How Does Operant Conditioning Affect Classroom Behavior

There is nothing worse than going from a home where you have your own space, more specifically my own bedroom and bathroom. However, a first year student must suffer the shared room and public bathroom with others. People have to learn to adapt to changes all around them, big or small, but also compensate and become considerate for those they live with. I am a night owl, who stays up late through the night, and wakes up late in the morning. Unfortunately, my roommate is the complete opposite, asleep by no later than eleven and up by eight. When I walk into the room late at night, I walk in slowly, close door as quietly as I can, and do my nightly routine (washing my face, brushing my teeth, etc) in the bathroom, instead of using our loud dorm-room …show more content…
Operant conditioning is a learned association between a behavior and a consequence, more clearly, the behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcement and diminished if the behavior is followed by a punishment. If my roommate’s behavior is every single morning that I am in the room, but after the intervention I wish to change to minimize that amount of times she makes disrupting noises throughout the week, for example I would hope to have her only blow dry her hair two or three times a week in the morning. One way I could maximize my results is by using positive reinforcement, which is defined as adding something to increase behavior. Therefore, I would thank my roommate for not making as much noise in the morning as previously done. The second way I could hopefully decrease the likelihood of lots of noise, positive punishment. Negative punishment is when a person takes away something to decrease a behavior. For example, if she started blow drying her hair I could unplug the cord from the outlet. I believe the positive reinforcement would work the best for a better outcome. In order for this to work appropriately, I would need to determine the schedule of reinforcement which how and when a behavior will be followed by a reinforcer. Personally, I would use continuous schedule, which would reward by saying thank you to my roommate after every time she