Pweeze Mommy

Pweeze Mommy

Axia College of University of Phoenix

How can anyone resist a two year old blonde little girl? What if that that beauty is holding out her hand and saying “pweeze Mommy?” You see, my daughter Ashley, has learned what is called an operant behavior. Operant Conditioning was studied greatly by psychologist B. F. Skinner. Skinner believed that animals and people can be conditioned to learn actions and behaviors to either gain a reward or to avoid a punishment.

Skinner studied the behaviors of animals by placing them into a controlled area that could reduce distractions and eliminate irrelevant reactions (Morris & Maisto, 2005). He believed that lessons could be learned using reinforcements. Some of these reinforcements were positive in the way of a reward and others could be negative such as a punishment.

In the case of Ashley, she has seen her older sister come asking for money to play games at the bowling alley. Since her sister often shares the wealth, Ashley has learned that if she too comes and says “pweeze Mommy”, she too can be rewarded with her own dollar to go and spend.

Operant conditioning can also be the result of a punishment instead of the hope of a reward. For instance, when a young child is learning to cook on the stove they must learn that the surface of the stove becomes very hot. While an adult can tell them many times, inevitably the child will end up touching the surface anyway. After being burned the first time the child will learn to be more cautious the next time they are cooking. This operant behavior is the result of a punishment of getting burned. While not a pleasant experience a lesson is still learned by the child.

Skinner spent many years in the study of operant conditioning and his studies really make sense when you stop to think about it. The next time that beauty walks up and says, “pweeze Mommy”, are you going to exercise your operant conditioning and give her the reward in exchange for the smile you...