3.07 Project Milestone

"Levels of Processing"

3.02 Operant Conditioning

The Law of Effect states that the more closely a behavior is followed by a response, the more likely the behavior will be repeated. B.F. Skinner developed an experiment famous for the use of the Skinner Box. This is an operant box containing a bar that an animal can manipulate for food. Results proved the characteristics of operant conditioning- conditioning resulting from actions and their consequences. The animal must be actively engaged to respond; the Skinner Box employed the use of positive reinforcement, which is strengthening a response by following the action with something pleasant. In this case, the animal was rewarded with food (a basic necessity for survival) which provides the greatest incentive to learn. I can use positive reinforcement to train my cat to sit and lay down. The Law of Effect also states that the sooner I reward my cat with a treat for sitting, the more likely the behavior will be repeated. Although this isn't scientific operant conditioning, the traits of this theory can be applied to training my cat at home.

3.03 Observational Learning

Albert Bandura is known as the father of social, or observational, learning, which is learning from observing what's in the environment. In the early 1960s, Bandura conducted what is known as the Bobo Doll experiment. This study involved children and adults who either prosocially or antisocially acted with an inflatable doll. The child's behavior was then recorded. It was found that children who observed aggression responded with aggression, and likewise with amicable behaviors. This experiment proved the concept of imitative learning, which is learning from observation and then copying the observed actions. I use imitative learning when babysitting younger children, often when I am showing them a new skill. In the case of two sisters I work with, I taught the younger sister how to brush hair by letting her watch me brush the older sister's hair. The Bobo Doll experiment supports that if I were to brush aggressively, the younger sister would also learn to brush aggressively. Thankfully I teach the sisters to brush gently by letting them watch me do so firsthand.

3.04 Information Processing

Psychologists Fergus Craik and Rober Talving studied the Level of Processing Effect. This concept encompasses most of information processing and how different methods of processing result in varying degrees of learning. The Levels flow from early learning Acquisition to Fluency, performing the skill slowly, to Generalization where it is difficult to apply the skill to new situations, and finally to Adaptation where the skill can be easily applied under different circumstances. The different levels are either achieved by shallow (surface level) or deep (elaborate) processing. I encounter these concepts almost every day in school. When I skim over a paragraph for reading, the information is being processed at the surface. For my college biology class, I read excerpts attentively and define words from the passage to help achieve deep processing. This elaborate form of processing takes longer, since more effort is required for learning, but it lasts longer (hopefully to the end of year exam) than knowledge from skimming a paragraph.