Ever heard the saying, "positive reinforcement increases a behavior"? It is true that when applied correctly, positive reinforcement can be extremely effective. However, not all positive reinforcement is good. For example, “when a child misbehaves in a store, some parents might give them extra attention or even buy the child a toy." (Cherry, 2018). Necessarily, the child will start to continue these actions to get what they want, which in return reinforces the bad behavior. However, what happens when positive reinforcement is used correctly in a situation? “The appropriate application of positive reinforcement has repeatedly been demonstrated to increase both on-task behavior and work completion” (Mather & Goldstein, 2019). It is necessary to demonstrate how so and the essay works on showing how behavior can be increased through positive reinforcement.
Right from birth, children begin to identify behavior by relating them to their repercussions. Eventually, they come to realize that either a positive or negative consequence will result from one engaging in the behavior. Children, especially infants will demonstrate pleasant and somewhat acceptable behavior which often resonates into happiness for the adults around them. However, as they advance to the stages of early childhood and beyond, they tend to show behavior that may not be as pleasant and in many instances, annoying. It is during these stages that psychologists recommend strategies to help inculcate the desired behavior while these children are still in their early years of development. One approach these scholars identify is positive behavior reinforcement, and it involves various critical steps to be successful. These include determining the unwanted behavior, setting target expectation to solve it, watching the progress and supporting correct behaviors measures (Rosch et al., 2016).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Positive reinforcement involves a variety of ideas that have been proven to be effective in modifying maladaptive behavior in children. These children are in their crucial years of development, which are highly dependent on the guidance they receive from their parents, guardians and the adults they interact with frequently. It means that any indication of maladaptive behavior will need the appropriate guidance from these adults to help modify it to one that is acceptable. One of the widely applied approaches by parents for the development of acceptable behavior often involves the establishment of an efficient plan that requires them to educate their children in one way or another concerning adaptive behavior.
Just like adults, children are appreciative and respond positively to any recognition and praise. It raises the necessity for parents, guardians, and adults in general to develop a culture of recognizing and appreciating accepted behavior in their children and their ability to make the right decisions at young ages. Such efforts demonstrate positive reinforcement, and they ensure to improve self-confidence in decision making for children while ensuring that the behavior is repeated in the future. With this kind of positive environment children can understand that what they did was commendable and made their parent happy. For example, when a child wears a jacket on cold days without being told, having a guardian say "well done" and hugging him or her will assist the child to understand that wearing a coat is an excellent decision and that a similar resolution can be made in the future. Even as an effective strategy for increasing behavior, positive reinforcement can be confused with a bribe. It raises the concern for parents to be aware of and avoid what may seem like positive reinforcement but is a bribe.
There is a considerable contrast between rewards and bribes when dealing with positive reinforcement. For instance, if a parent requires specific conduct from a child, whether it is from an assigned, or automatic task, such as completing their homework before going to play or watch cartoons, organizing and cleaning their bedroom the guardian should not provide any prize or reward to get the child to perform these tasks (Schieltz et al., 2017). The parent needs to educate them that it is their duty and responsibilities to carry out such chores. Nonetheless, it is essential, before any discussion involving the change of behaviors, to differentiate between praise and positive reinforcement as they often contradict. Positive reinforcement is a process of educating children concerning actions that are accepted in society and which are maladaptive. Positive reinforcement, therefore, involves selecting and inspiring a behavior, with the aim that target behavior will be achieved maintained.
Praise represents one of the many kinds of positive reinforcement; it is one of the excellent and most effective methods to use when working with children. Frequently, parents will use appreciation in a positive environment when a significant gap should be kept between the two forms of reinforcement. There are many strategies applicable in positive reinforcement and during the initial levels; a parent can choose to use natural, social, tangible and token support. All of these types of reinforcement involve delivering a specific result following an expected behavior that improves the likelihood of the behavior persisting or growing in the future (Graham & Mattson, 2016).
During behavior modification using positive reinforcement, parents should not contradict children with unnecessary decisions. It is also always important to keep on reminding a child on the rules frequently to help with memorizing and easy application of these rules. A parent should speak clearly and firmly to their children and make sure they understand what he or she says. More importantly, it is good to maintain an upright posture, and firm voice or else children will make jokes while imitating their parent’s voice, making the entire process of behavior modification useless.
In school, the majority of students present minimal discipline trouble. However, one child’s association with and engagement in unacceptable behavior, will significantly shift the attention for the teacher from the necessary instruction to the child, which in many instances will deprive other students the opportunity to effective learning. Such is the case in Doug classroom behavior (Craig & Shahan, 2016). Teachers discovered that the only way to improve his behavior performance was through a rewarding process. They came up with criterion-specific rewards program which engaged students and allowed them to earn rewards. Students who achieve a designated level of behavior improvement in social skills and excellent academic performance would get rewards.
Rewards act as positive behavioral reinforcement because they are handed out as consequences when a student displays necessary behavior and they are supposed to improve or maintain the behavior. The reward may vary from activities and privileges to tangible incentives which are given to students after they fulfill a set target behavior at a given level of performance. The process demands teachers to evaluate what will be offered as a prize, create a method for earning the reward, and discover the program for issuing out the awards (Mather & Goldstein, 2019).
