bodies. These people do not eat, or eat very very little throughout the day, to prevent gaining weight, which can impact their health severely. People with this disorder also can exercise excessively, and even if they lose weight, their fear of gaining weight does not go away. Many with anorexia have this drive for thinness and this disorder can be a way to deal with emotional issues. Anorexia is very life threatening and can be super detrimental to someone's health. People with anorexia often have a distorted view of their own body.
However, treatment can help someone develop better eating habits and take away the complications of anxiety. Some of the symptoms include really thin appearance, fatigue, extreme weight loss, low blood pressure, dehydration.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anorexia-nervosa/symptoms-causes/syc-20353591

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olIz9MqtW-U

Opponent Process Theory

Opponent Process Theory was suggested by Solomon, which explains how emotional reactions to a stimulus are followed by opposite emotional reactions. This theory may explain why stunt people enjoy their work. First the individual will feel intense anxiety before performing a stunt and then the person will receive an opposite reaction of relief after the stunt is completed. The theory also suggests that repeated exposure to the stimulus will cause less of an initial reaction and a stronger opposing reaction. 

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

There are many different anxiety disorders, which can constantly corrupt someone's life and daily activities. It is a mental illness that consists of constant fear and worrying over many different things. People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or also called GAD, have persistant worrying over money, family, health, and other things in life too. It can also consist of excessive worrying, when there is no real reason for concern. When someone has three or more symptoms and worries for several days for about 6 months, they become diagnosed with GAD, which distinguishes it from worrying.
3.1% of the U.S. population is affected by this disorder, but there are treatments as well. There is no known cause of being affected by it, but stressful things in life such as experiences and family issues can play a role in it. People with this disorder find it hard to stop worrying, that it may affect their ability to carry on throughout the day. As mentioned in the youtube video, for these people who have the disorder, the stress is always there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mPwQTiMSj8

https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad#:~:text=Generalized%20Anxiety%20Disorder%20(GAD)%20is,difficult%20to%20control%20their%20worry.

Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory is a theory of learning process and social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur directly through observation or specific instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. Social learning is an age-old learning and teaching strategy, supported by many cognitive scientists.

Functionalism

Functionalism is a theory based on the idea that all aspects of a societies institutions, roles, and norms, serve a purpose and are crucial for the long-term survival of the society. A social system is assumed to have a functional unity in which all parts of the system work together with some degree of internal consistency. Functionalism also suggests that all cultural or social phenomena have a positive function and that all are absolutely necessary.

Mind-Body Dualism

The idea of Mind-Body Dualism stems from the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, who wrote a famous line that says "I think, therefore I am". During his time, many people thought human behavior was done by free will, or "reason". Descartes then formulated a dualistic model of nature. The model is split in two, one explains that our body functions like a machine which then results in reflexes due to external stimulation. For an example, if you accidentally touch fire with your fingers, and as a result, you are triggered by pain. The other perspective is that our mind chooses our behaviors, which are voluntary. For example, choosing what you want to eat. Descartes soon proposed that some human behaviors are reflexes due to external stimuli, while others are voluntary and are controlled by what we choose.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mind-body-dualism

Learned Industriousness Theory and secondary reinforcement post #3

The Learned Industriousness theory says that if you reinforce an individual after achieving something, that increases the chances of that individual to perform those behaviors again. people could also be naturally industrious. this defines the people who are achievment-oriented, efficient, purposeful, and competent. this theory was first developed to explain the differences in general work effort for people with the same abilities. people who are generally reinforced by putting effort into their tasks are also being secondarily reinforced. this type of reinforcement refers to a situation where a stimulus reinforces behavior that was already associated with a primary reinforcer. some examples of secondary reinforcement include tokens, money, and grades in school.

