Operant Conditioning Experiment Essay Example for Free

Operant Conditioning Experiment Essay I chose to involve the 1-year and a couple of months old son of my good friend and neighbor (named Judith) for my Operant Conditioning Experiment. Shawn, as we fondly call the toddler, happens to be extraordinarily shy. He would rather stay around the presence of his mom or dad than enjoy playing with other kids. He shuns most, if not all occasions of interaction with other fellows. I, for my part, have tried to â€Å"sneak† him away from his parents (with their permission, of course), to no avail. Instances in the Experiment I set for myself a modest goal – i. e. , to be able to make Shawn a little more comfortable with the company of someone other than his parents for at least 5 minutes. What I did was to spend some time, about an hour, in my friend’s home after school. I asked my friend to bring Shawn to the living room area, where we would chat while sitting on the couch. In the process, I would give Shawn some cookies (oat meal cookies are his favorite) on the condition that he would sit by my lap. The first day was a complete mess. Judith brought with her Shawn to the living room, but ended up catering to his tantrums. He appeared restless that time. The second day was the formal start of the experiment. Shawn sat near her mom by the couch. I handed him over an oatmeal cookie but he won’t accept. He only got it when Judith convinced him to do so. Come third day, we did the same routine again. I offered Shawn an oatmeal cookie and pulled it back again and again just as he was about to get it. The concept was that I needed to ask him to sit nearer my place before I would give in letting him have the cookie. Still, the experiment proved unsuccessful. I got almost the same results on the fourth day of my experiment. But I was feeling happy that Shawn’s uneasiness with my presence appears to be waning. The fifth day however, I saw a significant development. When I asked him to sit beside me while offering the cookie, Shawn got up to get the cookie from where I was, and sat for a few seconds. He then got up again, holding his cookie, and got back to his mother’s place in the couch. Evaluation of the Experiment Firstly, I must say that I did not meet the goal of my experiment, i. e. , to make Shawn enjoy my company even for 5 minutes. While I got Shawn to become a little less uneasy with my presence, and in fact got him to get his cookie and sit beside me for a few seconds, the fact that I was not able to make him stay with me at least for 5 minutes renders the experiment only as a relative success. Looking back, I have three realizations to make in relation to the experiment. First, I may have set a goal which is too much for Shawn to handle. Second, the experiment duration of 5 days may be too short for someone as timid and shy as Shawn. Third, I realized that Operant Conditioning may entail exploring other motivations to elicit behavioral change. If only I have explored offering him other enjoyable stuff like toys, I may have gotten better results from my experiment. Had I used more appealing reinforcers to help my experiment, I believe that my experiment would have generated better and more successful outcomes.

Essay on Responding to Pain in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

