Final Project: Interview Profile
Final Project: Interview Profile
Lara Dvorak
February 4, 2010
Beh225, Stephanie Robinson
Humans are complex and intricate beings. We all feel, think, behave and look different. However, psychologists and researchers have been developing patterns in how experiences and processes shape the way we are and how we handle certain tasks. There are many variables that shape the way we learn and remember, our attitudes and personality, and what motivates us. To better understand these experiences and processes, I will compare the same characteristics of my own to a young girl named Jenny. We are both close in age, background, gender, race and circumstance. It is important to know how we learn. Once humans understand the process for which something is learned, we can build on this information to learn better and more efficiently. We can learn behavior through rewards and punishment reinforcing particular behavior, such as with operant conditioning. Humans can also learn behavior by reacting to a stimulus such as becoming stressed when a police officer pulls us over. A third type of learning is cognitive learning; where we learn something but the process in which we learn cannot be directly observed because it is an internal mental process. An example of cognitive learning is a child who watches his or her parents driving a car, notice that they stop at red lights. The child learns that a red light means to stop, however; the child themselves do not stop the car and therefore the behavior and learned rule is not observable. When learning a behavior, Jenny and I both prefer to observe the behavior being performed rather than reading about it. In my opinion, observing a behavior being performed allows for us to use more senses to remember information. We can pay better attention to the behavior that is being performed and we can imagine ourselves carrying out the particular behavior. When simply reading about a behavior, sometimes it is difficult to imagine it being
Lara Dvorak
February 4, 2010
Beh225, Stephanie Robinson
Humans are complex and intricate beings. We all feel, think, behave and look different. However, psychologists and researchers have been developing patterns in how experiences and processes shape the way we are and how we handle certain tasks. There are many variables that shape the way we learn and remember, our attitudes and personality, and what motivates us. To better understand these experiences and processes, I will compare the same characteristics of my own to a young girl named Jenny. We are both close in age, background, gender, race and circumstance. It is important to know how we learn. Once humans understand the process for which something is learned, we can build on this information to learn better and more efficiently. We can learn behavior through rewards and punishment reinforcing particular behavior, such as with operant conditioning. Humans can also learn behavior by reacting to a stimulus such as becoming stressed when a police officer pulls us over. A third type of learning is cognitive learning; where we learn something but the process in which we learn cannot be directly observed because it is an internal mental process. An example of cognitive learning is a child who watches his or her parents driving a car, notice that they stop at red lights. The child learns that a red light means to stop, however; the child themselves do not stop the car and therefore the behavior and learned rule is not observable. When learning a behavior, Jenny and I both prefer to observe the behavior being performed rather than reading about it. In my opinion, observing a behavior being performed allows for us to use more senses to remember information. We can pay better attention to the behavior that is being performed and we can imagine ourselves carrying out the particular behavior. When simply reading about a behavior, sometimes it is difficult to imagine it being
References: Axia College. (2002). Psychology: An Introduction. Retrieved from Axia College, Beh225 website.