Applying Psychology Final

Applying Psychology Final

During this psychology behavioral course I have learned new things about myself and behavior and others. I have learned about motives a person might have and how race, gender, and ethnicity play into the social environment creating the motive.

I have learned the difference between science and behavior science. Scientific method is a method I discover I often use in my everyday life. I create an educated guess which is the hypothesis and conduct my research. I use scientific method with my son everyday to figure out his needs and wants. Even though he talks he sometimes talks gibberish, and I have to figure out his body language and the way he pronounces his words to guess what words are close to what he is trying to say. Sometimes this is very difficult and can be a test because he is just learning about how to say words and there meanings. He does not fully understand everything and how the world works since he is almost three. I normally run through different needs like, hungry, thirsty, injury, and a mess in his underwear, most of the time it falls into one of these four. I go down the list and ask if he wants food or drink If not I will ask if he has an injury, if not this I ask if he made an accident, and he will respond to one of these. He is a good talker but in different times of the day he speaks gibberish. Sometimes he will say he wants one thing, but find he meant another. I mainly noticed that my real life as a mother I use scientific method to find the solution.

All living things are the science of biology. Psychology deals with biology as the cause of behavior. When a person learns something is too hot to touch, the person brings the hand back to avoid the pain. When this happens the person is adapting using behavior to learn the cause and effect of the world. Another aspect is how a person perceives the world. This is harder to figure out because this answer isn't always in black and white.

A person's genetics is another aspect of biology. Genes are in the cells of the body and have hereditary information. Genes is what helps determine the person's characteristics mentally and physically. Tests can be taken to determine the affects of behavior by a person's genetics. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a main aspect of biology of behavior. This theory is basically how a person adapts to the environment over time. Darwin's theory helps link humans and other species to help model the evolution process of humans.

Classical conditioning is the process of linking one cue to another. When someone learns something new he or she may have a verbal cue or the person remembers a cue to help remember the process (Morris, 2002). This automatic cue is burned into the brain and is rarely forgotten, and happens on command. Another word for the cue is stimulus. At the beginning of conditioning the person just links one stimulus to another to remember or help motivate the process. The classical conditioning can be negative or positive reactions to the stimulus. If negative the person receives the stimulus and reacts to the main issue he or she had a bad experience with.

Operant conditionings is the process of learning or have learned that doing something either right or wrong causes a reaction of a reward or punishment by someone or something. My example of operant is with potty training a toddler. Toddlers learn by appraisal and reward to go to the potty. Sometimes there is punishment such as scolding to help a toddler know the going in their underwear is shameful and not big boy/girl like. This helps the stimulus that the toddler sees and understands to learn the process. If the toddler goes in the potty they receive a reward for doing well or appraisal. Every toddler loves being told they are such a big boy or girl for doing a good deed.

Mainly classical conditioning is learned automatically and sometimes the recipient does not have any knowledge of the stimulus or the reactions. The difference with operant conditioning is the process is voluntary learned to help receive the reward or to do what's right or asked of to avoid the punishment (Morris, 2002). I think both methods work because there is no right or wrong way to learning something new or changing a behavior. As a child I learned by reward and punishment and this method was used for other family with children to learn the process of reward and punishment.

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