learning and motivation Essay Example

learning and motivation Essay Introduction: In order to study how people learn a new set of behaviors, we are going to apply three learning theories which learned though this course: classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social cognitive theory . ln this paper, only one example would be applied by the theories. The chosen example is a commercial of LNYX body wash which will be further described in the next paragraph. First, we will briefly describe the cases. Then, the application of the theory will be presented part by part from classical conditioning, operant conditioning to social cognitive theory . n each art, we will briefly introduce the major concept of the theories used , followed by the studies on the effectiveness of the commercial. Commercial Content: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=YuvIsaOYr18 The following is the description of the commercial content. The commercial showed that there are two men who were using two different kinds of body wash product. They went clubbing together after us ing the two different body wash products. The man who used LYNX body wash is charm and handsome so that he got many attractions from girls but another man who used other brand of body wash did not. Classical Conditioning: According to the learning behaviorism approaches, there are two forms of associative learning: Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. I would briefly introduce what is classical conditioning and apply classical conditioning in the chosen advertisement. Last but not least, it will be an analysis on the effectiveness of this advertisement with certain related concepts. Classical conditioning is learning through association/ pairing This is a basic form of learning in which one stimulus predicts the occurrence of another. It also involves making a new connection, or association, between events in the environment. Referring to the commercial showed, before conditioning, charming and handsome man was the unconditioned stimulus and naturally elicits to the reflex of the unconditioned response which was got attraction from girls. During conditioning, there was the pairing up between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus. Refer to the commercial, charming and handsome man was the unconditioned stimulus and the LYNX body wash was the neutral stimulus which has no intrinsic meaning to the organism before conditioning. After conditioning, man would get attraction form girls after using the LYNX body wash product. 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Then, the commercials effectiveness would be diminished. Under another situation, stimulus discrimination, the organism does not respond the same way to two similar stimuli as it has learned to distinguish between them. One can distinguish between products of different brands and distinguish that only the use of LYNX can attract girls. So, the effectiveness of the commercial increase as people are willing to buy LYNX body wash in order to get attraction from girls . Therefore, the commercial effectiveness depends on peoples cognition on this advertisement. Operant Conditioning: According to operant conditioning, learning in which the probability of a response is changed by a change in its consequences. (Skinner, 1983)Following the law of effect, if the consequence is positive, or satisfying to the organism, in future with the same stimulus presented again, the same response will be more likely to occur, vice versa. Thus, Skinner said that we learn an association between a response to a stimulus and its consequences with the experiment he did. In this commercial, the stimulus is the use of LYNX body wash; the consequence is become attractive among girls. As we ll know, the consequences attractive here, is positive and pleasant, so people will be more likely to use LYNX body wash. The video shows both types of consequences: reinforcement and punishment. In the video, the man who use LYNX body wash and go clubbing becomes more charming and attracts girls attentions. Being charm is a positive reinforcement. Since Behavior is followed by the delivery of an appetitive stimulus, and it is Increases the probability of that behavior (Skinner, 1969), the delivery of attractiveness after using LYNX body wash reinforces him to increase the behavior of using LYNX body wash. Another man in the commercial, who wears in pink, is using other common brands body wash and going clubbing, he becomes feminine and unwelcome among girls. Removal of attractiveness is the negative punishment since behavior is followed by the removal of an appetitive stimulus, and it is decreasing the probability of that behavior (Skinner, 1969). Therefore, people will not choose to use other brands body wash so as to avoid the unwelcome consequence of removing attractiveness. In order to have an in-depth study on the effectiveness of the commercial based one perant conditioning, we will examine the fulfillment of some important conditions immediately and reinforcer must follow the response. In the commercial popularity among girls (reinforcer) Just followed the response of using LYNX body wash immediately. That means Reinforcers that precede a response rarely have an effect on the response. Moreover, there is no delay in the presentation of popularity among girls after the men using LYNX body wash which preserve the effectiveness of commercial. If the presentation of popularity among girls delayed, the