Motivation and Hunger

Tonight you are reading about eating disorders and included in the reading tonight is a section on obesity and weight control.  As we all know, obesity is becoming a major factor in many developed countries and an issue that many governments are currently examining.  First, define obesity and explain some social effects of obesity, as well as the physiology of obesity in regards to fat cells.  Secondly, one of the main issues that faces many developed nations is educating individuals on proper eating habits and changing current habits, which is extremely difficult.  Pretending you have unlimited funds, develop a realistic plan that would educate high school students on proper eating habits, keeping in mind who you are dealing with and how to reach them.  This is due by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 1/25/2012.

Operant Conditioning

As we have discussed conditioning is learning through associations.  Classical conditioning is learning through the association of two stimuli in which the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus.  Operant conditioning is similar because we are making associations.  The difference is we are making associations with some sort of reinforcer or punishment rather than a stimulus.  These reinforcers can range from a variety of items or consequences.  Operant conditioning is seen on a regular basis for training purposes.  For this post I want you to discuss an example of operant conditioning from your own life experiences and identify the following:
- The behavior
- The reinforcer or punishment
- Whether that outcome acted as a positive reinforcer, a negative reinforcer,
or a punishment
- What happened to the behavior over time. That is, was the learning
maintained or did it become extinct? How did this happen?
- What acted as a discriminative stimulus?
- What schedule of reinforcement was operating? (continuous or partial? If
partial: fixed or variable, ratio or interval?)

This post is due by Wednesday morning and I expect thorough answers. 

Classical Conditioning in Advertising

It has been a while since we have used this, but with a new year it is time to get it rolling again.  In class, we have been examining classical conditioning and its principles as we gain a stronger understanding of behaviorism.  Behaviorist techniques have been used in advertising since the early 1900's.  Even the great behaviorist John Watson branched into this area and was very successful with using his behavioral techniques to get people to buy products.  Your assignment is to analyze the use of classical conditioning in advertisements and explain how it is used and why it is so effective.  Along with this, I want you to use classical conditioning and pick a product and explain how you can use classical conditioning to sell the product.  The due date for this assignment is Friday by 8:45a.m.  Have fun!