In evaluating the rewarding system, it is good to note that the prize for one student differs from the other and might not have the same impact on another student. Therefore, it is good to find out from these students what awards are most appealing to them. Unfortunately, student rewards lose their value over time, and it necessary to reshuffle them to help achieve the intended outcome.
It is crucial to recognize that positive reinforcement might have less long-term results and more life-long advantages. Positive reinforcement leads to a change in the student’s brain chemistry, which can positively impact long-term behavior (Grahm & Mattson, 2016). A behavioral change out fear and anxiety can develop a detrimental feeling and might persist for a person's whole life. Students who get encouraged by their excellent performance tend to maintain self-discipline more than those who get inspired by the anxiety of punishment. Personal reinforcement can improve a personal inspiration to increase expectations for adaptive behavior rather than get by with the small energy needed to avoid punishment.
To execute the definite reinforcement plan, a tutor must begin by choosing a target skill or behavior in the students that they would like to improve in observable and quantifiable terms. Once the determined ability or behavior is selected, the teacher must gather baseline data to evaluate how frequent the learner is using the identified skill or behavior (May & Kennedy, 2009). The teacher can start applying reinforcement when the collected data shows that the plan initiated during the baseline stages is solid and stable. Such data is useful as the teacher needs to evaluate whether the student use of the target skill is increasing due to reinforcement or not. If a student’s use of the required capability is improving during the baseline stages without the use of support, then no intervention is required. However, if the student does not show a clear pattern of behavior improvement, tutors will make a proper judgment on the productivity of the intervention after execution.
Tutors will then create a strategic goal for each target skill and behavior that is age appropriate and successfully relevant to the student. Next, the tutor will choose a positive reinforcement for the student then develop a list of possible reinforcers. Furthermore, the instructor can create a reinforcement program by selecting a plan for reinforcement. The plan refers to “the frequency or timing of the delivery of reinforcement following a target skill.” Every time a student uses the target behavior the teacher should deliver immediate reinforcement.
Teachers should also focus on controlling and preventing punishment so that the selected reinforcers do not lose their productivity. Finally, teachers should monitor student learning progress so that reinforcement can be slowly reduced to promote frequency and maintenance. Even as it seems feasible, with a high probability of being successful, positive reinforcement is time-consuming, and it will not work in one night. The parent and guardians need to help place a child’s mind in progressive thinking. The first few weeks may be unbalanced, but the adult might find that most of the time, the child is nagging and will keep asking for rewards and once they get gifts they become rebellious limiting the achievement scope of the desired behavior.
A parent needs to demonstrate an increased understanding of the issue (Cherry, 2018). He or she should caution the child and issue out a warning such as “if you become disrespectful you will not get any gift." A parent also needs to be watchful that he or she does not give in to the cries of their child. In case a parent demonstrates such vulnerability, the child will then take control of the situation and increase his or her maladaptive behavior. Another way for a parent to prevent accidental positive reinforcement is to avoid giving the child too much attention. Sometimes parents accidentally reinforce harmful behavior, and it happens through giving children increased attention. For instance, a child who intentionally annoys his or her parent receives reinforcement every time the parent says "do not do that." Ignoring the child can be one of the productive ways to respond to unwanted attention seeking behavior.
More often, people will doubt if positive reinforcement is effective in improving behavior. There are four essential components to positive reinforcement that need emphasis. First, reinforcement helps to strengthen the desired behavior, and punishment aims to cease undesired behavior. Second, there is a circumstance known as "extinction burst," which is an excessive production of good behavior once the reinforcement is driven out. Third, it is crucial to identify beneficial reinforcers that are simple and easily achievable. Lastly, paying no attention to undesirable behavior is essential, and it is necessary to stop harmful behaviors immediately (Mendres & Borrero, 2010). Nonetheless, positive reinforcement plays a crucial role in improving behavioral performance. It is vital to apply reinforcement on children to achieve the desired behavior. Parents and teachers should engage positive reinforcement when raising children by rewarding them, praises them, and put sanctions to build stunning behaviors out of children.
References
Cherry, K. (July 2018). Positive Reinforcement and Operant Conditioning. Verywellmind.
Craig, A. R., & Shahan, T. A. (2016). Behavioral momentum theory fails to account for the effects of reinforcement rate on resurgence. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 105(3), 375-92.
Graham, D. M., Glass, L., & Mattson, S. N. (2016). The Influence of Extrinsic Reinforcement on Children with Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 40(2), 348-58
Mather, N., & Goldstein, S. (2019). Behavior Modification in the Classroom. LD Online. Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6030/
May, M. E., & Kennedy, C. H. (2009). Aggression as positive reinforcement in mice under various ratio- and time-based reinforcement schedules. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 91(2), 185-96.
Mendres, A. E., & Borrero, J. C. (2010). Development and modification of a response class via positive and negative reinforcement: a translational approach. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 43(4), 653-72.
Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-positive-reinforcement-2795412
Rosch, K. S., Fosco, W. D., Pelham, W. E., Waxmonsky, J. G., Bubnik, M. G., & Hawk, L. W. (2016). Reinforcement and Stimulant Medication Ameliorate Deficient Response Inhibition in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 44(2), 309-21.
Schieltz, K. M., Wacker, D. P., Ringdahl, J. E., & Berg, W. K. (2017). Basing assessment and treatment of problem behavior on behavioral momentum theory: Analyses of behavioral persistence. Behavioural processes, 141(Pt 1), 75-84.
