Behaviorism Module 9 Blog Post 2

Interpret and explain what is happening in the video. Be specific. What is being paired and how is it being reinforced or punished?

Classical conditioning is occurring in this video, every time the sound on the computer occurs, Jim (I think that is his name on the show, I looked it up online because I do not watch the show myself. If Jim is not his name, well I mean the other character in the video!) asks Dwilight if he wants an altoid. Dwilight says yes, and then every time the sound on the computer occurs, Jim asks Dwilight if he wants an altoid. This happens every time for a while, and then one time when the computer makes the sound, Jim just sits there and does not ask Dwilight if he wants an altoid, and therefore Dwilight puts his hand out, as if Jim were going to hand him an altoid. The unconditioned stimulus is the sound that the computer makes, which was previously an neutral stimulus, and the unconditioned response is Dwilight putting out his hand to receive an altoid, which becomes a conditioned response. The sound of the computer is being paired with receiving an altoid. It is being reinforced through positive reinforcement because Jim is giving Dwilight something that he desires, the altoid, when the computer makes the sound.

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 students what specific words mean through pictures. When a student sees a picture of a cat, I would have them say the word “gato” (means cat in Spanish), and keep on doing this with several different animals. Every time the student would say the correct word in Spanish for what the picture is, I could give them a Starburst or some other small candy. Every time that I would show them the picture of a cat, they would say the word gato, and so on. The neutral stimulus would be the picture and the unconditioned stimulus would be the candy, and the student would begin to expect the candy after getting the words correct. After a while, an conditioned response would occur when the students expect to receive a piece of candy when correct. This scenario does not look very different than the video. The learning of the animals and Spanish words would be reinforced through positive reinforcement because I would be giving a student something desirable (candy) when they are correct.