commercial would become less effective as the reinforcers presentation is elayed and the noticed consequence become less rewarding. Last but not least, there are two men using in different brand of body wash but the popularity among girls was only presented when the desired response (use LYNX body wash) occurred. This fulfills the reinforcement contingency which stated that the reinforcer should be presented only when the desired response has occurred. Since there is a strong fulfillment of those conditions for operant conditioning, the commercial is regarded as effective. Social Cognitive Theory: The social cognitive theory force on what and how people learn from one another. There is a reciprocal causation in social cognitive theory stated that the interaction of three variables: environment, person and behavior, affect each other. In order to have a clearer insight on how social cognitive theory is applied in this commercial, we initiate our application from the first step, that is, processes in observation learning. The processes of observation learning included Attention to appropriate models, Retention, Motor Reproduction and Motivation. That means the learner have to pay attention to character in the commercial and remember what the character did. Next, he has to practice Models behavior by using LYNX body wash. If he believe that he will be charming after using LYNX body wash, he will be motivate to keep imitating the Models behavior. Observational learning occurs when an organisms responses are influenced by the observation of a models behavior. Unlike other learning theories, observational learning can be vicarious. In another words, organism simply observes another perform a behavior, notes the consequences, and modifies its own behavior in a future, similar situation. In such, learner observes that the models behavior of using LYNX body wash so as the vicarious reinforcement the model received in the commercial. The learner would then be reinforced by the vicarious reinforcement of Charming and handsome, he would be more likely to imitate the models behavior for the sake of obtaining the same kind of reinforcement in the future. That means, he is going to use LYNX body wash so as to become charming, handsome and attractive to girls. oth self-efficacy and expectancies would affect ones likelihood in imitating the behavior. When one believes they are capable of executing the behaviors successfully, he is with high self-efficacy. Thus, one who got high self-efficacy think that it is easy to get and use LYNX body wash after watching such modeling. He is more likely to imitate the model and using t he product mentioned in the commercial. Expectancies, is about the consequences of a behavior are what render the behavior more or less likely to occur. When one expect to receive a favorable consequence of being Charm and handsome after using LYNX, he is more likely to do so. In order to study whether the commercial is effective, we examine the fulfillment of characteristics of effective models. We found that the model is competent because earners are capable in getting get LYNX body wash. The model behaves in stereotypical gender-appropriate ways as boys generally want to be attractive among girls. to our belief, the commercial will be more effective to boys who seeking for lovers because the models behavior is relevant to the observers situation. as the commercial fulfill such characteristics of effective models, it is an effective commercial form the analysis of social cognitive theory. Conclusion: In conclusion, we had applied all three theories namely classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social cognitive theory in one commercial. We found that the learning effectiveness of the case would depend on different conditions. For instance, in classical conditioning, people would have confusion with different body wash brand thus decrease the effectiveness of the commercial when there is a stimulus generalization; however, commercial would become more effective when there is stimulus discrimination because people could distinguish between different brands which urging them in purchase LYNX body wash. In addition, we can look into some particular conditions and characteristics to scrutinize the effectiveness of the commercial. For operant conditioning, we have examine on some important conditions for operant conditioning like the reinforcement contingency, reinforce must follow the response and immediacy. For social cognitive theory, we have study in some of the Characteristics of effective models: Such as competency, stereotypical gender-appropriate ways and whether the models behavior is relevant to the observers situation. We also noticed that one with high self-efficacy and expectation towards the behavior would also increase the effectiveness of the commercial. Based on the fulfillment of those particular onditions and characteristics of operant conditioning and social cognitive theory respectively, we reckon that the commercial is still regarded as the effective one. Skinner, B. F. (1938). The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: B. F. Skinner Foundation. Skinner, B. F. (1969) Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis TV Commercial from YouTube: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=YuvIsaOYr18 Bibliography Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis Skinner, B. F. (1950) Are theories of learning necessary? Psychological Review, 57(4), 193-216.