Chapter 4 and 5 Discussion

I feel like right now the two things that this class makes me think of is my coaching and my pregnant sister. It is also humorous to me how the same subject can be applied to both.

In chapter 4 I found the section discussion classic conditioning to be fascinating, especially when I realized one of my athletes that I coach totally conditioned me! 

I generally stand in the same place when I coach. It is on the front right side of the pit so I can catch a lot of key points in the vault I need to see. There is a kid that I coach that always runs through (that is when you decide you aren’t going to jump and instead run onto the pit usually leaving your pole behind). Well, when he leaves his pole behind it always flies through the air and lands as the area that I stand. The noise it makes is the same noise this athlete always makes before take off, it is a loud clung sound when his pole goes into the box. Of course I flinch or duck of some sort. On Thursday I realized now I flinch even if he hasn’t bailed on his jump. I think it is super interesting because I don’t do it with anyone else. I have officially been classically conditioned by one of my athletes, hopefully on accident!

Classic Conditioning is defined as a form of learning that involves pairing a neural stimulus and a response originally produced by another. This is best decribed as ringing a bell for dinner and having a dog salivate. The reason it happens is because the trainer would ring the bell then feed dinner. Eventually the dinner didn’t need to come and if the bell was rung the dog would still salivate. I am the dog, Glen is the bell.

Chapter 2 and 3 Reflection

I really enjoyed reading these 2 chapters. I felt like most of it was a review from my PSYCH 101 class and my anatomy and physiology. I didn't mind too much because when I was taking those classes no one in my family had children or were expecting. Now, my sister is pregnant with her first and it made the information a little more applicable to my life. As I was ready I wanted to keep calling my sister to tell her "did you know this" or "did you know that". The entire time I was reading I was thinking of the chapters from my sister point of view but now I have time to reflect I can see how I can relate this information or my life in becoming an Aunt. I was able to find more of that information in the 3rd Chapter. 

I think my favorite part in chapter 3 was actually a pretty small section titled "You are what you eat": Nutrition and Growth. I used to want to be a nutritionist so I find it fascinating the varying amount of calories per pound a newborn, toddler, child, adult, and athlete needs to consume. It is astonishing to see the calorie per pound difference between a 3-month-old baby and an adult; 50 and 15-20 respectively. I also find it interesting how people become picky eaters or not. No one in my family is a picky eater, I literally can't think of a single think I don't like. It makes me wonder what it is that makes me different from someone else who is picky. 

            I really enjoyed the part in the book that lists a few recommendations from experts on toddlers and their eating. In short they say:

1.     Allow them to choose between healthy options

2.     Allow them to eat in any order

3.     Offer new foods gradually

4.     Do not force them to clean plates

5.     Spend meal times talking not about food issues

6.     Never use food as a reward

I have always thought these same things and it is nice to see them written in our book. I especially have been passionate about not make someone clean their plates. I feel like the idea of cleaning your plate has possibly led our country some of our dietary problems. It teaches children to over eat as apposed to eat until they are satisfied. You should encourage your children to eat what they want. I have baby sat for families that emphasized the 3 meals and no snacks. Research has come out that shows this is not the healthiest way to eat. Instead many small meals are better.

            I can’t wait to see my sister and let her know all the new things I have learned from this chapter :) 

Chapter 1 Reflection

Although reading about theories is quite dry it is interesting how between the dryness I catch myself drifting away from the reading and connecting the theories to my life or a friends life. So, although it is dry it is undoubtedly interesting.

I found the theory on operant conditioning to be the most interesting concept for me. It is also possibly one of the more relevant to one of my passions of coaching. Operant conditioning is the idea of a response to an action or behavior will encourage or discourage the behavior from happening again. The two tools for doing so is reinforcement or punishment. There are two types of reinforcement, positive or negative. Positive reinforcement is giving praise or an award for the good behavior. Negative reinforcement is rewarding the behavior by taking away someone perceived as negative. Punishment can be to take away or give something perceived as negative to discipline for the poor behavior or action done.

I find this very pertinent to my work because I am not only teaching correct actions in coaching but trying to find other ways to engrain this good actions into my athletes brains. Of course I praise when someone does something well and let people know when something is not done well but I think it would be interesting to try and take it to another level. Have a rewards system in place without making my athletes feel like they are in kindergarten again. I have thought about offering something to people who have mastered a skill or performed a personal best. The only problem is I am coaching college-aged adults, what is it I could entice them with that they could just go get themselves like candy?

I guess what peaks my curiosity the most about this topic is how I can relate this possibly valuable tool to the athletes I work with. I especially wonder how I can implement this without the use of punishment but focusing only on reinforcement.