The Application of Operant Conditioning Techniques in a Secondary Classroom

My service-learning placement this year was at the OTist Family Resource Integration CO. LTD, located in Taipei, Taiwan, and I completed my service learning at their special education preschool program. Problem behaviors are commonly seen among preschoolers, and according to the article, Reducing Behavior Problems: An Operant Conditioning Guide for Teachers, the first step toward better classroom management is for the teacher to recognize that how a child behave is mainly determined by the teachers’ behavior and the strategy they use. By using operant conditioning, a learning process in which the behaviors are modified by the consequences through the use of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, problem behaviors can be diminished and desired behaviors can be strengthened (Becker, Thomas, & Carnine, 1969, p. 4).

The room was also equipped with a one-way window so the child could be observed without their acknowledgement. The experiment showed that the consequences in the films that the children observed in the ending, created a different outcome. The children who witnessed the film were the adult was rewarded was most likely to repeat or imitate the aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll. In the situation of the other children who watched the adult being punished for their aggressive behavior, the children were less likely to recreate the aggressive behavior towards the Bobo doll. After the findings Bandura added to the experiment. The children who watched any of the three films were asked to recreate what the adult did in the film. Each imitation the child recreated correctly, they were rewarded with candy and stickers. Virtually all the children were capable of recreating all actions, aggressive or non-aggressive. The different variations of the films the children watched had no impact on them. In conclusion to Bandura’s experiment, you are capable of imitating any behavior, aggressive or non-aggressive, but you are more likely to imitate if there is expectation of any type of reward.

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.

Operant conditioning is a great technique that can be used in studies in order to gain more information on how humans or other species learn but it is also an effective method in bettering ourselves. Whether it is learning a new skill or diminishing a negative habit, operant conditioning can help us achieve our goals if done the correct way. For this method, I chose to utilize operant conditioning to better my study skills. Like many students, I have trouble with studying effectively without getting distracted and not truly retaining the information for a long period of time. I chose to improve this behavior in order to achieve higher grades as well as learn material and know it for a longer amount of time. By the end of my operant conditioning journey, I hoped to have built the foundation of a new studying skills that I would be able to use for the rest of my college career and beyond.

Behavior is a natural human occurrence. People deal with behavioral issues on a daily basis, whether they be good or bad. In the case that the issues are erroneous, the behavior causes problems for many. It provokes disruptions, such as interrupting class and missing instructions from a teacher. Both of these things are unacceptable and are reasons that a student may be susceptible to punishment, such as being kicked out of a classroom. These reasons are the main causes of why Meredith was removed from class today.

Operant conditioning refers to the method of learning to occur through rewards and punishment for behavior (Staddon & Cerutti 2002). In the operant condition, an association occurs between the behavior and the consequences of the behavior. Behaviorist B.F Skinner coined operant conditioning, and that is why some refer to it as Skinnerian conditioning. Skinner started studying operant conditioning in the late 1920s when he was a graduate student at Harvard University. As a behaviorist B.F Skinner believes that it was obligatory to look at the internal thoughts and motivation so as to explain behavior (Staddon & Cerutti 2002). As an alternative, he did suggest that we should look only at the external and observable causes of human behavior. The characteristics of operant conditioning are that an organism may emit a particular response instead of just eliciting the response because of the external stimulus. Skinner did use the term operant in referring to any active behavior that operates on the environment so as to generate consequences (Doyle-Portillo & Pastorino 2013).

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

Operant conditioning can occur in a setting with children, especially in a school setting where there is an abundance of operant conditioning taking place. In the school setting, I have witnessed many instances of operant conditioning learning. For example, many schools have a positive reinforcement program (PBIS), and also have a behavior management plan. These are prime examples of operant conditioning learning.

In 1961 the famous Bobo doll experiment was conducted to investigate social behaviors that are acquired by reinforcement techniques. The experiment itself consisted of a modeling methods which tested 36 boys and 36 girls between the ages 3 to 6. The method used in the Bobo doll experiment was controlled by the physical researchers. The experiment itself was divided by aggressive, non-aggressive and a control models, while the children played the researches recorded the children’s behavior every 5 seconds for 20 minutes. The end conclusion of the Bobo dolls experiment is that children learn social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning by watching the behavior of another person.

Researchers thereafter developed interventions that were heavily influenced by the operant learning theory (Matson, Benavidez, Compton, Paclawskyj, & Baglio, 1996). Proponents suggest that the probability of a behaviour occurring in the future is dependent on its consequence (Bachman, 1972). As such, modifying such behaviour involves changing the consequence (i.e., reinforcement, punishment). Reinforcement is a consequence that follows a behaviour and increases the probability of said behaviour occurring in the future (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2014). Positive reinforcement involves presenting a desirable stimulus while negative reinforcement involves removing an aversive stimulus. For example, desirable behaviours are positively reinforced with tangibles or negatively reinforced by the termination of demands. Punishment on the other hand is a consequence that follows a behaviour and decreases the future probability of the behaviour occurring (Cooper et al., 2014). Positive punishment involves the presentation of an aversive stimulus while negative punishment is the removal of a desired stimulus. For example, reprimanding the client is a form of positive punishment while ignoring his/her is a form of negative punishment.

On Thursday December 15th, 2016 I had the opportunity to sit and observe Mr.Warren's seventh period class. His seventh period is a English II honors, which he said would be the best class for me to observe. While I was there I observed many different items we have previously addressed in class. While I was there he touched on operant conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, extrinsic motivation, and classical conditioning. All of these items were shown in the short amount of time I was there.

Shunaysha’s non-compliance behavior appears to be exhibited sporadically, when she is given a directive to complete or participate in a less preferred activity. This behavior was observed in the primary classroom, when the teacher asks Shunaysha to transition away from her assigned seat with the carousel to another seat near the front to watch the film “Hidden Figures”. Shunaysha needed three prompts from the teacher and then the teacher had to walk over to her desk and give her the directive once again before she would respond. Shunaysha’s response to the teacher was “I want to sit here”, although she would have difficulty seeing the movie from her seat with the carousel blocking her view. In addition,

The behavioral perspective of development suggests that human development can be understood by observing how people behave in response to environmental stimuli. This theory denies distinct universal stages in development and insists that environmental factors influence how a person will change and adapt in their society. From this perspective, people will have positive developmental experiences if they grow up in a nurturing environment. B.F. Skinner introduced the operant conditioning theory which asserts that children develop in response to reinforcement or punishment (Feldman & Landry, 2014, p. 15). Reinforcement increases the likelihood of someone

picked up the wallet and ran away, then Kevin is likely to see this as