What are some of the major theoretical assumptions of operant conditioning that set it apart from other theories of learning? What does this theory explain well about learning, and what does it not explain well?
Review the presentation Learning Theories: Case Studies. Choose one case study to use for this discussion. Using operant conditioning, identify a behavior that the individual could have previously learned. How could the operations of negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, and punishment be used to hypothesize what the person has learned? What kind of intervention would work for this person when using an operant conditioning theoretical framework?
Share ways in which you have seen operant conditioning in action in your own life. When you have witnessed a behavior change or an attempt at a behavior change, how might operant conditioning explain what you observed?
CASE STUDY:
Greta is a 32-year-old single woman who has recently begun dating someone new and believes they could really have a future. There is just one problem. Greta is very afraid of dogs. Her new love has 3 enormous Leonbergers and has said that life wouldn’t be worth living without animals around. Greta knows she has to change.
When Greta was six years old, while she was walking the two blocks to school all by herself, a beautiful shiny black dog was in a yard along her path. Delighted, she opened their gate and rushed to the dog. The dog charged at her and gave warning barks but Greta just wanted to pet it and kept coming. The dog bit her on the shoulder and shook her and dragged her around the yard, not releasing her until a passer-by pulled the dog off her and called 911. Greta sustained some injuries from the bite and had a shoulder surgery to repair a ligament. Throughout the rest of her childhood, Greta developed more and more fears. First, it was anything about hospitals and dogs, other black animals, then loud noises, sirens, first responders, and she struggled with wetting accidents due to fears for quite some time as a child. In college Greta worked through some of her anxieties with a counselor, but she did not address her dog fears as she claimed “I have just become really good at avoiding dogs”.