Responding to Pain in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea    In both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, the main characters Jane and Antoinette are faced with hardships that affect each of them in different ways. In the passages below, the authors Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys illustrate that Jane and Antoinette grew fond of inanimate objects in response to the hurt that they had suffered in life. Although Jane and Antoinette appear to have come from painful backgrounds, each deals with her pain in a different manner, and therefore each leads a very different life into adulthood. Because of their varying attitudes towards life and hardships, Jane and Antoinette lived very different life styles despite similarities early in life.    "... I then sat with my doll on my knee till the fire got low, glancing round occasionally to make sure that nothing worse than myself haunted the shadowy room; and when the ember sank to a dull red, I undressed hastily, tugging at knots and strings as I might best, and sought for shelter from cold and darkness in my crib. To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow. It puzzles me now to remember with what absurd sincerity I doated on this little toy, half fancying it alive and capable of sensation. I could not sleep unless it was folded in my night-gown; and when it lay there safe and warm, I was comparatively happy, believing it to be happy likewise...." --from Jane Eyre, chapter 4    "...I left a light on the chair by my bed and waited for Christophine, for I liked to see her last thing. But she di... ..., and Jane Eyre may have had a tragic ending if she had married St. John. However, their approaches to life in response to pain determined the outcomes of their lives. Possibly, if Antoinette had searched for love, be it in a doll or a human being, she may have found it.    Works Cited and Consulted Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1991 Ciolkowski, Laura E.. "Navigating the Wide Sargasso Sea ¨ Twentieth Century Literature. Vol 43. 3. 1997:125-140. Gates, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990. Howells, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 1991. Macpherson, Pat. Reflecting on Jane Eyre. London: Routledge, 1989. Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin, 1968. Wyndham, F. Introduction. Wide Sargasso Sea. By Jean Rhys. London: Penguin, 1996. 1-15. Essay on Responding to Pain in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea Responding to Pain in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea    In both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, the main characters Jane and Antoinette are faced with hardships that affect each of them in different ways. In the passages below, the authors Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys illustrate that Jane and Antoinette grew fond of inanimate objects in response to the hurt that they had suffered in life. Although Jane and Antoinette appear to have come from painful backgrounds, each deals with her pain in a different manner, and therefore each leads a very different life into adulthood. Because of their varying attitudes towards life and hardships, Jane and Antoinette lived very different life styles despite similarities early in life.    "... I then sat with my doll on my knee till the fire got low, glancing round occasionally to make sure that nothing worse than myself haunted the shadowy room; and when the ember sank to a dull red, I undressed hastily, tugging at knots and strings as I might best, and sought for shelter from cold and darkness in my crib. To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow. It puzzles me now to remember with what absurd sincerity I doated on this little toy, half fancying it alive and capable of sensation. I could not sleep unless it was folded in my night-gown; and when it lay there safe and warm, I was comparatively happy, believing it to be happy likewise...." --from Jane Eyre, chapter 4    "...I left a light on the chair by my bed and waited for Christophine, for I liked to see her last thing. But she di... ..., and Jane Eyre may have had a tragic ending if she had married St. John. However, their approaches to life in response to pain determined the outcomes of their lives. Possibly, if Antoinette had searched for love, be it in a doll or a human being, she may have found it.    Works Cited and Consulted Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1991 Ciolkowski, Laura E.. "Navigating the Wide Sargasso Sea ¨ Twentieth Century Literature. Vol 43. 3. 1997:125-140. Gates, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990. Howells, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 1991. Macpherson, Pat. Reflecting on Jane Eyre. London: Routledge, 1989. Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin, 1968. Wyndham, F. Introduction. Wide Sargasso Sea. By Jean Rhys. London: Penguin, 1996. 1-15.

Public Issues and Personal Problems

PUBLIC ISSUES AND PERSONAL PROBLEMS Most of the time, we don’t think of problems we go through as social issues, but when we compare ourselves to others we can see that many of the everyday problems of average people occur on a larger basis in our country. Some are easier to spot such as unemployment, even though it affects each person laid off once the rates get to a certain point it is obvious that the rates are due to economical factors not the characteristics of each individual (Mills 1). I have found that a problem that is becoming more evident in our daily life is a growing use of dangerous supplements in teenage athletes.When I was thirteen I started in my first school sport. I became a runner. I fell in love with the sport. As I grew older it was something that dominated my life on and off the mat. I often found myself in class wishing I were running. Naturally as I became older I also became more a competitive athlete, as did the rest of my friends that ran or played any high school sport for that matter. Talk of being a competitor at state championships or who was favored at the next match often filled the hallways. Generally this competition appeared a good thing to me. I was a better athlete because of that competition.Being a runner I often heard people talk about â€Å"why would you do that to your body? † referring to dropping weight. At first the idea seemed absurd. The conversations with others about what supplements I was taking or not taking took place almost every day. As I spent more time conversing with wrestlers from other school I found the phenomenon was far from isolated to my school or even my state. Pills such as Xenadrine, DHEA, and Androstat where almost a necessary thing. To keep up with the bell curve of students taking the same things everyone â€Å"had to do it. Instead of sticking with these already dangerous or at the very least unhealthy pills people often felt pushed to try even bigger and better things. Over time the use of very unhealthy supplements to drop or gain weight or to gain any kind of edge became almost common. Sadly many of these pills, drinks, and even injections where available to anyone at most â€Å"health food stores. † The long term use of these can have a devastating effect on teens. I have seen the best wrestlers walk off the mat and into the locker room to puke. Thankfully I have never known anyone personally to suffer any long-term effects but I ave often seen on the news and read in the paper about athletes that have. I recently saw on the news that a pitching prospect for the Oriels, Steve Belcher, died from taking Xenadrine RFA-1. It is true that this was not the only factor, but it was defiantly a major contributor. I am familiar with this particular drug as I probably went through two hundred dollars worth in high school. The major ingredient is Ephedrine. Ephedrine is the principal extract from Ma Huang. Ephedrine is a â€Å"beta-adrenergic agonist,à ¢â‚¬  which means it increases heart rate, blood pressure, and thermal energy by burning fat for energy.My experience with this is it is very effective but unless a person is already in good health (which is unlikely if they are taking a fat burning formula) this can be a very dangerous chemical. Such as in the case of Steve Belcher. The company that makes Xenadrine recently released a new formula of the supplement with out Ephedrine in my opinion because this is because Ephedrine is being evaluated by the USDA and may become illegal over the counter. As I made it though high school and I no longer take part in the rush for the hot new supplements to make me perform better I have found that I haven’t even thought about it in a long time.At the time I didn’t even give it a second thought but now I see that supplements that are meant for short term use by grown adults or that are just plain not healthy to use for anyone are finding their way to the hands of athletes mor e often. The need to gain an edge and be the best drives them to do whatever it takes for them to win. I find myself relegated to telling my little brother of the dangers and hoping that these supplements will be pulled from the shelf before more harm is done. Bibliography: Works Cited Mills, C. Wright â€Å"The Promise† Mapping the Social Landscape, Ed Susan J. Ferguson McGraw Hill, 2002. 1-6.

