A person’s behavior affects how they appear in society’s eyes and how it reacts to them. Proponents of the concept of behaviorism believe that the human body begins to behave in a certain way because it was forced to do so. The behavior that I would like to change is aggression, which is inherent in many people. This behavior can be caused by several factors: fatigue, stress, and lack of sleep. Even though it is quite common, aggression still affects a person’s daily life. Due to this, one may experience difficulties in communication or work, school, and family problems. Positive and negative reinforcement and punishments can be able to change this type of behavior.
Using positive reinforcement techniques, it becomes possible to encourage a person to become less aggressive. Since a large amount of accumulated stress often leads to aggression, such a method as support and rewards can positively affect the behavior change. For example, feeling that a person begins to get irritated and aggressive, one can afford some spontaneous purchase. It is essential to find something that can give a person comfort: it may be favorite ice cream or a trinket for the interior. This method can effectively lead to a reduction in stress and aggression levels. The negative reinforcement method involves the opposite of the previous technique when a person punishes themselves for their aggression. For instance, instead of calming themselves with something that brings comfort, one should be put in a position of discomfort. For example, realizing that a person behaved aggressively, one may, on the contrary, be deprived of something. Thus, one will let the brain know that aggressive behavior is unacceptable.
Speaking about the difference between classical and operant conditioning, it is essential to understand what these two types of learning represent. Classical conditioning is usually voluntary and involves the use of an associative series. Therefore, people learn to associate events with others and develop a reaction to them. For example, if one system affects the body with stimuli, it will learn to respond to them. However, in operant conditioning, the body learns to do or not do something because of the consequences caused by the developed reaction. Thus, classical conditioning can be represented as the initial stage when a stimulus’s behavior response is generated. In turn, operant conditioning implies taking further measures related to this reaction.