Respondent Learning Theory and the Term Paper

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An article in the Journal of Sex Research brings attention to operant conditioning by juxtaposing - comparing and contrasting - it with the social learning theory that Julian P. Rotter developed. Social learning in fact embraces aspects of operant conditioning (which is also known as "radical behaviorism"), and Rotter assumed that "behavior is goal directed and emphasized expectations of reward and perceived values of rewards." Those rewards are the basis for a person to model his or her behavior after the behavior of others. "Rewards for desired behavior are presumed to reinforce that behavior," (Hogben, et al., 1998) Rotter asserted, and that part of his model matches up pretty closely with operant conditioning.

OPERANT THEORY IS the MOST PRACTICAL, APPLICABLE in EXPLAINING DEVIANT BEHAVIOR: In this scholarly article, the authors are alluding to behaviors related to sexual dynamics, in this case spousal abuse. For example, the reward that a deviant husband anticipates (like a feeling of power and control, of dominance over another person) "increases the likelihood of his engaging in that behavior" (Hogben, 1998). If I beat my wife tonight, the abusive husbands thinks to himself, I will have that renewed feeling of satisfaction that I need.

The reward he receives for being a battering husband follows the beating he delivers to his wife, and is typical of operant condition, Hogben explains. The focus for the deviant, the authors write, is on "the expectancy of reward." And while social learning theorists focus on and emphasize "units of behavior" (like cognition and the interactions between cognitions and "environmental contingencies"), operant theorists are specifically interested in the "behavior that produces a given reinforcement" (like a wife who cooks a special dinner and he knows when she cooks that special recipe there will be sexual intercourse afterwards).

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B.F. Skinner was the main researcher who developed operant conditioning and according to an article in the Public Broadcast Service ("A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries") Skinner made his mark on behavioral research when he broke away from the Pavlov "classic conditioning" theory. Pavlov's theory posited that an existing behavior (like a dog salivating for his food) is created by associating that behavior with a new stimulus (such as the ringing of a bell or metronome). But Skinner, a very impressive man in so many ways, opted to prove operant conditioning can be used to shape behavior. Skinner's point was valid in that the rewarding of a partial behavior or a random act "approaches the desired behavior." Typically, a child is rewarded with praise when the child makes a sound that comes close to resembling a word. And then, when the actual word is articulated by the child, the reward has been finalized. Skinner even developed teaching machines that were the forerunners to today's computer-based self-instruction; he was a pathfinder, and his theories hold a great deal of value and respect today.

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