One of the concepts I will remember the most from Intro to Psychology is operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a form of learning that is controlled by the consequences of the organism's behavior. These consequences consist of either reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement increases the target behavior, while punishment decreases the target behavior. On top of this, reinforcement and punishment can be either positive or negative. Positive refers to adding a stimulus, while negative refers to removing a stimulus.
I was intrigued by operant conditioning because of its strong influence on animal training. As an owner of two dogs, I was curious about finding ways to better train my dogs. I learned that positive reinforcement is the best methodology. The basic premise of positive reinforcement is: dog performs behavior and as a result, dog gets rewarded. When training a dog a new trick, you should reward him every time he performs the behavior. After the desired behavior is consistently occurring, you should decrease the payment of the behavior, only focusing on the dog's best behavior. Once the behavior is learned, you should reward your dog intermittently. Your dog won't know for sure when he'll get a reward so he's going to offer his best effort all the time. Once you understand the basics of operant conditioning, the better you can train your pet. For more information about dog training using operant conditioning, visit this website.
chan0984: April 2012 Archives
When we think of aggression, we typically associate it with males. I picture in my head guys exhibiting physical violence against other guys. For the most part, this is true if it pertains to physical aggression. Researchers believe that males tend to display physical aggressiveness more than females because males have higher levels of the hormone testosterone. However, the correlation between testosterone and aggression is quite controversial because aggression may cause higher testosterone rather than the other way around. Regardless, research has shown that testosterone has a positive correlation with aggression.
Despite the popular belief that males are more aggressive than females, it has been discovered that girls tend to be higher than boys in relational aggression. Relational aggression is a form of indirect aggression that's displayed by acts of gossiping, social exclusion, and nonverbal putdowns. Girls tend to show their aggression through actions that "stab others in the back." One of the possible reasons for this is because of the cultural acceptance of aggression. Girls receive more negative feedback for physical aggression during their developmental years. This makes indirect aggression more socially acceptable for girls. More information regarding gender differences in aggression can be found here.
I thought it was interesting that the gossipy behavior that girls tend to use is a form of aggression. I suppose in a way that it's their way of displaying their anger and getting back at others rather than fighting physically. Additionally, girls tend to be weaker than guys so they're not as capable of using physical force. I still wonder what factual evidence there is that supports the stance that girls have higher relational aggression. Is it more observational? Nevertheless, it appears that males tend to display physical aggression more and females tend to display relational aggression more.
