Behavior modification in children through operant conditioning and reinforcement

Child Behavior Modification

Modifying and upholding the behavior of children is a subject held in very high regard in the psychology, social work and other communities. A main reason for this is that habits, patterns and environments established and projected on children during childhood tend to have an enduring and lasting effect on them to the extent that it somewhat or greatly affects how they act and behave as adults. Further, once the proverbial behavioral "pathways" are written, it is very hard to "rewrite" them or otherwise persuade a person to break from that pattern of behavior. As such, it is of paramount importance to identify outlying and otherwise undesirable behavior when a child is young so that correcting the problems are easier and the solutions more enduring. While people can always change their ways as they move throughout life, it is much easier to be proactive and avoid trouble in the first place, or at least shut it down at its inception.

Analysis

Children's Behavior

When it comes to the behavior of children, there are three major topics or authors that the author of this report would point to. Those would be the work of Burrhus Frederic Skinner, the aging of children's behavior and the development of a child's brain. When it comes to the work of Skinner, his view on the subject was rather clear-cut. Indeed, he and fellow researcher Susan Meyer Markle had much of their work centered on improving the instructional and educational strategies for children and those tactics clearly centered on the application of behavioral psychology. One of the cornerstones of these methods and options includes operant conditioning as well as reinforcement of good behaviors as a child's actions and patterns are corrected (Day, 2016). As for the aging of children and their behavior, there is some research to indicate that there are "biomarkers" that portend the problems that a child might develop once they reach certain states of development. The problems that can surface run the gamut from obesity to chronic diseases and from behavioral disorders and cancer (UC -- San Francisco, 2015). Even simple and basic things like gender can be predictive of behavior for a child (Wigginton, 2011). However, some behaviors and patterns, such as sedentary and inactive lifestyles, are most certainly learned and mimicked within family and other close-knit groups (Goldfield, et al., 2007). As far as brain development goes, it is clear that bad environments, events and patterns can severely hobble a child from a development standpoint. However, the inverse is true when it comes to positive events such as involvement with extracurricular activities. As it pertains to the latter, one journal article found that extracurricular activities of a physical nature have a tremendously good effect on school performance, wellness and the brain development of the children in question (Kall et al., 2015).

Behavior Modification Methods

When it comes to modifying behavior in children, there are three methods that are used most commonly. Those methods are contiguity, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Contiguity is all about the presence of the desired or wanted behavior and not much else. Basically, the nearby presence of a desired behavior or pattern is seen as a way to instill and grow that habit or behavior within a child. For example, a misbehaving child being placed around children that are more behaved and stable may spur the misbehaving child to follow suit. This is quite commonly not the result but it can happen if done in the right way. Classical conditioning is the method by which a desired before is incurred and created but with a stimulus that was not in use prior. Indeed, the classical example of classical conditioning is Pavlov's dog. The dog would have his mouth water when he knew he was about to be fed. Pavlov coupled this feeding with the sound of a bell. Eventually, the dog's mouth would water if the bell alone sounded ... even if no food was presented to the dog. Finally, we come to operant conditioning. When there was a mention of reinforcement made earlier, this is what operant conditioning is all about. When a desired behavior is committed by a child, that child will be rewarded with verbal praise or some other sort of incentive. However, that reinforcement will be withdrawn of the child deviates from the desired patterns (Schneider, 1990).

As for which method is best, many would clearly say it is operant conditioning. There is a clear correlation between the behavior that is desired and what is done to encourage and foster that behavior. Classical conditioning is a bit of a trick and the linkage between the incentive and the behavior is not clear. Contiguity can work but some children care little, if at all, if the other children around them are acting in a different manner or it may not register with the child that their behavior is improper. Even worse, they may know and they will not care because the behavior is not being shut down or controlled properly when it occurs. For example, it may be a child's penchant to cry or scream when they do not get what they want. If the reaction of the parent is to shower them with what they want despite the bad behavior, it generally makes things worse. Indeed, this would be the inverse of operant conditioning because the bad behavior, rather than the good behavior, is being reinforced (Schneider, 1990).