Operant Conditioning Theory and Behaviour Modification and Control

Question: How To Control Operant Conditioning Theory And Behaviour Modification? Answer: Introduction An individual's behavior is in most cases termed as functional because it is a function of events of the current or may have happened in the environment surrounding the individual (Weeden et al. (2011). Many researchers, therefore, have analyzed behavior in a functional way with the motive of uncovering the events in the current and past environments which may bear some influence on individuals behavior according to Liefooghe and Houwer (2016 ). Albert Bandura theory of cognitive development focuses on personality development regarding the mental processes which dictate our mode of conducting different activities as Bleidorn et al. (2014) assert. However, it fails in providing the understanding of the environmental factors influencing behavior and interventions of persons, Moore (2011) denotes that there are different mechanisms that can often be adopted with the aim of finding a solution to remedy some individual behaviors. In this study, the analysis is presented in the case study provide to an understanding the childrens behavior towards Jane, their class teacher who has difficulty in managing the class. The children are between the ages of 10-12 years and are often silent in class, do not participate in the learning process, and often come to school without completing their assignments. The study also points out the possible reasons for their behaviors. It then provides suggestions for possible interventions through concepts found in operant conditioning theory that can be adopted by the teacher to improve their behavior during classes and in general. The evaluation of the scenario presented in our case study can only be understood through considering the knowledge or scope ofs analyzed by Skinner (2011). In his study he defined this kind of behavior as a form of learning in which children behavior is influenced or controlled by the consequences. It can also be termed as a process through which a childs behavior is modified by use of both positive and negative reinforcements according to Kumar and Nazneen (2016). In this case, individuals make an association between a particular course of behavior and consequence. B.F Skinner developed the theory of behavior development in children at early stages of their growth. In his theory, the main idea was to bring an understanding that researchers need to focus on the external or observable behavioral causes rather than placing more emphasis on internal thoughts and motivations as pointed out by Wacker et al. (2017). In understanding and analyzing our case study, it is important to understand the environmental surroundings which may have affected or influenced the childrens behavior towards the teacher. Such an evaluation will help us answer the questions of why the students are silent on their teacher, why they fail to complete their assignments and their lack of participation. In a systematic review, Alstot and Alstot (2015) point out that many researchers have provided asserts that classroom set up has great influence on the behavior of children. The rules, guidelines and sitting arrangements in the classroom set up have been criticized for not supporting socialization among the pupils as it is always impersonalized (Weitzman, 2010). The classroom has some set strict rules and guidelines which only allow children to speak in the classroom only upon request by their teacher or trainer. There is likely to be a possibility that the old philosophical thought in classroom context which requires tha t children should be seen not heard (Payne, 2015) has killed the childrens desire to communicate freely. Such believe, and practice creates an attitude of certain educational techniques. In their study, Romi, Lewis, and Roache (2015) point out that before a child enrolls in school, his or her operation condition is usually oral and allows free communication. It is hence an assumption that schools or classroom dictates them to be silent. Learning is a process of living in a childs or individuals life, and its a matter of philosophical thought that knowledge comes from books. Therefore, this understanding questions the functioning of the silent condition most of the young children experience in early stages of their development in school as evidenced in our case study. The childrens lack of participation in class, the behavior of keeping quiet when asked questions, as well as their inability to complete their assignments, are evidenced in the case study. They can be due to the operant silent conditioning culture which classrooms have continued to impact on the children. In the attempt of finding an effective solution to the issues, the teacher should evaluate the class room circumstances to have a proper understanding of the silent behavioral condition in the classroom. According to Arturo (2013), such an evaluation process will help in knowing how to regulate the behavior of the children in a way that will motivate their freedom of interaction between them and their teachers as well as make them more active in their participation in classroom activities. According to the theory of moral development by Kohlberg, it is proposed that the development of moral judgment among children evolves according to an incremental sequence. It further argues that at lower stages of child development, the children are always guided by obedience to the established authority whereas at higher stages of development, the moral judgment or moral decisions of the children are dependent on conscience and ethical guidelines or principles. Therefore teacher Jane can easily influence the moral judgment of the children at