Becoming An Ecologist Is An Exciting Venture Essay

Becoming an Ecologist is an Exciting Venture nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Because of the increasing changes in the environment, a career as an ecologist is an important venture, especially for an earth-science oriented person with a love for nature and animals. With the number of ecological disasters escalating every year there is an ever increasing need for ecologists and people trained in ecology. Along with these disasters there are hundreds of animals and plants that are disappearing off the planet everyday. There is also an increasing demand for a person with the training to take care for, rehabilitate and then return to the wild injure animals, which is the prime responsibility of an ecologist. Ecologists mainly study the ways in†¦show more content†¦nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Pre-training occurs when a person volunteers their services to any organization so that they can get the much needed information that they need to perform their job more efficiently. This information would include how to conduct research, how to track animals, and how to clean up disasters in new ways. Getting to see what the animals and nature that a person will most likely be working with or around or would be like is also one of the job details that they must become fluent in. Many organizations, from scouts to the World Wildlife Foundation, can use the services of a ready and able bodied and able minded people to help them out in their conduction of research and concluding hypothesis. Through these organizations a person can make valuable contacts that can help that person get a job in the environmental field or to get a promotion later on in their career. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Because of the changes in the world around us, a person in the field of ecology must stay focused on all of the upcoming and new technologies in the world today. A person needs to have a formal education of at least a bachelor’s degree. A person will also need at least some experience in conducting research so they will be able to take advantage of certain opportunities in the future. While a person is still living at home, they can find new and inventive ways to apply their knowledge of theShow MoreRelatedCase Studies67624 Words   |  271 Pagesnuggets) Thane Pune (lettuce) Oo’ty (lettuce) Baramati (cheese) Hyderabad (mutton patties) Venkatapur (pickles) Cochin Supplier locations Distribution centres Case 8 McDonald’s expansion strategies in India distributors and joint venture partners and employees had to match the restaurant chain’s quality and hygiene standards before they became part of its system. McDonald’s experience in identifying and cultivating the supplier of lettuce provided an excellent illustration of theRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pagesso much cheaper an alternative. Chapter 6 Earths Green Mantle Analysis Carson continues to build her case with example after example of the havoc wreaked by indiscriminate application of chemicals to the environment. In this chapter, she also ventures further into her overall argument by beginning to relate examples of natural control of unwanted plants by means of insects that are the plants natural and exclusive enemies. The positive note of this chapter is a welcome change from the barrageRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 Pagesplanning are How to implement productive co st reduction How to recognize when regular audits of quality compliance will not guarantee customer loyalty Businesses are growing more intricate and at warp speed. For example, consider the effects of venture capital financing, multiple marketing channel distribution, and entirely new patterns of employee recruiting, development, and training. In addition, product and services launches increasingly require more effective development initiatives. RapidlyRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesglobal history in the twentieth century has often led to its neglect. The fact that the most recent phase of the human experience is usually covered only at the end of a multiterm sequence of world history units has meant that it often ends up becoming a rushed add-on of rather random, abbreviated capsule summaries and general overviews. In view of the fact that no phase of history can begin to match the twentieth century in terms of the extent to which it has shaped the contemporary world,