Operant conditioning examines a learning process from the causes of an action and its resulting consequences. The proponent of this principle holds that behavior or an action which is followed by favorable consequences is likely to recur while that which is followed by an unpleasant consequence is less likely to be repeated (McLeod, 2018). The premise of this mode of learning hinges on the fact that behavior which is reinforced will be repeated while a behavior not reinforced dies out.
Therefore, in the case of the 3-year-old Betty left in her room, learning had taken place through a reward she had received from the parents when she cried. The consequence of her action of crying was immense sympathy and attention from both parents. This strengthened the behavior and made her continue with it because the consequence was favorable to her. The behavior has been reinforced and it will continue t happen so long as the consequences remain pleasant (McLeod, 2018). Betty has learnt to communicate her dislike for sleeping in her room by crying and she knows that every time she does that the parents will respond by removing her from the room.
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Betty’s parents can get her to stay in her room is by reversing the consequences of Betty’s actions. They will have to respond in a manner that will cause behavior modification to help the child sleep in her room. The perspectives of modification suggest changing environmental events (Blunden et al., 2016). The suitable actions to help Betty sleep in her room include camp out and controlled crying. Controlled crying is where the parents ignore Betty for a period of time or until the set wake up time without attending to her provided, they have proven that she is not crying as a result of illness. The second aspect is that the parent will remain in the room until he falls asleep the leave and that is repeated daily. Betty will eventually unlearn her behavior of crying to attract attention of the parents.
References
Blunden, S., Etherton, H., & Hauck, Y. (2016). Resistance to Cry Intensive Sleep Intervention in Young Children: Are we Ignoring Children’s Cries or Parental Concerns? 3(2), 8. DOI: 10.3390/children3020008
McLeod, S. A. (2018). Skinner-Operant Conditioning. Simply Psychology . Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
