April 6, 2012

Behavior Modification through Positive Reinforcement

Charles Carswell Controlling Crying and Whining Behavior in Young Children

here are many reasons why children cry. At times it may be due to pain, discomfort, or other physical duress. At the same time, children do cry for no particular reason and cause quite a bit of stress and anguish within their environment.This behavior can elicit more than its share of attention from teachers, parents and others. Behavior modification and the accompanying principles of positive reinforcement is a powerful tool for bringing about changes to adverse habits and anti-social tendencies. A good example is one here where the disruptive and diverse behavior of a small child is methodically altered to adhere to one that is more normal and acceptable.

Staff members at a pre-kindergarten school became quite concerned when a four-year old child became unmanageable and disruptive by persistently crying and whining throughout nursery school sessions. This would occur several times each and every morning. It was observed that each time this happened, the teachers and attendants would hurry to console and comfort him, lavishing him with kindness and affection until the crying and whining bouts subsided.This went on every day during the pre-kindergarten sessions. The issues here are distinguishing two different types of crying. There is respondent crying and operant crying[1]. Respondent crying is when a child reacts to a consequence of a direct physical injury or other traumatic instance and the emotion itself does not

1.

Donald L. Whaley, and Richard W. Malott, Elementary Principles of Behavior (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971) pp.10-18

depend on the presence of other people. Operant crying essentially is not associated with physical injury or notable traumatic stress. During the operant crying session, the child will look around to see who is present before s/he begins to cry. This type of behavior is much easier to change although both types of crying can be susceptible to control. Conditioning: Conditioning is nothing more than a reward in the form of positive reinforcement to encourage a more socially acceptable behavior. In the above example of the pre-kindergarten child, the desired behavior is the cessation of the operant crying and whining instances. This can be achieved by using either social interaction as a reward (direct attention and kindness) and/or a type of consumable reinforcement, such as a delicious cookie. The reinforcement is administered during the times when the child is NOT engaging in undesirable behavior. During the adverse event (undesirable behavior), the child is ignored and denied the acknowledgement of others present. When a reinforcement is introduced and it is done immediately after a response with increasing rate, conditioning is said to occur.In the given example, the child is rewarded lavishly and frequently when the aberrant behavior discontinues.Ultimately, the bouts become fewer and farther between and will eventually stop.This comes very close to a similar technique called Differential Reinforcement of Other behavior (DRO)[2]. This is where the same principles of positive reinforcement are applied, but administered when any other preferred behavior is rewarded. As an example, the child may be rewarded with a stimulus for drawing or using a coloring book. It should be noted that:
1.

The same substance, both social or consumable reinforcement may not work for every child or that childs behavior, even after it may already have been previously applied frequency may or may not differ from child to child reinforcer may not always work for the same duration nor at the same time

2. The 3. The

4. A single response or a class of responses can be applied as reinforcement. A class of

responses may be a group of social interactions and rewards. Immediacy as a Factor Much emphasis is placed on the notion that immediate conditioning during the positive reinforcement is essential[3].Experiments with groups of infants where the timing varied using the same stimulus and principle, produced conclusive results. In short, the reinforcement is more effective the quicker it is introduced to the response. In the same experiment mentioned above, the best results were achieved by administering the reinforcement seconds after the desired response. It should also be noted that this pattern was repeatedly consistent.In all, this procedure was carried out for a ten day period and

2. 3.

Ibid pp 137 - 139 Ibid page 22

Behavior Modification through Positive Reinforcement

the crying episodes were virtually eliminated. Once the behavior ceased, the positive reinforcement was gradually withdrawn and the problem was solved.

Given the simple examples cited here, it can be seen where the same principles are applied to many of us in various social situations.Although the complexities of our society are vast, there are what appears to be an infinite number of problems that can be resolved in similar fashions. Our behaviors are rewarded or simply not, depending on our general tasks and duties. The conditioning we receive while young and how we react, can determine who and where we are today.

Behavior Modification through Positive Reinforcement