Dwight's Theory Of Operant Conditioning

Humans are peculiar creatures. We are born with personalities and predispositions that make us “who we are”. That determine how we approach the world. But so much of our behaviors are learned, acquired and developed. The question is “how”? How do we pick up these little tidbits of information and retain them? More importantly, how do we gauge their effectiveness and decide whether to incorporate them into our personal life strategy?
I love the show “The Office”, I find it hilarious. My favorite aspect of the show is the banter between Dwight and Jim. Dwight and Jim are competing paper salesmen at an east coast paper manufacturer. Jim battles the monotony of his day by playing pranks and picking at Dwight’s somber, analytical approach …show more content…
Skinner explored this theory of operant conditioning that says the strength of a behavior is modified by said behavior’s consequences, whether they be reward or punishment. In my case, a punishment of fine and citation modified my behavior of speeding based on my aversion to the negative disciplinary measure that behavior brought on. Both classical and operant conditioning are both forms of behavior learning theory. Information processing approach likens our sensory system to a computer in that we take in info through one or more of our five senses. Our minds in turn perform operations on that info, we gauge its relevance, its importance, we value its influence on our being and then store it in a memory bank to be called upon when we need it. Here is how it works, the other day I was walking through a store. As I passed by a girl she was wearing a familiar scent, Armani Mania. Immediately my mind was taken back to the moment in time when that smell mattered most to me. In my junior year of high school I dated a young lady that wore that specific perfume. I haven’t seen her in years, she was my first schoolboy crush. I didn’t realize it until that day, but it seems that she has a special place in my heart. My memory of her is preserved in the form of her smell in my heart and mind. I could literally picture her at 17, hanging out with me after our high school’s football game. She is a part of my long-term …show more content…
Social cognition theory hinges on three assumptions: learning occurs by observing others, learning may not include behavior change but knowledge instead and personal characteristics are important to learning. Not only does this theory make the most sense to me, but it is the one I most readily identify in my own development. I spent my life being raised in a traditional, southern cultured, “church on Sunday” home. As a teen however, absent a real personal identity, I began cultivating an image of who and what I aspired to portray to my world around me. I picked guys that looked tough, talked tough and committed crimes and I began to emulate their behavior. Keeping in mind I didn’t know how to fight and commit crimes, I had to observe and mimic what I saw. Which is a segway to Banderas triadic reciprocal determination model of causality: the model uses a three point triangle incorporating a personal cognition or thought, taking in consideration the environmental factors and ending with a behavior. The unique aspect of the model is that one can switch up the order of operation on the points and still correlate the process. Using both live and symbolic models I formulated an image and behavior pattern that could not have existed without my implementation of social cognitive