Unlike punishment, reinforcement is anything that increases the frequency of a behavior. Furthermore, positive reinforcement means adding something pleasant while negative reinforcement implies removing something unpleasant but still with the object of encouraging a behavior (Fisher, Piazza & Roane, 2011). In this instance, there is a mother trying to increase the amount of peas her two children consume, therefore, the behavior she is attempting to reinforce is that of her children consuming more peas. As a process, reinforcement requires a consequence, technically described as a reinforcer, to be given after the desired behavior has been displayed to encourage the future occurrence of that behavior under similar conditions (Miller, 2006).
Moreover, there exist several types of reinforcers that should be applied because of their reinforcing nature for a person and the prevailing circumstance. Therefore, the reinforcement process can be applied systematically and consistently. Miller (2006), describes a reinforcer as anything closely following a behavior in time and increases the frequency of such behavior. Impliedly in this definition is that the application of reinforcers must be case-specific. Equally important is the fact that the reinforcer is perceived as the most important aspect of changing behaviors (Fisher et.al 2011). In other words, this process of changing behavior is highly subjective such that what is a reinforcer to one person will not have similar effects on another because it is not seen as a reinforcer.
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Going back to the scenario presented earlier, it is obvious that the mother is trying to reinforce the behavior of eating peas. Arguably, she is trying to develop in them the behavior of eating vegetables and healthy eating practices generally. Another observation is the systematic and consistent application of the reinforcement process where she is using a sticker chart to monitor peas consumption amid her children. This is complemented by the nature of rewards issued at the end of each monitoring period, a week in this case. Significantly, this systematic approach is effective on but one of her children. If an increase in the number of stickers implies increased method compliance, it is doubtless that the behavior she is reinforcing is that of eating peas.
Eating is a process that essential to human survival and health. Green et.al (2015), characterize eating behavior disorder as a common pediatric problem. This means that in addition to ensuring survival and health, healthy eating habits can also prevent the development of eating behavior disorder in children. Among other benefits, healthy eating ensures that children experience normal body development. Other prominent benefits of nutritious dietary behavior include ideal body weight, better immune function, and improved brain function (Green et.al , 2015).
While the ideal weight varies from person to person, healthy eating habits make it easier for children to stay within the recommended body weight range. To the extent that healthy eating habits discourage focus on weight, attendant negative self-image concerns and the risk of reinforcing poor dietary behavior, it is also vital for the proper psychological development of the child. Cepeda et.al (2017), associates high consumption of both fruits and vegetables with a reduction in incidents of the common cold and influenza. Therefore, healthy eating habits facilitate both physical and academic development of children by ensuring that they are healthy and fit to attend school regularly. Staying with school, healthy eating habits and diets enhance brain functions that allow children to perform well academically (Green et.al , 2015). It is apparent that healthy eating habits contribute significantly to the health and wellness of children. Thus, their development is essential to ensure normal child development, health, and survival.
As previously mentioned, there exist only two methods of reinforcement: positive and negative reinforcement. The latter refers to the increased frequency of a behavior due to the addition of a stimulus closely following an event while the latter increases such frequency by the removal of a stimulus after an event. Furthermore, there is significance attached to the frequency with which the reinforcement is provided for too high a frequency leads to a loss of its effectiveness (Fisher et.al 2011). In other words, having a systematic approach both to reinforcement use and frequency is essential. Notably, this observation complements the need for the systematic design of reinforcement procedures made earlier.
Evaluating case scenario details unveils that the mother is using a positive reinforcement approach as she issues rewards to her children for consuming peas over a set period. In addition to using stickers and chats in her approach, the mother is making use of a fixed-interval schedule, this means that she gives her children rewards for eating peas after one week. A token economy describes a systematic approach that reinforces positive behavior by making rewards have a symbolic effect (Miller, 2006). Furthermore, said tokens must be accumulated, in this instance over one week, to be exchanged. Significantly, the token approach is among the most prominent approaches to practicing positive reinforcement. Evidently, the purpose of reinforcement is the increased frequency of the desired behavior under similar circumstances (Fisher et.al 2011). Put differently, the desire for future occurrence makes the reinforcer a behavioral function. Therefore, with these considerations, it is doubtless that positive reinforcement is the method that the mother is using.
