Psychology Assignment: Rewards, Free Will, and Media Violence

This psychology assignment explores the impact of classical and operant conditioning, referencing Pavlov and Skinner, and discusses the effects of rewards and punishments on behavior, particularly in children. It examines the concept of free will within the context of behaviorism, contrasting Skinner's views with those of Freud. The assignment also analyzes the influence of media violence on aggression, differentiating between inherent aggression and learned responses, and considering the role of parental guidance in mitigating the negative effects of media exposure. The student provides personal reflections, offering a balanced perspective on the discussed psychological concepts and their real-world implications, supported by relevant academic references.

Psychology

6.1
“If a dog can learn to salivate to the ringing of a bell, so can you. In fact, you probably have
learned to salivate to the sound of a lunch bell, the phrase Hot Fudge Sundae, and "mouth-
watering" pictures of food.” (Pavlov, I. P., & ANREP, G. V. E. 1927). If elementary school
children will be given material rewards for giving good performance and their cooperation in the
school, like the classical conditioning theory then it will have various effects on the students
ranging from positive to negative. It seems a good idea in the short run, it will definitely help the
teachers in the school to motivate the kids to behave appropriately, to be regular in the class and
also will help in giving better performance in the studies and other activities. But if attention will
not be paid in the selection of the reward it will make lose interest in the subjects.
Usage of tangible rewards can backfire later in life on the children. Being a parent, I will suggest
that, rewards should not be used until and unless there is a particular reason and if rewards are
being used then they should be used for limited time period. If we talk about the implications of
the rewards in the long run, then it might have a negative impact on the behavior of the child. For
motivating the kids to perform well can be understood, but later on, in life that kid will always
look forward to such incentives. Furthermore, when he is not able to get such rewards and
incentives as he used to get, he may not even want to any work. Until and unless it offers some
rewards and incentive for doing a particular work. Such kids will always look forward to
incentives instead of other benefits that particular work may provide them (Rescorla, R. A.
1988).

References
Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Behavioral studies of Pavlovian conditioning. Annual review of
neuroscience, 11(1), 329-352.
Pavlov, I. P., & ANREP, G. V. E. (1927). Conditioned Reflexes. An Investigation of the
Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex... Translated and Edited by GV Anrep. London.
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem
cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier
lifestyles?. Psychological science in the public interest, 4(1), 1-44.

6.2
1. “To a behaviorist, a stimulus is a reinforcer if it strengthens the preceding behavior, whether
or not the organism experiences pleasure or a positive emotion. Conversely, no matter how
pleasurable a reward is, it is not a reinforcer if it does not increase the likelihood of a response.”
(Skinner, B. F. 1953). The behavior of human teaches us to respond to reward and punishment.
And human usually gives a toffee or chocolate to the kid for good behavior or scold them if they
are doing anything wrong. Right from their starting days, humans have been trained. And once
we learn to start our journey, humans are ready for punishments as well as rewards.
There are two theories namely, classical conditioning and operant conditioning which fulfill the
need of the question. The classical conditioning theory says that it is a modification in the
behavior by which a subject comes to respond in an anticipated way before neutral stimulus that
has constantly been presented along with an undefined stimulus that provokes the anticipated
response.
The operant conditioning theory is a way of learning that comes through punishment and rewards
for behavior. By this punishment and rewards, the suggestion is complete between a behavior,
and it is importance for that behavior.
2. The free will is very tough issue because it shows collision among two different, however it is
also legal perceptions. Within the psychology that there is no consensus as to whether we
really do have free will – many of our field seems to assume that we do not. Skinner does not
agree much on, but one thing they did agree that behavior of human was influenced by insider
and the outsider. Freud says that unconscious fights as reasons of behavior, and Skinner says
about environmental possibilities (Skinner, B. F. 1990).
3. We can see that Skinner work was the answer to the questions like, how human learns, he very
well specified us that genetic matters, pavlovian conditioning matters, and human & other things
that included in the mechanism that allow feedback from the environment so that we can shape
our behavior Skinner called this process operant conditioning. The operant is the performance
that works on environment and by doing this; we can get environment feedback to shape our
behavior by creating this. Example like when I was small, I stuck my finger in electric switch
board that was our behavior and that was a crazy feeling it a kind ok environmental feedback.
And I learn from this that I will never stick my finger again in electrical switch board (Rescorla,
R. A. 1988).

References
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Simon and Schuster.
Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you think it is. American
Psychologist, 43(3), 151.
Skinner, B. F. (1990). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. BF Skinner
Foundation.

6.3
1. Yes violence in the media makes me aggressive but only then if they have any harsh nature to
start with shown in the study. The fight scene or Bloody scenes both do not have the similar
effect on inert characters who respond by seeing totally different scenes.
Aggression is the trait which is developed by the nervous system over starting time from
childhood. Designs of behavior develop harder, and the nervous system formulates to continue
the behavior patterns into adulthood when they become increasingly instructed in personality.
This depends on the person to person how they take media to them. Soft-minded people take it
softly, and aggressive people take those scenes aggressively (Pear, J. J., & Martin, G. L. 2012).
2. Violence is now a day everywhere like in video games, book, movies, and even in a cartoon,
news channels, the internet, etc. and it becomes hard to avoid. This mostly affects the children,
because what they see the learn that. It is now a day become tough to teach our child good value.
If anything that can be done regarding the media violence is that, we can select to what we are
exposing our kids. We can choose that media that reflects on the personal values and can avoid
those media that don’t relate to our own values. “A little boy observes a parent setting the table
or tightening a screw but does not act on this learning for years; then he finds he knows how to
do these things.” (Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. 1963).
Other is that, kids are influenced by their parents, how they react and what they think regarding a
particular media. People can research about the movies, games or various shows even before the
kids try to watch, interact and play, this will help kids in avoidance of the stuff having violence
in it.

References
Pear, J. J., & Martin, G. L. (2012). Behavior modification, behavior therapy, applied behavior
analysis and learning. In Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning (pp. 421-424). Springer US.
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1963). Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. The
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66(1), 3.