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Consequences are anything that takes place after a behavior has occurred
Operant Conditioning is defined as a Form of learning which organisms associate their actions with consequences
3 Types of Consequences:
1. Positive ReinforcementIncreases a behavior because the consequence is
pleasant
2. Negative ReinforcementIncreases a behavior because an unwanted
consequence is eliminated
3. PunishmentDecrease in behavior because it is followed by the
arrival of an unpleasant stimuli
Leonard and Sheldon are roommates
Both are genius students at the California Institute of Technology
Both are Physicists
Leonard starts dating Penny
Penny is their neighbor across the hall
She is an attractive blonde waitress and aspiring actress
Sheldon is easily irritated by Penny
One night, Sheldon decides to condition Penny
Every time she performs a behavior he feels is acceptable, he rewards her with a chocolate
He rewards her when she states that she will not talk as much during his t.v. program
He rewards her when she agrees to take her cell phone call out in the hall
Leonard figures this out and tells Sheldon that he has to stop trying to “train” his girlfriend
Sheldon Quotes:
“You weren’t happy with my previous approach to dealing with her, so I decided to employ Operant Conditioning techniques building on the works of Thorndike and B.F. Skinner.”
Thorndike and B.F. Skinner were both psychologists who studied the workings of Operant ConditioningValid? Yes
Sheldon Quotes:
“Are you saying that I am forbidden from applying a harmless, scientifically valid protocol that would make our lives better?”
Operant Conditioning techniques have been validly demonstrated through scientific laboratory studiesValid? Yes
Leonard: “Yes you are forbidden.”
Sheldon: “Bad Leonard!” While squirting him in the face with water
By squirting Leonard in the face with water, Sheldon was actually demonstrating “Punishment”.Valid? They don’t make a comment either
way.
Sheldon: “You know, using positive reinforcement techniques I could train that behavior out of her in a week.”
Leonard: “No.”
Positive Reinforcement is the technique he has been using on Penny – presenting something positive after the behavior.Valid? Yes
Sheldon: “If you let me use negative reinforcement I could get it done before we go to bed.”
Leonard: “You’re not squirting her in the face with water!”
Sheldon: “No, of course not, we’re talking very mild electric shocks. No tissue damage what’s so ever.”
Here they are implying that presenting something negative after the behavior is called “Negative Reinforcement”.
However Negative Reinforcement has to do with removing something negative after a desired behavior has taken place.
Talking about squirting her in the face with water or the use of electric shocks following undesired behavior should have been referred to as “Punishment”.
However, there was a small misstep in using the phrase “Negative Reinforcement” instead of the word “Punishment”
The writers of the show clearly had done some research or had some basic knowledge in Psychology in order to call this “Operant Conditioning” and also to attempt to utilize a lot of the technical terms (positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement).
Overall, a very decent attempt to integrate psychology into a sitcom.
References used other than our Textbook / Notes
www.wikipedia.com After typing in “The Big Bang Theory”Used for information on the specifics of the
characters
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