Foundations of Behavior Essays

Foundations of Behavior Essays Foundations of Behavior Essay Foundations of Behavior Essay Foundations of Behavior Name: Course: Lecturer: : Instructor: Date: Foundations of Behavior Positive and negative reinforcement The concept of reinforcement involves strengthening certain dimensions of behavior, for example, magnitude and rate. Positive reinforcement is a behavioral method where positive behavior is encouraged and nurtured through using positive reinforcements such as rewards. It involves the addition of an encouraging stimulus to increase a definite behavior in an individual. In terms of efficiency, positive reinforcement is better than using punishment to change the behavior of an individual. Praise is an example of positive reinforcement. When a teacher uses praise correctly, they can provide students with positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is similar to positive reinforcement with the difference being that it maintains or even amplifies the undesirable behavior. When a mother nags her son to take out the trash everyday and one day he does so, he is surprised that the nagging stops (Taylor et al, 2010). This illustrates the impact of negative reinforcement that will make the b oy take out the trash every week. Positive and negative punishment Positive punishment involves the attempt to decrease undesirable behavior through punishing an individual. This punishment presents an unfortunate result that follows undesirable behavior. An example is a reprimand by the teacher when a student forgets to turn off the phone in class. Positive punishment is normally initiated by another individual but it can also occur naturally. An example of this is involves one touching a hot object and it then becomes a positive punishment (Hockenbury, 2011). Negative punishment involves withdrawing a desirable object or condition in order to change the behavior of a person. It involves punishment through removal, for example, taking away a toy that made a child fight with another. In the classroom setting, some children may require more attention than others may. They get this attention by behaving badly or throwing tantrums in class. When the teacher turns their attention on the student to reprimand them, it may seem a punishment as the child is being told off. However, the child’s behavior is merely being reinforced as the next time he or she may want attention, all they have to do is cause trouble. Such behavior can be controlled by ignoring the child and punishing them in private. If such behavior is not controlled, the child will end up disrupting the learning process and the attention span of other children (Gershoff, 2002). References Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 4, 539-79. Hockenbury, D. H., Hockenbury, S. E. (2011). Discovering psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Taylor, C. A., Manganello, J. A., Lee, S. J., Rice, J. C. (2010). Mothers’ spanking of 3-year-old children and subsequent risk of children’s aggressive behavior. Pediatrics, 125, 5. Behaviorism approach Behaviorism is a learning theory that is based on the supposition that all things that human beings do are categorized as behaviors. Behaviorism works on the principle that individuals respond to different environmental stimuli in different ways. By studying the reactions of man to these stimuli, behaviorists can understand the human being in a comprehensive way. According to this theory, behaviors can be studied in a scientific manner while disregarding internal states, for example, emotions and cognitions that may prove difficult to measure due to their subjectivity. Rote memorization is an example of behaviorism where children commit to memory the addition and multiplication tables (Smith, 2012). Humanistic psychology Humanistic approach or humanism concentrates on the study of the whole individual. Humanistic psychologists study the behavior of the human being through observation and experience. Humanism grew because of the dissatisfaction of the behaviorism and psychodynamic approaches. The approach deals with offering a new way of understanding human nature as well as providing a diverse array of solutions for psychotherapy. The person-centered therapy technique in counseling is an example of the application of the humanistic theory. Cognitive theory Cognitive theory emphasizes the development processes of children’s thought system. Proposed by Jean Piaget, the cognitive theory addresses how the thought processes manipulate the way in which individuals interact with others and the world. According to Piaget, there were several concepts that distinguished the thought processes of children from that of adults. Piaget uses schemas, assimilation, accommodation and other concepts in trying to explain the child development process (Jago et al, 2012). The three approaches have a similarity in that they all provide valuable answers to some of the challenges in developing efficient teaching methods for children. All the three approaches are also focused on the human being as the subject of study. The humanistic and behaviorism approaches share man’s behavior as the main area of study while the cognitive theory focuses on children’s development. The behaviorism approach has been applied extensively in the studying of behavior self-modification. The humanistic approach has been used in counseling centers through client-centered therapy while the cognitive theory is useful in the education where environment where it is used in developing memory among children (Gutkin, 2002). References Gutkin, T. B. (2002). Special issue - Evidence-based interventions in school psychology: The state of the art and future directions. School Psychology Quarterly, 17, 4. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/spq/17/4/339/ Jago, R., Page, A. S., Cooper, A. R. (2012). Friends and physical activity during the transition from primary to secondary school. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 44, 1, 111-7. Retrieved from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21697746 Smith, S. F. (2012). A multifaceted view of complex trauma: From Freud to neuroscience, with a little behaviorism as well. Psyccritiques, 57, 27.