Operant Conditioning and Observational Learning

When you were a child, how did you learn the following items?

  • Looking both ways before crossing the street;
  • Saying please and thank you;
  • Standing quietly in line at school;
  • Taking turns; and
  • Not interrupting others while they talk.

artist iconPerhaps you learned these behaviors as a result of receiving praise or punishment, or by watching how others acted. Did you seem to respond better to positive or negative consequences? Visualize a time when you remember learning one of these rules. Then, re-create the scenario by drawing a representation of the events.