Habituation and ADHD

Chapter 3 discusses elicited behaviors and classical conditioning. Under "simple mechanisms of learning" they talk about habituation and sensitization. Habituation is defined as a decrease in the strength of an elicited behavior following repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus. The example provided was how most people can block out the sound of low-intensity noises such as clocks ticking or distant noise in traffic. While reading this I immediately thought of how habituation must be difficult for people with ADHD and decided to look into the comparison of the two in more depth.
While looking up a few things, I found a study on children with ADHD and a possible impairment in habituation. The objective was "to investigate whether children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder show impaired habituation to peripheral stimuli." the study was proven true in their conclusion stating their results showed children with ADHD have impaired visual habituation and contributes to off-task behaviors in children with ADHD.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15209220/

Post 3 | Classical Conditioning

 

    Pavlovian Conditioning or Classical Conditioning is a type of adapted realization that happens due to the subject's natural reactions, instead of operate molding, which is dependent upon the unshakable activities of the subject. It impacted the way of thinking in brain research known as behaviorism. This was found by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a learning procedure that happens through relationships between an ecological stimulus and a natural occurring stimulus.

• There are three phases:

- Before Conditioning: an unconditioned stimulus is combined with an unconditioned reaction. An unbiased boost is then presented.

- During Conditioning: this involves combining a neutral stimulus with a unconditioned stimulus.
Soon after, the unbiased stimulus will become the conditioned stimulus.

- After Conditioning: The conditioned stimulus is will set off the conditioned response.











Source:


https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-conditioning-2794859

Post 2 | Matching Law

    The Matching Law is said to be the most significant contending logical record of decision behavior. It sees decision not only as a solitary occasion or an inward procedure of the creature yet as a pace of discernible occasions after some time. It expresses that as opposed to augmenting utility, the living being apportions its conduct over different exercises in definite extent to the worth got from every movement. It contrasts very subtle, yet essentially from sound decision hypothesis in its forecasts of how individuals strive control, for instance, how they conclude whether to swear off quick joys for bigger yet deferred rewards. It gives, through the way of hedonism theory, an amazing clarification of liquor and opiate habit. It can likewise be utilized to clarify natural marvels, for example, hereditary determination and scavenging conduct, just as monetary dynamic.

    The Matching law is hypothetically significant for two reasons. To start with, it offers a straightforward measurement of conduct which is fit for augmentation to various different circumstances. Secondly, it seems to offer a legitimate, prescient record of decision. It consequently challenges any thought of free will. This test is just genuine if the extent of the coordinating law can be reached out to people.
It can also be expressed in the form of an equation as shown below.
                                        

                                       

Source:

https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Matching_law

Post 1 | The Bobo Doll Study

                     
   
    A Canadian-American Psychologist by the name of Albert Bandura conducted a study called the Bobo Doll Experiment. This study on aggression was made to demonstrate how children imitate behavior through the observation of adults.

    The information in the experiment suggests that guys are to some degree increasingly inclined to copy physical animosity—an exceptionally manly composed conduct—than are females, with male subjects repeating more physical hostility than female subjects; there were, notwithstanding, no distinctions in the impersonation of verbal animosity, which is less sex-composed. Also, both male and female subjects were more imitative of the male conduct models than of the female models as far as physical hostility yet were progressively imitative of the equivalent sex models as far as verbal animosity.

• Original Bobo Doll Experiment Video : https://youtu.be/zerCK0lRjp8

                                        

 










Source:

• https://www.britannica.com/event/Bobo-doll-experiment 
•  https://youtu.be/zerCK0lRjp8

Shaping in Operant Conditioning

Shaping is a form of operant conditioning that uses reinforcers to guide behavior towards the desired behavior. Operant conditioning involves learning behaviors through reinforcements. For example, in the clip below shows the science of rat basketball. The trainer shapes the rat’s behavior by reinforcing their positive responses and not rewarding their negative ones. To get a rat to put the ball into the basketball hoop they must go through 3 to 4 months of shaping. First, when the rat learns to touch the ball, the trainer hits the buzzer when they are successful and then gives them a treat. The next step is for the rat to pick up the ball with their teeth and carry it up and down the court. If the rats get it right, they hear the buzzer and receive a treat. In another phase of the shaping process, a platform is added so that the rat can learn how to get the ball into the hoop. Within 3 to 4 months, the rat is trained to compete with another rat in a basketball tournament. It is easy to get the rats to play basketball, but it is harder for them to cooperate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnnulHw5CM

