Ecological Validity In Psychological Research Essay

Introduction Learning enables you as an individual, to gain more knowledge about something which you have never learned about. Learning also has to do with past experiences which are influenced by behavioural changes (Weiten, 2016). There are different types of ways to learn; through, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning which will be discussed and analysed in the essay.   Behaviourism Behaviourism is considered one of the main subjects in psychology and the two main people who founded behaviourism were, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F Skinner and Ivan Pavlov who were famous for the work they did on classical and operant conditioning (Moderato & Presti, 2006). According to Moderato and Presti

This assignment includes; Strengths, examples and weaknesses of the following psychological research; Bandura et al, Skinner & Loftus and Palmer. In order discuss and come to a conclusion as to why ecological validity is important in psychological research. It is important to note that; Ecological validity is the degree to which behaviours reflect the behaviours of everyday life. In Chapter 3 Bandura et al demonstrated whether children were witnesses to an aggressive display of play.

In contrast with Classical Conditioning, Skinner introduced Operant Conditioning to conduct research on shaping one’s own behaviors through two kinds of consequences: reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is the consequences that increase the chance that the behavior will occur again in the future. Two kinds of reinforcements he identified were positive reinforcement (stimulus that favors the outcome, such as praise) and negative reinforcement (the removal of unpleasant stimulus to increase recurring behavior). Punishment also plays an important role with Operant Conditioning. Punishment is the consequences that decrease the chance that the behavior will occur again.

Operant conditioning is accredited to a psychologist named B.F. Skinner. He is well known for his operant box experiment, also known as the Skinner Box. The Skinner Box is this experiment was used to train rats to tap a lever to collect some type of recompense, like a sugar pellet. Skinner discovered with his rat experiment, that animals could be trained to

(eg.:social, emotional, cognitive, physical) Peppa Pig helps with language, cognitive, and emotional development.     B.F Skinner was a behaviorist who developed the operant conditioning theory. Operant conditioning is a learning experience which occurs when an action is conducted and is followed by either a positive or negative consequences. The consequence will determine if the individual is likely to repeat the action or not.

Nevertheless, Skinner points out that children learn nothing from the punishment. Instead, they may start to work out how to avoid it (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Another concept is classical conditioning (classical behaviorism) that emphasizes on the relation between stimuli and response. This concept embodies in a famous experiment, in which the food is presented to the dog when the bell rings, and the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus for the dog (Nolan & Raban, 2015). Likewise, if children receive toys in the condition that they behave well, then they will probably repeat this behavior to get the toys.

However, although the theory has many strong points it also has its weaknesses such as the fact that the Social Learning Theory is also reductionist in the sense that is ignores biological factors. The environmental approach doesn't look at brain structures or possible learning difficulties and therefore the results collected could lack validity. Finally, one of the main issues with the Social Learning Theory's research studies; in particular Bandura is the fact that it seen as very unethical and also morally wrong to encourage the children to be aggressive. Although unlikely, it is possible there may have been some long-term consequences of encouraging aggressive behaviour in children. Bandura’s study has many widespread implications regarding the effects of the media.

The Positive and Negative of Operant Conditioning and The Most Effective Method There are many ways we can come about in behavior. An American psychologist, B.F. Skinner, introduced the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is known as associative learning and a learning process. The theory is made up of two factors in which behavior is modified through either reinforcement and or punishment.

In chapter 7, I found the concept of punishment to be most intriguing. Punishment is a part of operant conditioning which was theorized by B.F. Skinner. Punishment is often confused with negative reinforcement. However, the main difference between the two is: while the goal of reinforcement is to increase the likelihood of a behavior, the primary goal of punishment is to reduce the chances of the behavior it follows. In 1938, Skinner concluded that punishment produces only temporary suppression of behavior but later research found that effects may be permanent.

Through The Psychologist Eye In Lauren Slater’s book, “Opening Skinner’s Box,” we discover in the first three chapters the mysteries behind a few psychological experiments and the discoveries that three profound psychologists have made. Each chapter is about a different psychologist, the first is B.F. Skinner; a behaviorist who designed a process of learning in which behavior is controlled, he called this operant conditioning. Lauren Slater wanted people to know about his experiment, she read his books, talked to friends and family members to unearth the features behind this man. She found that he was a loving father, who could train animals to do unordinary things, like play the piano for an example, through the processes of operant conditioning,

1. B.F. Skinner: Behaviour modification Positive and negative reinforcements or rewards and punishments are used to modify or shape learner’s behaviour. B. F. Skinner’s entire system is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in the process of "operating" on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this "operating," the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus, called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforcer.

Then, it was B.F. Skinner who made the concept became popular and well-known throughout the world and even pinned the name of operant conditioning to this concept That is why, he is called the Father of Operant Conditioning and his famous experiment, the Skinner Box. Operant conditioning determinants’ are reinforce, nature response and time interval between response and reinforcement. On the other hand, classical conditioning is a learning way that connects between two stimuli which produce natural response. It measures one stimulus that

Skinner mastered. Some think that using Operant conditioning with positive and negative punishment and negative reinforcement works better than positive reinforcement. The positive reinforcement has consequences and comes with a rewarding outlook. This is a consequence that causes a behavior to increase. It would work out better if the adult explains to the child what was done and how to fix it than to punish with negative reinforcement.

Link to reality: Both Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning and Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning can be used every day in an ECCE setting. Today many school systems and childhood authorities follow Skinner’s and Pavlov’s theory by using the approach of positive reinforcement. This encourages good behaviour in the child making the behaviour more likely to be repeated again as they are rewarded and praised for their efforts in reading, writing and general learning. It is important that children’s efforts in a learning setting are rewarded as this will encourage the child to perform to the best of their ability.

In support of his findings, Skinner eventually realized that human beings could not only respond also manage their environment to induce results. However, Skinner and Watson both repudiated that thinking or emotion plays a significant role in determining behavior. Instead, humans appear to learn many behaviors -including languages- through repetitions and positive or negative reinforcement. Scientifically speaking, behaviorism explains how learning takes place. When it is taken into account in the field of language teaching, it shows how languages are learned.