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Everyone has come across a situation where they want to be able to change the behavior of a person or animal they are dealing with. Teaching children and pets new things can be difficult at times, such as children learning to count or dogs doing tricks. Children and pets often do things that annoy their parents or owners, for instance, when a cat does not use their litter box or when a child colors on the walls of their home. Operant conditioning is one learning theory that individuals use to help train individuals and animals to perform certain tasks or stop doing certain behaviors. Operant conditioning is teaching people or animals to do a certain behavior or discontinue another behavior. According to Olson and Hergenhahn (2009), “Two general principles are associated with Type R conditioning: (1) any response that is followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated; and (2) a reinforcing stimulus is anything that increases the rate with which an operant response occurs” (p. 76). In order to teach a new behavior or decrease an unwanted behavior, it is important to give positive or negative reinforcement, such as rewards or punishments, right after the certain behavior that is being trained or discouraged happens. Positive reinforcement is giving a reward for the individual completing the correct behavior, whereas negative reinforcement is taking something away that the individual would want or punishing them. They are both tools that need to be used in a certain way to promote the right behavior or discourage the wrong behavior during operant conditioning. Positive and negative reinforcement are not necessarily good or bad in itself, but both can be used in a good or bad manner. For instance, giving too much of a reward or having too harsh of a punishment in regards to the behavior would be a bad way to use reinforcements. Positive reinforcement is the most effective of the two forms of reinforcement. According to Coon and Mitterer (2010), “The overall emotional adjustment of a child or a pet disciplined mainly by reward is usually superior to one disciplined mainly by punishment” (p. 241). When dealing with children and pets giving them something positive will promote them to continue them in doing the behaviors that you want because they know that they will get what they want in return. Negative reinforcement can be effective depending on the circumstances, but is so easy to use incorrectly and can turn into abuse if not careful. A scenario that I could apply operant conditioning to shape behavior would be housebreaking my new puppy. This would make sure that he does not ruin my carpet from having accidents in the house or other places that we are visiting in the future. After every time the puppy goes outside to use the bathroom, I would give him negative reinforcement by not playing with him until after he has gone to the bathroom. When he then goes to the bathroom outside, I can give him a small treat right afterwards, tell him that he is a good boy, and play with him for positive reinforcement. The reinforcement schedule for my selected behavior would be continuous as there is no reason for me not to be able to continue giving him positive reinforcement for going outside to use the bathroom. He would get a treat every time as they have ones that work for cleaning teeth and freshening breath. I know that because I am continuing the positive reinforcement into the future there is no risk of extinction happening with this behavior. He is getting the reward in continuing to keep my carpets clean, and I know that I am looking out for his dental health. A part of life is helping others in learning new things or stopping behaviors that are unwanted. Operant conditioning is a theory that can be applied to people and animals in helping them to with this. According to Myers (2005), “Through operant conditioning, subjects associate behaviors with their consequences. Thus, they become more likely to repeat rewarded (reinforced) behaviors and less likely to repeat punished behaviors” (p. 259). Everyone learns differently at their own pace, but using operant conditioning can help them with performing the new tasks normally or stop doing the unwanted behavior as everyone wants to get positive reinforcements and stay away from getting negative reinforcement. References Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2010). Introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behavior (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Myers, D. G. (2005). Exploring psychology (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Olson, M. H., & Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to theories of learning (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.