Aversion Therapy

Aversion therapy is based on the principles of classical conditioning. The aim of this therapy is to help an individual eliminate bad habits, self-destructive, and undesirable behaviors by pairing the behavior with something unpleasant. The expectation is that the problematic behavior is a learned behavior, and as such, can be unlearned or changed with the appropriate conditioning. The main stimuli used in this therapy are chemical (nausea-inducing medications), electrical shocks, and imagined aversive situations. Even though aversion therapy is used to help s person eliminate unwanted behaviors, two of the most common programs of this treatment approach over the years are drugs and alcohol programs and rehabilitation programs for sex offenders. The video below is a clip from the movie DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story exemplifying this therapy. In this example, White Goodman (Ben Stiller) is a health fanatic who self-created this therapy by pairing his favorite food, a donut (an aversive stimulus) with a painful shock (a stimulus that elicits an undesirable response).  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcd7w7NOR3A

Fixed Action Pattern

All animals function on innate behaviors, even in human beings. We are genetically predisposed to performed certain behaviors. It is hard-wired into our brains. The simplest form of instinct is a fixed action pattern. A fixed action pattern is a sequence of unlearned acts linked to a sign stimulus. The behavior is fixed because it is unchangeable. An instinctive stereotype sequence of behavior that once triggered usually goes to completion. The clip below showed an example of such behavior occurs in the three-spine stickleback fish. During mating season, males developed a red spot on their belly side, and this naturally triggers aggressive behavior towards other males during this time. The way male sticklebacks defend their nesting territories from other males is a fixed action pattern. During breeding season, males’ sticklebacks who have red belly build a nest and entice females who do not have a red belly to enter and lay eggs. If another male appears, it triggers the nesting male to attack. Interestingly, if an unrealistic fish model with a red underside is introduced, the same aggressive behavior is activated. If a realistic stickleback model without any red is presented, the male does not attack. Therefore, the red belly is the sign stimulus that triggers and elicit a fixed action pattern. These patterns are innate, they are not learned. In the case of sticklebacks, the hard-wired behavior helps the males pass on their genes by chasing off other males who might try to fertilize the eggs or might try to endanger their young.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOiQrlbDAz8

The Time Out Strategy (Chapter 9)

https://psychologybenefits.org/2014/12/10/what-every-parent-should-know-about-timeouts/

A timeout, like many discipline device, is intended to change the actions of your child. Timeouts are extremely successful when used properly to ensure success. Time out is considered a negative punishment which means a desired stimulus/item is removed after an unwanted behavior is shown, resulting in the behavior being seen less in the future. 

Using time outs are often misused. Many of us, including myself thought it was just sending the children to sit in the corner or somewhere alone, isolating them from everything and anyone else. The article that I have listed above, explains how time outs can turn out to be beneficial when used the right way. "Attention feeds behavior. So, to stop the behavior, create a brief break in all types of attention – demands, threats, explanations, rewards, hugs – everything". 

listed below are ways time out sessions can be beneficial and help eliminate the unwanted behavior:

1. Brief
2. Immediate
3. Done in isolation
4. Administered calmly
5. Administered without repeated warnings
6. Praised when completed
7. Followed by a return to the task that was interrupted by misbehavior and timeout

Obsessive Complusive Disorder in Children

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=148&v=TW2Lsk5MMWw&feature=emb_title

- https://www.anxietycanada.com/disorders/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/

In this youtube video, we learn about OCD in children and how it affects their lives. In the video, it talks about the difference of obsession and compulsive and the different thoughts they have with each one. An example used in this clip for obsession is "scary or gross thoughts". In the clip, they talk about how a child can be obsessed with the thought of having a disease and they start to wash their hands for hours and hours of the day (compulsion). Children with OCD my experience issues in schools/grades, friendships, personal hygiene, and bedtime. 

