How Behavioral Treatments Are Based On Basic Principles And Research

According to behaviorist principles, adults can increase their capacity for modifying the behavior of children by:

Operant conditioning is “learning resulting from the response an organism receives following a behavior” (Burger, 2014). An example that I see of this is when I see children throwing tantrums in a grocery store because they did not get what they wanted. The parents give the child what it wants, and the child is no longer throwing a tantrum. The example of the child is showing a negative reinforcement. The negative reinforcement is taking away something troublesome because of the behavior that is acceptable (Burger, 2014). Another example that I have witnessed beforehand was when a child misbehaves in class, the teacher gives the child a timeout. This type of punishment is positive. Positive punishment is used to decrease a behavior and is showing

In chapter six in the General Psychology course, we learned about “Learning”. We learned the types of conditions that help people learn. One of the conditions is “Operant Conditioning” where learning is controlled by the organism’s behavior. During the lecture one thing that stood out to me was that in the operant condition, there is a term called positive punishment which is used to decrease bad behavior. It is used usually by parents to discipline their children when they misbehave in order to break that bad habit.

Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant consequence when a behavior is exhibited in order to encourage said behavior. This was shown when

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F. Skinner is a psychological manipulation using rewards and punishments to enforce positive behavior. It uses an individual person’s response to events or stimulus. When a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning is related to previous forms of behaviorism. The Operant Conditioning theory comprises of neutral operants, positive/negative reinforcers, and positive/negative punishers. Through these factors, we get the desired behavior of our subject because they do not want to be punished for under performing so they do what they’re told to or do more of what they were assigned to to receive positive stimulus

Punishment-Based interventions are types of treatment that is sometime used in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis to modify or change behaviors. There is a quite a bit of controversy and misunderstanding related to use of punishment. Punishment-based interventions have been proven to be one of the most controversial treatments used by behavior analyst and found in behavior analyst literature (e.g. Johnston, 1991; Matson & Kazdin, 1981; Repp & Singh, 1990) (DiGennaro Reed, & Lovett, 2008). The definition itself is many times confused or lack understanding. Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2006) explain that punishment frequently misunderstood, misapplied and quite controversial. There are some therapists or behavior analysts, parents, caregivers, teachers, and people in general who support punishment and some who do not (Hall, 2013). Although there is a lot of controversy about whether to use punishment or not, punishment is indeed still sometimes used in the field of applied behavior analysis, but there are special guidelines for using punishment based procedures in the field. Before a behavior analyst can decide whether or not they want to use punishment in an intervention, they must clearly understand the definition

Operant conditioning is the effects punishment and reinforcement have on behavior; “the law of effect, which states that behaviors associated with good consequences (satisfiers) are more likely to occur again in the future, whereas behaviors associated with bad consequences (annoyers) are less likely to occur again” (Durwin 162). This is a necessary component used by many psychologists and educators to provide the best positive outcome in a child’s behavior. When analyzing the “Billy Scenario,” it is obvious that the teacher, Ms. Allen, tried different techniques of punishment to decrease the students’ misbehavior, but was unsuccessful; leading to an increase in the frequency of response or more disruptive behavior.

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments conducted on rats showed the principles of operant conditioning. While working with rats, Skinner would place them in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube. After multiple trials, rats learned the connection between the lever and food, and started to spend more time in the box procuring food than performing any other action. He used positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors. Therefore, if a specific behavior is reinforced then the probability of that behavior occurring again is increased. Based on Skinner’s view, this theory can be applied to learning because learning is nothing more than a change in behavior. Operant conditioning encourages positive reinforcement, which can be applied in the classroom environment to get the good behavior you want and need from students. One of the ways of reinforcing a student’s behavior is through praise. Also teachers can build operant conditioning techniques into their lesson plans to teach children possible skills as well as good behaviors. For example: to give a smiley face, or motivational stamps to encourage children to perform correctly and encourage them to repeat such action again.

Self-injurious behavior is one of the most devastating behaviors exhibited by people with developmental disabilities and ASD. The most common forms of these behaviors include: head-banging, hand-biting, and excessive self-rubbing and scratching. There are many other self-injurious behavior such as, impulsive SIB appeared to be associated with suicide attempts, a history of sexual abuse, and depression (Favaro, A., & Santonastaso, P.1999)

Operant conditioning is a theory that was pioneered by Skinner, and it is a theory that is based on the type of consequence that is given following a particular behaviour. Skinner divided the consequences of actions into three groups, positive rein forcers, negative reinforcers and punishers. Skinner looked at what would happen to behaviour if giving positive reinforcers at different intervals. Most professionals and practitioners will use this theory in one way or another such as giving rewards for good behaviour or sanctions for bad behaviour so the theory is well used in today’s frameworks and practices.

The key concepts of behavior therapy are that it “is grounded on a scientific view of human behavior that accommodates a systematic and structured approach to counseling” (Corey, 2013, p. 250). The attention is focused on the behavior of the person. Behavior therapy is about giving control to the client to expand their freedom. “People have the capacity to choose how they will respond to external events in their environment” (Corey, 2013, p. 250).

Operant conditioning has made a significant contribution into the development of psychology. However, as with most psychological theories, this theory it has its strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, operant conditioning, with both its positive and negative aspects, is very important in promoting learning of desirable behaviors or removal of undesirable

When it comes to inspiring behavioral changes positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment in terms of changing the behavior in the long term. How effectively positive reinforcement affects behavioral changes is closely tied to how behavioral changes are incentivized and rewards bestowed. The case is similar for the application of negative reinforcement. However, rewards and punishments must significantly affect a person’s current situation--for better or worse--in order to inspire change. Let’s look at how positive reinforcement typically results in long-term behavioral change more effectively than punishment overall.

One of the simplest and most commonly-used methods of conceptualizing learning is that of reinforcement theory (Noe 2010: 142). Every time a parent promises a child a toy for being good during a grocery store trip or threatens a teen with being grounded for bad grades, he or she is using reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is based upon the assumption that people want to experience as much pleasure as possible and avoid pain. Thus, businesses offer workers bonuses for good work, and issue reprimands (such as docking pay or denying a promotion) for poor behavior.