B. F. Skinner best described the consequence of a particular behaviour on the future occurrence of that behaviour in four methods of Operant Conditioning, which can either strengthen or weaken behaviour. Positive and negative reinforcement are used to strengthen, while punishment and extinction are used to weaken behaviour.
Utilising positive reinforcement, a reward is offered when the subject exhibits the behaviour desired. Alternatively, the same desired behaviour could be achieved by removing a negative condition, known as negative reinforcement. Punishment forces a subject to reduce its activity by applying a negative condition at times when the desired behaviour is not exhibited. It promotes the subject to exhibit alternative behaviour. While extinction uses neither a positive nor negative condition to certain behaviour that ultimately results in the subject ceasing the activity completely, because while no punishment occurs, no positive reward exist either.
After peculiar activities of the imposter were evident on ILW, it was hard not to sense a slight detachment by Doug. I wondered if he had lost confidence in my trustworthiness, after others speculated that I could have been the person behind the strange Clark Reynolds post. Doug assured me that he believed I wasn't responsible and that he was not engaging in avoidance behaviour, but felt the need to press on with his work for fear he'd place his career in jeopardy. He'd already aptly referred to our chats as having the same affect on him as a sip would be to an alcoholic. One sip was enough to get him drawn back in, and he couldn't take that chance, at this point, with his trip to San Diego imminent and lots of preparations to make.
Still, with that trip looming in the nearing weeks, I tried not to appear disappointed, but it must have been clear to him that I was a little anxious that without contact information for him out West, we could lose touch. I'd shared that my greatest concern was that after becoming close with someone he could go "poof" and that would hurt me terribly ~ there'd been too many unannounced goodbyes in the last year and I'd been left completely alone and did not wish to go through that once more.
I knew from earlier conversations that his introduction to the tourist world many years ago was out in the Pacific NorthWest in San Juans, a spot just north of Seattle. He said he'd worked on location logistics for a commercial using whales. I suspected that it could be a facility like Sea World, but he didn't specify. Nonetheless, seeing my apprehension he tried to convey his preference that I relax a little bit. He recognised that his reluctance to be as open as he had wanted to be, a left over from a prior hurt, had caused me to be more insecure than he'd hoped. He shared the principle of Operant Conditioning, alluding to the fact that he'd used it in the past when training.
"I can make a dog do just about anything" he went on. "There are two ways. One is to reward behaviour that I want, the other is to use a stick". Of course method two, employing punishment or threat of punishment, could derive the same result, but Doug continued to say, "I hope you can guess which method I'd prefer". I was convinced it'd be the positive reinforcement and promised that I'd try a little harder not to be nervous. His last statement made that promise so much easier.
Utilising positive reinforcement, a reward is offered when the subject exhibits the behaviour desired. Alternatively, the same desired behaviour could be achieved by removing a negative condition, known as negative reinforcement. Punishment forces a subject to reduce its activity by applying a negative condition at times when the desired behaviour is not exhibited. It promotes the subject to exhibit alternative behaviour. While extinction uses neither a positive nor negative condition to certain behaviour that ultimately results in the subject ceasing the activity completely, because while no punishment occurs, no positive reward exist either.
After peculiar activities of the imposter were evident on ILW, it was hard not to sense a slight detachment by Doug. I wondered if he had lost confidence in my trustworthiness, after others speculated that I could have been the person behind the strange Clark Reynolds post. Doug assured me that he believed I wasn't responsible and that he was not engaging in avoidance behaviour, but felt the need to press on with his work for fear he'd place his career in jeopardy. He'd already aptly referred to our chats as having the same affect on him as a sip would be to an alcoholic. One sip was enough to get him drawn back in, and he couldn't take that chance, at this point, with his trip to San Diego imminent and lots of preparations to make.
Still, with that trip looming in the nearing weeks, I tried not to appear disappointed, but it must have been clear to him that I was a little anxious that without contact information for him out West, we could lose touch. I'd shared that my greatest concern was that after becoming close with someone he could go "poof" and that would hurt me terribly ~ there'd been too many unannounced goodbyes in the last year and I'd been left completely alone and did not wish to go through that once more.
I knew from earlier conversations that his introduction to the tourist world many years ago was out in the Pacific NorthWest in San Juans, a spot just north of Seattle. He said he'd worked on location logistics for a commercial using whales. I suspected that it could be a facility like Sea World, but he didn't specify. Nonetheless, seeing my apprehension he tried to convey his preference that I relax a little bit. He recognised that his reluctance to be as open as he had wanted to be, a left over from a prior hurt, had caused me to be more insecure than he'd hoped. He shared the principle of Operant Conditioning, alluding to the fact that he'd used it in the past when training.
"I can make a dog do just about anything" he went on. "There are two ways. One is to reward behaviour that I want, the other is to use a stick". Of course method two, employing punishment or threat of punishment, could derive the same result, but Doug continued to say, "I hope you can guess which method I'd prefer". I was convinced it'd be the positive reinforcement and promised that I'd try a little harder not to be nervous. His last statement made that promise so much easier.
"El, I am NOT, NOT, NOT going to abandon you".
For the first time in years I felt safe, very hopeful and extremely content.
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