Is this a correct description of how behavior reinforcement works please?

Question

(I'm writing a paper and I want to make sure that I describe it correctly)

Both of my philosophy professor’s answered my question of whether people are programmed and programmable with a “Yes.” My current understanding is that it basically works like this, at some point after conception, but before birth, human [fetuses] begin to perceive and be mentally affected by their environment (which includes some sounds from outside of the mother’s body where it lives). The current understanding in the academic field of Behavior Modification is that we are basically a blank slate at some point, and then an environmental stimulus enters into our awareness in which we must then decide to act on; and we have to decide how we will react.

We decide how we will react based on reward vs. punishment; here’s how it works: Say, for example, a person is walking down the street and suddenly sees a dog for the first time ever (they have never seen or heard of a dog before), what happens during this first ever encounter sets the stage for how the person will view dogs and interact (or not interact) with them in the future.

Ok, so the person is walking down the street and then suddenly sees a dog for the first time ever; if the dog aggressively barks and scares the person, he or she registers this aggressive behavior as scary, and therefore punishing; they will be scared of dogs in the future; and likely to attempt to avoid contact with them, or run from them when they do see one. So the dog’s behavior (or action) affects the person’s behavior, or reaction. And conversely, if the dog were to instead behave in a friendly and fun manner, the person would register and label its behavior as fun, and thus rewarding; they would be likely to react favorably to encounters with dogs in the future.

Say the first dog that the person ever encountered behaved aggressively and so the person chose to run away from it. If the person’s decision to run from the dog saved the person from any further encounter with the dog (possibly being bitten…), then the person’s decision to run would be reinforced by the fact that it worked; it got them what they wanted (away from the dog and safe from injury). It’s the same type of reinforcement that goes on when we lie about something and get away with it; our behavior of lying is reinforced because it in fact helped us to escape punishment.

Ok, so in our example the first dog behaved aggressively, and thus the person now hates dogs. Two months after that first encounter that person has his or her next (unexpected and unavoidable) encounter with the second dog he or she ever sees; if the second dog behaves aggressively towards the person, and the first dog did too, then they will become even more terrified of dogs, and they will probably run away from the second dog too (because avoiding being bitten by the first dog by running away worked for them). If the person chooses to run from the second dog, and their behavior does in fact result in them escaping punishment (being bitten…), then the behavior of running away is again reinforced; each time a behavior gets a person what they want, it is reinforced, and the person gets even more of a feeling that the behavior they chose was the correct one; so they are even more likely to chose to behave in the same way the next time they encounter a similar situation.

Conversely, if the second dog displays friendly and fun behavior instead, then the person will become less afraid of dogs then they were after the encounter with the first dog, and they may not chose to run away from the second one. If they don’t chose to run away, and in fact stay and end up having a good time with the dog, then the idea of dogs being horrible monsters becomes less generalized, and the person realizes that not all dogs are scary beast to be avoided. Thus, a new behavior is reinforced, a new way of dealing with the situation is seen to be correct; the person may now be thinking something like, dogs are sometimes vicious, but sometimes friendly; sometimes I should probably run, and sometimes not.

And so that is the basic way in which we develop our behavior; it is through a phenomenon called reinforcement. The behavior that gets reinforced the most is that which is most likely to occur the next time the person encounters the same phenomenon again.

This is why teachers often give grade-school students that display “good” behavior gold stars; the intention is to reinforce the desirable behavior so that it is more likely to happen again. And governments use money as a way to reinforce the cyclic behaviors of working and purchasing (and staying busy)… Employers frequently employ variations of these so-called “tokens” in an effort to control behavior just the same.

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Thanks so much for any help!

Answer 1

You over-complicate it. We are never in a "blank state" from the point of conception onward because of genetics and because of the natural laws (chemistry, physics, etc) by which the universe operates. In that regard, some of our behavior is predetermined. Once we are formed and begin to cognitively function at some point in our development (precisely when is debatable), our behavior, and the reinforcement of that behavior becomes molded by our environment. "Reinforcement", or the molding / modification / encouragement of human behavior is a consequence of our physiology and neurology. If you wish to understand it better, the philosophical school of thought encompassing it is called PSYCHOLOGY. Therefore you might also try the psychology forum for an additional explanation about behavior reinforcement.

Answer 2

Correct. You construct an idea of reality and experiment with it. If it works you are enforced to go forward with it. If it does not work you are enforced to find another way. In the end what works is enforced and reinforced many times over as it proves it to be of use.

Babies are experts at survival. They need to survive and anything that does this is force enough to do it more. It is a natural process. A really messed up human has survived this way too because that is what reinforced them to survive. We are all this way.

Answer 3

Whoa...this question is way too long. You lost me after the second paragraph.