that age as compared to when they will be at higher levels of learning. The process of classical conditioning involves learning of new behavior through association. It is guided by some principles which help in understanding different children responses to stimuli and the behaviors associated with the stimuli. The first principle is the acquisition principle; it involves the natural occurrence of unconditioned stimuli and eventually resulting to a response without necessarily the experience of learning. The principle of extinction also helps in understanding the behavior of children. It involves the disappearance of an occurrence usually caused by a conditioned. There is also the occurrence of spontaneous recovery which involves the reappearance of a conditioned response after a period of rest. And lastly there is stimulus generalization in which the conditioned children stimuli, produces similar responses after a response has been conditioned as well as the stimulus discrimination which differentiates between a conditioned stimuli and other stimuli. For example a child can differentiate between sounds of animals or any signs given to them. Many scholars have criticized the silent condition, not because of its inefficiency and wastefulness as a teaching and learning technique but merely because of the threats, it poses to children in their development and especially on communication capabilities as pointed out by Doolan and Bizo (2013). To avoid these consequences associated with the children behavioral responses which may be difficult to handle, it is recommended that teachers and mentors should adopt more socialized techniques in classrooms. The effect of this will promote the desire for an orderly communication among the children. With a basis of the biological evidence, Weitzman (2010) also shows that at early stages of kindergarten and adolescent stage, there is an increase in the desire for children to communicate as compared to other stages of their lives. Teachers should, therefore, be vigilant in observing the childrens behavior and seeking the possible interventions as this can lead to future problems in their personality development as pointed out by Kumar and Nazneen (2016). Strengths and weaknesses B.F Skinner theory of child development and identity formation can be very helpful in creating solutions to our case study and help the teacher enhance the pupils participation in the classroom. The theory is centered on the concepts of positive and negative reinforcements as well as positive and negative punishment. Research has provided that positive reinforcements refer to favorable events or outcomes which an individual receives after a desirable behavior as Alstot and Alstot (2015) reports. The teachers can, therefore, use this concept by either rewarding the active students or giving them special recognition in classrooms. Such events will motivate the docile pupils and improve their participation in classrooms. On the other hand, negative reinforcement removes unpleasant outcome after the desired behavior. For example, the teacher may remove the restriction of punishment if the pupils become obedient. The main goal of positive and negative reinforcements by therein forces shou ld hence to promote good behavior. The child cognitive development theory also advocates the use of punishment as a technique to influence and modify behavior among children. Punishment, in this case, refers to increasing something undesirable with an attempt to cause a decrease in the behavior that follows. Positive punishment in this case, therefore, refers to an unfavorable event that is given to an individual in order to weaken the response behavior that follows. For example, the teacher, in this case, may give more work to the pupils to be done with aim of reducing their reluctant behavior and lack of concentration. On the other hand, negative punishment occurs when an unfavorable event is removed after an undesirable behavior occurs. The main goal here will then be to reduce the behavior according to Romi, Lewis, and Roache (2013). In another perspective, B.F Skinner (2011) explains behavior as that specific functioning part of an organism which helps in promoting and enabling interactions with its surrounding environmental circumstances. And he argues that the formulation of behavior will always include both the act of an organism and the features of the surrounding environment which influence the acting of the organism. Research has also pointed out that not all instances of movements by an organism are behaviors and also provides that not all instances of behavior entail a movement. Teachers should, therefore, be careful in interpreting some behavioral instances among the pupils, there might be some other factors contributing to their classroom behavior. Some instances of behavior are as a resultant of stimulus which may have been invoked and hence present in the organism or individual (Moore, 2011). Recent research on emotional and behavioral disorders by Bleidorn, Kandler, and Caspi (2014) gives an estimate of between 3% and 6% occurrence among children. Children with emotional and behavioral disorders are characterized by aggressive behaviors, destruction of properties, talking out, avoiding social interactions and rarely participate in classroom assignments as they are keen in observing the rules of silence conditioning. The teacher should also engage other professionals such as child psychologists to help them understand the behavior if its persistent as failure may lead to such emotional and behavior disorders. The theory of child development at early stages has been criticized for having certain weaknesses in managing the behavior of children. The criticisms have that the theory seems to only deal