Behaviorism strategies for the classroom

Behaviorism can be looked at as another way to manage your classroom. When in a classroom, there has to be some way to control and manage students behavior and actions that will benefit their grades and well being in the class. One example of managing the classroom is using a behavioral chart. When my niece was in first and second grade they had one of these and in my opinion I find it extremely helpful. Each student has a chart on a wall. The chart is numbered and labeled for each month and has slots inside for a colored paper.

Green: Excellenet 

Blue: Good 

Yellow: Ok 

Red: Bad 

If a student received all green and blue for the month, there were able to choose between a small prize or free snack from the lunch room.

If a student received all green they were able to pick between a homework pass or 2 points on their spelling quiz.

If a student received all yellow for the month parents were alerted and a before recess they had to write at least 2 sentences on how to better their behavior 

If a student was to get all red, parents are alerted as well as recess being taken away. 

I find that this example is helpful, especially for younger students because it pushes them to do and be better in the class. No kid wants to be all red, every child wants to be able to go outside and play with their friends. This chart is a boost to help kids maintain their behavior not just in the class but as well as in their own home.

Clever Hans and Maggie

Under the umbrella of comparative cognition is an animal’s ability to understand quantity or numerosity. In the late 1800s a German math teacher successfully taught his horse Hans how to answer mathematical questions by tapping his hoof on the ground. He could answer addition and subtraction problems and could keep track of dates on the calendar. A psychologist, Oskar Pfungst was very skeptical and observed Hans doing his tricks. He found that Hans could not solve mathematical equations but instead was very good at reading facial features of the questioner. If Hans was asked to tap out the answer to 2 + 3, he would start tapping, the questioner would begin counting and unconsciously dip their head or move some part of their body, this would signal to Hans that many taps was the correct answer. In all of this, Hans was portraying a precise form of stimulus discrimination, but it is impressive, nonetheless. Similar to Hans clever acts is Maggie the Jack Russell who, in the video, is up against 7-year-olds in a mathematical competition that is very amusing to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGWAZtD3IsQ

Systematic Desensitization

Chapter 5 discusses phobias and how to treat them. Phobias are a form of classical conditioning. A fear response can come from a neutral stimulus that is associated with an aversive stimulus. This fear conditioning can make someone determined to avoid a dangerous situation. But this can be exaggerated, by becoming fearful of non-dangerous events. These extreme and irrational fears are phobias. Treatments for phobias have been highly successful and are still used today, especially systematic desensitization. Joseph Wolpe conducted research of fear in cats exposed to electric shocks. He found that the cats refused to eat in the room where the shocks occurred. To eliminate this fear, he fed the cats in rooms that were gradually made similar to the one they were shocked in, and eventually they were able to eat in the original room again. Systematic desensitization pairs relaxation with fear inducing stimuli in three parts. The first is training in relaxation, such as meditation or square breathing. Next is creating a hierarchy of imaginary scenes that induce fear, this would involve making a list of least fear inducing to most then rating them. In the case of arachnophobia, the least fear inducing step would be to think about spiders and then eventually, accomplish the most fear inducing step, holding a spider. The last step is using the relaxation techniques when attempting the fear inducing steps of the hierarchy. If this step is repeated from the least fear inducing step to the most, the fear will have been eliminated. The attached video is a really good source in explaining systematic desensitization.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQLyZuA_Us

Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

In Chapter 3, we learned about Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment. Classical conditioning, as defined by our textbook, is a stimulus eliciting a response because it has been associated with another stimulus. Pavlov’s experiment focused on salivation as the initial step in the digestive process. It was a basic procedure where a dog was trained to salivate to the sound of a metronome. The unconditioned response was the salivation of the dogs in response to the taste of food because it occurs naturally, and the food would be the unconditioned stimulus. The metronome sound is considered the neutral stimulus in response to salivation because it does not naturally elicit its response. While conditioning, the metronome sound is presented right before the food, which is accompanied by salivation. After the procedure and conditioning, since the metronome was paired with the presentation of food, the sound of it now elicits a salivation response. The metronome is considered the conditioned stimulus and because salivating to its sound was trained, it is the conditioned response.

