Personality Unit 5 Assignment PDF

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Theories of Personality Prof. Joseph Butler February 14, 2021 Unit 5 Assignment

1. A teacher wanted to stop some children from losing control of themselves in the classroom. She decided to give them a check-mark every time they lost control. If they went three days with no check-marks, they received a plastic toy car. After a week she gave up because the approach did not seem to be working. Evaluate the teacher's effort, assess why it did not work, and suggest an alternative behavior modification procedure. The think teacher was headed in the right direction as far as providing an immediate reinforcement of a response. She used an immediate reaction by giving a check mark after every time they lost control. That being said, based on Skinner's operant conditioning it might have helped to give an immediate reinforcement to positive behavior rather than to the negative. Feist, Feist, and Roberts (2009) say "reinforcement, in turn, increases the probability that the same behavior will occur again." In rewarding the positive behavior, it is probable that the positive behavior will occur again. Skinner also talks the importance of environment in regards to operant conditioning. Knowing this, the teacher may also want to reevaluate her environment. Maybe the environment is too overwhelming and stimulating, triggering her students to lose focus.

1. Imagine the following situation: A four-year-old child is throwing a temper tantrum in the candy isle of the grocery store. Embarrassed, the mother quickly buys the child the desired candy in order to avoid an embarrassing scene. Explain how this situation demonstrates both positive and negative reinforcement. Using what you know about operant conditioning, what would you advise the mother to do? Be specific and defend your answer. Based on the situation the candy was a positive reinforcer to the child. In buying the candy for the child, the negative reinforcement of the temper tantrum, was removed. As far as the positive reinforcement, of candy, that the child received, it is more likely that the child may think every time they throw a temper tantrum at the grocery store or elsewhere, will result in the mother buying candy for them. Since this specific behavior is one the mother would like to reduce, I would recommend positive punishment. A positive punishment is when an unfavorable outcome is given to weaken the response. Through positive punishment the mother will be able

to lessen the child's temper tantrums. Attention can be seen as a general reinforcer, meaning the mother even paying attention to the child's temper tantrum can be seen by the child as a reinforcer. The mother's positive punishment could have been the ignoring of the child's behavior and to continue with her shopping, even though it may be uncomfortable and/or embarrassing. Skinner's main idea of operant conditioning is giving an immediate response to the behavior which you want to continue to occur. Before going to the grocery store, or running other errands which, the child may not enjoy, the mom can tell the child that if they are on their best behavior, there can be a small reward, such as candy, when the shopping is finished.

Reference: Feist, J., Feist, G. J., & Roberts, T.-A. (2009). Theories of Personality (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education....