Phsycology

Distinguish between operant conditioning, observational learning, and social learning. How are these different kinds of learning utilized in the work place? Give specific examples for each one.

* Operant conditioning is a way of learning in which the learning process occurs when the person is being rewarded or punished for its behavior. One example of operant conditioning would include children completing their chores and being rewarded for doing them; this may change the kids behavior and might cause an interest in doing such task.

* The observational learning process, or social learning, occurs through observing and imitating others. For example, take a group of children and show them a violent movie, after watching it, they will start imitating moves or acting just like how they saw it in the film. Also, this behavior might be seen when a role model appears.

These different learning processes might be used in the work place; for operant conditioning, workers can be rewarded when they achieve a certain goal or either punished for not reaching it, for observational learning process, or social learning, workers sometimes observe another person doing something and then they proceed to do them themselves as well.

How is prejudice developed and nurtured through classical and operant conditioning? Give specific examples that demonstrate each kind of learning.

Prejudice is the act of pre-judging something or forming a final judgment without any experience.

-In classical conditioning, it is developed by presenting an attribute from one or many stereotypes, such as wearing clothes that look filthy, making you look like so, people will often link them with that characteristics and thus, developing a prejudice.

-In operant conditioning, it is the alteration of a behavior by modifying the consequences that will follow it, for example: suppose that a worker did not complete his work on time and his boss forgives him, but then a co-worker does the same and the...