According to the facts of the scenario, the mother’s positive reinforcement approach is effective in all but one child. Notably, reinforcement approaches are subject to among other things, the schedule of reinforcement, the child’s motivators, and the type of reinforcement (Miller, 2006). Beginning with motivation, in the context of positive reinforcement, it must produce the desired outcome. Here, the significance of motivation is underscored by the contrasting performances of the two children. On one hand, there is the one who is displaying positive behavioral responses under the system as he/she has been able to increase the amount of peas consumed per week. On the other hand, there is the one who does not display results like those of their sibling. It is possible that the siblings are motivated by different rewards, and if that is the case, then their mother must identify what motivates the other sibling and alter the reward system accordingly.
Still, when, and how behavior is reinforced is significant to both the strength and frequency of response. Accordingly, a schedule of reinforcement basically determines when a behavior will be reinforced (Fisher et.al 2011) For instance, it could be strengthened after each occurrence or not at all. That said, the basic goal of reinforcement remains to enhance a behavior and increase chances of its future recurrence. In this instance, the mother is purposely trying to train and reinforce peas eating in her children, so, clearly, there is a need for a specific reinforcement schedule. In this case, reinforcement is intermittent for it happens only once a week: the fixed-interval schedule. Also, this schedule allows for high response amounts as the interval nears completion and slower responses after delivery of the reinforcer (Miller, 2006).
Notably, the nature of the reward has not been clarified in the scenario details. Commonly, forms of positive reinforcement rewards are either tangible or social. The former implies providing concrete rewards while the latter relates to emotional benefits such as public praise (Miller, 2006). Therefore, it might be that the other sibling has not producing been positive results due to an incorrectly identified reward, the frequency of reward-giving and the nature of the reinforcement.
Green et.al (2015) assert that an understanding of children’s attitudes and behavior is essential to their health. Brown & Ogden (2004) observe further that childhood dietary behaviors persist in adulthood. Evidently, notions that may prove effective in the scenario include parental modelling, reconsidering the identification of motivation, and incorporating a negative reinforcement plan.
According to Brown et.al (2004), parental eating behavior is influential in informing the eating habits of their children. In this case, if the mother made her children eat peas while she did not have the same, then the children would learn not to eat peas. Furthermore, if such meals were not social events where eating peas is considered a desirable norm then even the positive results might be short-lived (Brown et.al 2004). Therefore, the suggested notion here is sharing meals as a family whenever possible, in so doing, the children can model healthy eating habits from the parent. Secondly, the mother could reexamine the reward to identify its compatibility with the motivators of the seemingly non-performing child. It could be that he/she is not motivated to eat peas because the reward is not suitable. Third, the mother could introduce and enforce negative reinforcement. For instance, she could condition access to entertainment and communication electronic devices on optimal peas eating among her children. This assumes that both children value such devices and would not want to risk having their access to them restricted.
Reinforcement procedures are essential in learning new behaviors as has been uncovered by the case provided. Notably, one of the most important elements of this process is behavior-based, for a reinforcer is the function of behavior. Herein lies the difficulty in using such procedures because behavior change is subject to motivation and people are motivated differently by different things. Furthermore, both positive and negative approaches have inherent limitations that should inform their application.
References
Brown, R., & Ogden, J. (2004). Children’s eating attitudes and behaviour: a study of the modelling and control theories of parental influence. Health Education Research , 19(3): 261–271 . https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyg040 .
Cepeda, M., A., Thawer, S., Boyle, J., R., Villalba, S., Jaller, R., Tapias, E., Segura, M., A., Villegas, R., Garcia-Larsen, V., & the ISAAC Phase III Latin America Group. (2017). Diet and Respiratory Health in Children from 11 Latin American Countries: Evidence from ISAAC Phase III. Lung, 195(6):683–692 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-017-0044-z .
Fisher, W. W., Piazza, C. C., & Roane, H. S. (2011). Handbook of applied behavior analysis . New York: Guilford Press.
Green, J., R., Samy, G., Miqdady, S., M., Salah, M., Sleiman, R., Abdelrahman, A., M., H., Haddad, A., F., Reda, M., M., Lewis, H., Ekanem, E., & Vandenplas, Y. (2015). How to Improve Eating Behaviour during Early Childhood. Pediatric, Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition, 18(1): 1–9 . https://dx.doi.org/10.5223%2Fpghn.2015.18.1.1
Miller, L. K. (2006). Principles of everyday behavior analysis (4th Ed.) . Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
