This document discusses reinforcement learning, which is the acquisition of new behavior or changes in behavior based on environmental conditions through positive and negative reinforcements. It contributes definitions of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, reward, and punishment. The document also notes some shortfalls of reinforcement learning in that it disregards mental activities, does not account for all types of learning, and does not involve problem-solving or creative thinking.
2. DEFINITION
Acquisition of new behaviour or a change
in behaviour based on environmental
conditions- positive and negative
reinforcements (funderstanding.com, 2011).
Reinforcement basically refers to the consequences that the subject is faced with due to their response to the stimulus. Positive reinforcement is the equivalent of a reward, while negative reinforcement is the equivalent of punishment fir the said action. In the future, subjects are most likely to repeat the action that results in a positive reinforcement.
The behaviourist teaching model does not prepare students for critical thinking, creative thinking and problem-solving. It forces students to do what they are told, without trying to do it in their own way. It conditions students to remember basic facts and automatic responses, but not to apply the nearly acquired knowledge in the real word. The theory also fails to to take into account the mental states of students and their consciousness. Failure to take the activities of the mind into consideration means that the theory doesn’t account for all types of learning. It also fails to explain some learning where reinforcement is not used as a mechanism, such as the learning of a new language by a child.
