Operant Conditioning and Shaping Behaviour Essay, Psychology

This essay delves into the concept of shaping behavior through operant conditioning, examining how both positive and negative reinforcement techniques influence human actions. It presents a scenario involving parents and their children, illustrating the use of negative punishment to modify behavior. The essay identifies the drawbacks associated with punishment, such as potential negative behaviors and a loss of interest in activities beyond the focus of study. Furthermore, it explores strategies to mitigate these drawbacks, including the importance of open communication and the 'tell-show-do' technique to foster a more positive and effective approach to behavior modification. The essay concludes by emphasizing that while both positive and negative reinforcement have their place, awareness of the potential negative consequences of punishment is crucial for effective behavior shaping.

Running head: SHAPING BEHAVIOUR
SHAPING BEHAVIOUR
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Description of a particular scenario.......................................................................................2
Identification of positive or negative punishment..................................................................2
Drawback of using punishment..............................................................................................3
Ways of reducing the drawback to use the punishment.........................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
All human beings have different behaviour and in order to control the behaviour and
shape it in a positive direction, different techniques can be used. One such technique is called
operant conditioning. The operant conditioning makes use of either a positive reinforcement
or a negative reinforcement in order to shape the behaviour of human beings (Crosbie, 1998).
Positive reinforcement includes providing a reward whereas the negative reinforcement
includes removing something desirable. The main aim of the paper is to discuss about
scenario where a positive or negative reinforcement was used and the potential drawbacks of
the same. The paper will therefore discuss about a scenario of positive or negative
reinforcement, identification of whether a positive or negative reinforcement was used,
description of the potential drawbacks in case of punishment and determination of ways in
which the drawback can be reduced.
Discussion
Description of a particular scenario
Parents are one of the major factors responsible for shaping the behaviour of their
children because children are first taught at home and then in schools. Therefore different
types of positive and negative reinforcement techniques are sued by parents. For instance,
parents may threaten their children that they will not be allowed to watch television if they do
not finish their studies and assignment on time (Iwata, 1987). Parents do this to improving the
reading habits of their children and such that they can finish their homework on time.
Moreover children are allowed to watch television as soon as they finish their assignment.

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Identification of positive or negative punishment

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Although the main intention behind the acts of parents is basically to improve the
readings habits of children, a negative punishment is used. This is so because parents threaten
their child for taking awry his or her favourite leisure activity that is watching television.
Therefore, if a child fails to study and complete his assignment he is not allowed to watch
television (Tauber, 1988).
Drawback of using punishment
The major drawback of using the punishment of deprivation of some activity or
something from the child includes a negative behaviour on part of the child. This can include
a whining behaviour on part of the child, the child may interact less with his parents and
therefore also with others. They may become hesitant in a lot of activities such as going out
with friends and may also lose their sense of prioritization as they may feel that only studies
is what matters and nothing comes before that (Staddon & Niv, 2008). Therefore they may
lose interest in other activities such as co-curricular activities because of their complete focus
on studies. Moreover a disruptive behaviour may ne evoke in the child. Moreover if the same
punishment is used continuously then they may give up the technique and the technique may
fail.
Ways of reducing the drawback to use the punishment
Therefore in order to reduce the drawback of the punishments, it becomes necessary
for the parents to less rigid in their attitude and be open to the opinion of the children
(Perone, 2003). This will not only helps in improving the relationship between them but also
help the child to talk freely to them. Therefore non-aggressive techniques should be used by
parents. One of the best techniques is tell-show-do technique. In this situation, the child will
not show a disruptive behaviour and he will himself meet his parents expectations without
any supervision activities of his parents. Therefore in order to reduce the drawbacks of the

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use of negative reinforcement activities, it is necessary for the parents to show a more open
and acceptable attitude. However the parents should not provide only rewards to the children
then the child’s expectations may also increase which will again have some negative
consequences.
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion, it can be concluded that behaviours can be
shaped with the help of both positive and negative reinforcement. Positive informant as
understood from the paper includes reward and negative reinforcement on the other hand
includes punishments. From the paper it is also understood that there can be certain
drawbacks of negative reinforcement. Moreover different ways have been used to reduce the
drawbacks of punishments. Some of these ways includes- the tell-do-show technique and
adoption of a non-aggressive technique.

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References
Crosbie, J. (1998). Negative reinforcement and punishment. In Handbook of research
methods in human operant behavior (pp. 163-189). Springer, Boston, MA.
Iwata, B. A. (1987). Negative reinforcement in applied behavior analysis: An emerging
technology. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20(4), 361-378.
Perone, M. (2003). Negative effects of positive reinforcement. The Behavior Analyst, 26(1),
1-14.
Staddon, J. E., & Niv, Y. (2008). Operant conditioning. Scholarpedia, 3(9), 2318.
Tauber, R. T. (1988). Overcoming misunderstanding about the concept of negative
reinforcement. Teaching of Psychology, 15(3), 152-153.