Short essay

Question No . 1

My friend 's assertion regarding psychology is not accurate . Psychology is not simply common sense , it is a science . This discipline seeks to understand , explain and even predict human thought , behavior and experience and to achieve this end it employs various methods of research namely experiments , correlational and longitudinal studies and others . Human thought and behavior cannot be explained and understood by mere common sense . No matter how intelligent we are , we cannot fully explain why people think , act and behave the way they do Question No . 2

p I would like to change a school bully 's behavior through operant conditioning . In this kind of conditioning , learning occurs as a result of the consequences of our actions . There are four kinds of reinforcement namely positive reinforcement , negative reinforcement punishment and extinction . Reinforcements are used to increase or decrease the probability of a specific response . To achieve my goal of changing a bully 's behavior , I will use punishment as reinforcement

Punishment , as opposed to negative and positive reinforcement , is aimed towards lessening the frequency of a certain behavior by adding an aversive stimulus . Extinction is also aimed at lessening the frequency of a behavior but the method is removing something in to achieve this end

In this case , I will put the bully in detention every time he does the act of bullying . Reinforcement has certain schedules which are divided into continuous and variable schedules . Reinforcement in a continuous schedule , as opposed to variable schedule , is...