                The video that I am including plays on this research. When Jim reboots his computer, he offers Dwight an altoids mint. He does this every time he reboots his computer until one time he does not, and Dwight holds out his hand for a mint without being offered one. In this case, the neutral stimulus is the sound Jim’s computer makes when it reboots, the sound then becomes the conditioned stimulus. Dwight’s expectation to receive a mint is the conditioned response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11zRl9bWY_A

Behaviorism and Cognitivism post #2

 Behaviorism is one of the most effective learning theories. Behaviorism works because it focuses on observable behavior. Thus, teachers utilize this technique because of its effective positive and negative reinforcement. For example, granting the class a pizza party at the end of the week for their good behavior. behaviorism techniques are also good to treat known human disorders such as autism, anxiety disorder, and antisocial behavior. Cognitivism became dominant over behaviorism because it explores deeper into regular human processes. We know humans are able to do things such as decision-making, thoughts, and express ideas. Cognitivism focuses on identifying these mental  processes

Food Aversions vs Picky Eating

As we learned, food aversions are put into our bodies in order to help protect us from foods that may potentially harm us. This goes right along with taste aversions. This articles talks about how many children may have a food aversion but it is getting overlooked because children are normally picky eaters. Many parents may not recognize that if something was not appealing once to the child, they may deem it to be something that is harmful to them and have a food aversion. If the child is willing to eat a food every once in a while, but something they like better is presented as well, that is where picky eating comes in. In a food aversion, the child will not eat the food even if it is the only thing that is available to them. In the end, these problems may need to be checked out by a doctor if it affecting the child's overall nutrition.
Food Aversion vs Picking Eating

Contagious Behaviors

This article talks about different behaviors that are commonly contagious.  First things first, yawning. Everyone knows that when you yawn, more than likely there will be someone else in the room that will yawn alongside with you. Even watching someone yawn on tv or in a video can cause you to yawn yourself. Another common behavior that is contagious is frowning or crying. I know I personally can start to feel empathy once I see someone frowning or crying. I may start even crying myself. This also works for laughing and smiling. Children in fact may use some of these contagious behaviors in order to get what they want from someone.
Some of the other behaviors listed include rudeness in the workplace (which can explain why some workplaces have a reputation of chronic rudeness while others do not), the feeling of being cold, and taking risks.
7 Behaviors That Are Actually Contagious

Coronavirus & Xenophobia

Xenophobia
This article talks about how this whole coronavirus pandemic may have caused us to see a real life version of phobias. According to the article, there has been an increase of xenophobia. This makes sense because of the origin of the virus. I have even seen in my own community. The amount of precaution I see in customers in Shop Rite vs the Asian Supermarket is drastically different. It's not like every Asians person we see is infected with the Coronavirus, and even so- if you do not come into close contact and follow the CDC guidelines, you should be fine. This makes me wonder how long it will take before people will be able to treat Asians as normal people as opposed to disease infected rats again. 
Here is a video related to this: 
There's something spreading faster than the coronavirus...racism | USA TODAY

Bobo Doll Study post #1

The Bobo Doll study was an experiment created by Bandura. the experiment was conducted to see how children can learn through observation and how easy it is for them to imitate what they see. children were too observed adults acting aggressively towards bobo dolls which were inflammable toy dolls that would come back up when pushed down. the study found that the children did in fact imitate what those adults were doing to the dolls, especially if they were put in the same room as the previous adult model was. children performed the same acts while using the same weapons. furthermore, the children that saw the models get punished for their aggressive actions towards the dolls were less likely to perform those aggressive behaviors.

Top 10 Human Reflexes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRIs7soaT-U&t=448s

In this video it describes what was spoken about in chapter three. It speaks about the many instincts and reflexes that we humans tend to have. When you think of reflexes you may naturally think of say touching something hot and pulling away quickly as a normal reaction, or reflex we have. Or possibly when a doctor hits you below the kneecap and are leg tends to shoot forward. However, this video describes the many reflexes we did not even know we had! Reflexes as you may know are very essential and necessary to protect us when we sense danger and need to act quickly. This video show's that along with some other traits we have that we never really put a lot of thought into and wouldn't even know to label as a reflex!