with strict distinct behavior as to whether a behavior is good or bad. They argue that there is a likelihood of students showing traits of good behavior as well as bad behavior. They may have a good behavior in one aspect and fail the other, for example, he or she may be good in class performance and be a bully to other students. They also argue that positive reinforcements or rewards should not always be supported as there is an argument that a child is supposed to continue his or her good behavior even if the reward is removed. There is also a criticism that the theory lacks engagement and motivation to students and advocate for the need of students at the higher level to conduct group discussions as well as figure things out on their experimental ways and research as pointed out by McClurg and Morris (2014). Despite the weaknesses, B.F Skinner and Albert Bandura theories of child development have been highly commented on its usefulness and ability to control students behavior. It's applicability in; helping in teaching as well as promoting behavioral modification and cognitive development. If is always easy for children to associate good behavior with rewards as well as associating bad behavior with punishment. Children also get to understand that good behavior will always produce desirable societal results while results of bad behavior are always unwanted. It is therefore recommended for the above scenario as the teacher will be able to understand, monitor and modify the behavior of children through a system of tested and applied techniques and concepts from the operant conditioning theory (Payne, 2015). Therefore the knowledge of operant conditioning has greatly influenced the practices of education. Children are believed to exhibit behaviors under all ages; it is, therefore, the respo nsibility of their teachers and parents to act as behavior modifiers. The arrangements and classroom settings through the established principles should help teachers organize the experiences that will enable them to facilitate both academic and childrens social behavior. Conclusion The knowledge of childrens classroom behavior as seen from research is important for both teachers and parents in helping them understand, regulate and modify their childrens behavior. Teacher Jane can therefore understand the behavior of his children or pupils and develop mechanisms which will correct such behaviors. She may introduce rewards to motivate and encourage the pupils participation in class, activities outside the class such as game or group competitions, ensuring sitting arrangements are done in a way to promote social interactions. Child development and behavior modification under the theory of B.F Skinner therefore, provides a better concept of behavior modification through reward and punishment concepts as compared to Watsons theory of social learning which emphasize the idea that behavior is a resultant of habit formed by individuals. The case represented in our case study can, therefore, be addressed by taking into consideration the concepts and view of both theorie s of child development as analyzed by Albert Bandura and B.F Skinner. References Alstot, A. E., Alstot, C. D. (2015). Behavior Management: Examining the Functions of Behavior. JOPERD: The Journal Of Physical Education, Recreation Dance, 86(2), 22-28. Arturo, C. A. (2013). The Psyche as Behavior.RevistaColombiana De Psicologa, 22(2), 377-387. Bleidorn, W., Kandler, C., Caspi, A. (2014).The Behavioural Genetics of Personality Development in Adulthood-Classic, Contemporary, and Future Trends.European Journal Of Personality, 28(3), 244-255. doi:10.1002/per.1957 Doolan, K. k., Bizo, L. A. (2013). Reinforced Behavioral Variability In Humans. Psychological Record, 63(4), 725-734. Kay, SR 2015 Revised 'Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: Critical Analysis of Validation Studies With the Defining Issues Test', International Journal Of Psychology, 17, 1-4, pp. 27-42, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 9 May 2017. Kumar, E. S., Nazneen, S. (2016). A Literature Review of the Theories of Learning and Varieties of Learning with Emphasis on Second Language Acquisition.Language In India, 16(7), 218-236. Liefooghe, B., De Houwer, J. (2016). A functional approach for research on cognitive control: Analysing cognitive control tasks and their effects in terms of operant conditioning. International Journal Of Psychology, 51(1), 28-32. McClurg, L., Morris, R. (2014). Shaping Student Behaviors Through Reward Systems: Lessons From Beaver Trapping?.Journal Of Higher Education Theory Practice, 14(2), 89-102. Moore, J. (2011). Behaviorism. Psychological Record, 61(3), 449-465. Payne, R. (2015). Using rewards and sanctions in the classroom: pupils perceptions of their own responses to current behaviour management strategies.Educational Review, 67(4), 483-504. Romi, S. s., Lewis, R. R., Roache, J. J. (2013). Classroom management and teachers' coping strategies: Inside classrooms in Australia, China and Israel. Prospects (00331538), 43(2), 215-231. Skinner, B. F. (2011). About behaviorism.Vintage. Psychological Record, 61(3), 449-465. Wacker, D. P., Schieltz, K. M., Berg, W. K., Harding, J. W., Dalmau, Y. P., Lee, J. F. (2017). The Long-Term Effects of Functional Communication Training Conducted in Young Children's Home Settings. Education Treatment Of Children, 40(1), 43-56. Weeden, M., Wills, H. h., Kottwitz, E., Kamps, D. (2016). The Effects of a Class-wide Behavior Intervention for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.Behavioral Disorders, 42(1), 285-293. Weitzman, R. S. (2010). The Bases for Language Repertoires: Functional Stimulus-Response Relations. Journal Of Speech-Language Pathology Applied Behavior Analysis, 5(2), 132-14