Interpret and explain what is happening in the video. Be specific. What is being paired and how is it being reinforced or punished?
The video shows how Dwight is rewarded with an Altoid every time he hears the computer sound. Dwight eventually comes to expect an Altoid every time he hears the sound. At the end of the video Dwight asks Jim for an Altiod because he heard the sound, and Jim says no. Dwight was conditioned to want an Altoid every time he hears the sound, and the other guy got to laugh.
Now, invent a scenario. Think about how you could teach some kind of content through paired association. Would it look very different? (Think about your language classes, pairing pictures with word meanings, etc.). What would be paired and how would it be punished or reinforced to end up with the desired learning? (Describe the scenario)
I could teach my students to answer more questions in class by putting their name into a raffle every time they answer on Mondays. Hopefully, the students will get comfortable enough with talking in class that they won’t even think about the raffle. Talking in class (on Mondays) would be paired with a possible prize. I could even increase this by giving them two entries for the correct answer. (The most time efficient way to do this would be to have a list of the names and just put a check mark by the name each time they answer. I could have whoever gets the most check marks, but then my time could be wasted by attempts to get the check mark by purposely giving the wrong answer. I don’t think it would look very different. Students would want their choice of the prizes.
I agree with your interpretation of the video. I don't believe a whole lot more needs to be said about that. I like your idea about a raffle but it seems too much is left to chance to really motivate students to pair answering a question with winning a prize. If they were being reinforced by something concrete I believe it would be a more solid example and way to motivate them to participate in the classroom. The response has to be consistent with the stimulus in order for the conditioning to work.
ReplyDeleteI think your scenario has a lot of good ideas, but one of the important tenets of classical conditioning is that the unconditioned stimulus (the raffle prize) has to come right after the unconditioned response (participation in class). Having a raffle later in the week, or even later in the day would be too long a time to separate these two steps. An immediate reward is necessary for this idea to be completely effective.
ReplyDeleteI think the entry form could be immediate, but I really couldn't think or anything else right away.
ReplyDeleteYour description has a lot of words like 'want' and 'expect'. Behaviorists would talk about NOTHING but behaviors. The pair would be 'holding out his hand' and the sound of the computer. The desire or expectation might be true, but it wouldn't be part of the explanation.
ReplyDeleteCan you think of an example that is teaching some kind of content rather than the behavior of talking in class? Can you think of a pair that does not include prizes or candy? (I just want you to be thinking about these things) Good job in considering the implications of using a behaviorist approach. You might want to think about whether this is the BEST way to get students comfortable raising hands. You could also create a classroom culture that values hand raising (just wait for sociocultural theory in a week or so).