A children’s behavior depends on the child’s age, personality and physical and emotional development. A child’s behavior may be a problem if it does not match the expectations of the family or it is disruptive. Behaviorism is an important type of learning theory. Behaviorism hypothesizes that personality is made up of habits formed by the environment. People are born neither good nor bad. They are a product of their environment. Behaviorism looks into two types of conditioning: classical and operant.
Classical conditioning (Pavlov) is a type of training in which two stimuli are connected, so that the subject learns to respond to the second stimuli in the same way that they respond to the first stimuli. In other words. classical conditioning focuses on what happens prior to a behavior and how that prior event becomes connected to a behavior. The behavior stops once the thing reinforcing the learned behavior is removed for a period of time. Even though the new learned behavior is stopped the prior learning has not been completely erased from the mind. If the connections that trained the new behavior are reestablished then the new behavior quickly starts again. This is known as spontaneous recovery (Learning Theories Knowledgebase).
Operant conditioning (B.F Skinner) is learning that occurs due to the consequences of our behavior. For example: if we receive a reward for our behavior, then it is more likely that the behavior will be repeated. The reward is anything (praise, food, games, money, clothes, etc) that increases the likelihood that a behavior will happen again (Introduction to Operant Conditioning).
Using continuous reinforcement is useful when teaching a new behavior, but impractical to use in long term for three main reasons. Fist, a person can’t always be around to reinforce. Secondly, if someone expects a reward to occur every time and the reward does not occur, the behavior quickly stops. Finally, the child may learn to do the behavior for the reward instead of learning the behavior.
Then the parents or guardian should explain the desired behavior and the reward options to the child, as well as how it will be controlled or watched. One way to monitor the progress of the new behavior is by teaching the new behavior as if it were a game, making a chart with the good behavior on the top like “Picking up Toys.” Then list the days on the bottom as if it were a calendar and make boxes below each day. Every time the chart is full of stickers, the child will be rewarded by being able to choose a reward from the options given.
Contrary to rewarding good behaviors, a bad behavior can be punished or ignored, this way it is less likely that the behavior will be repeated (Introduction to Operant Condition). When punishment is used too much or too severely, by itself is unlikely to train correct behavior. It may also role model aggression, lower self esteem and the child might learn to avoid the punisher instead of stopping the behavior.
There are certain rules that need to be taken into consideration if decided to punish a child. The punishment should be immediate or as soon as possible after the unwanted behavior was performed. The parent or guardian must be consistent to be effective although they may take circumstances into account. The severity of the punishment should be from mild to moderate unless it a priority to stop the behavior, then the punishment can be severe (Learning Theory at Mental Help).
Spanking is commonly form of punishment. The majority of psychologists and child development specialists are opposed to spanking. The more often physical punishment is used, the higher the risk that the negative consequences of punishment will occur. Although spanking is highly opposed, there are some ground rules that should be followed if a parent chooses to use spanking. The parent should not spank the child when angry, it is recommended to take some time to cool down and try to come up with an alternative consequence. Spank no more than three times, one swat is best and do not humiliate the child. Over all spanking should be the last option and left only for the most serious of offenses (Learning Theory at Mental Help).
Children tend to continue a behavior when it is rewarded and stop a behavior when it is ignored. Consistency is the persons reaction to a behavior is important because rewarding and punishing the same behavior at different times can be confusing for the child. The child learns that a bad behavior is not tolerated and that good behavior is rewarded, and these are skills that last them a lifetime (Learning Theory at Mental Help).
Classical conditioning (Pavlov) is a type of training in which two stimuli are connected, so that the subject learns to respond to the second stimuli in the same way that they respond to the first stimuli. In other words. classical conditioning focuses on what happens prior to a behavior and how that prior event becomes connected to a behavior. The behavior stops once the thing reinforcing the learned behavior is removed for a period of time. Even though the new learned behavior is stopped the prior learning has not been completely erased from the mind. If the connections that trained the new behavior are reestablished then the new behavior quickly starts again. This is known as spontaneous recovery (Learning Theories Knowledgebase).
Operant conditioning (B.F Skinner) is learning that occurs due to the consequences of our behavior. For example: if we receive a reward for our behavior, then it is more likely that the behavior will be repeated. The reward is anything (praise, food, games, money, clothes, etc) that increases the likelihood that a behavior will happen again (Introduction to Operant Conditioning).
Using continuous reinforcement is useful when teaching a new behavior, but impractical to use in long term for three main reasons. Fist, a person can’t always be around to reinforce. Secondly, if someone expects a reward to occur every time and the reward does not occur, the behavior quickly stops. Finally, the child may learn to do the behavior for the reward instead of learning the behavior.
Then the parents or guardian should explain the desired behavior and the reward options to the child, as well as how it will be controlled or watched. One way to monitor the progress of the new behavior is by teaching the new behavior as if it were a game, making a chart with the good behavior on the top like “Picking up Toys.” Then list the days on the bottom as if it were a calendar and make boxes below each day. Every time the chart is full of stickers, the child will be rewarded by being able to choose a reward from the options given.
Contrary to rewarding good behaviors, a bad behavior can be punished or ignored, this way it is less likely that the behavior will be repeated (Introduction to Operant Condition). When punishment is used too much or too severely, by itself is unlikely to train correct behavior. It may also role model aggression, lower self esteem and the child might learn to avoid the punisher instead of stopping the behavior.
There are certain rules that need to be taken into consideration if decided to punish a child. The punishment should be immediate or as soon as possible after the unwanted behavior was performed. The parent or guardian must be consistent to be effective although they may take circumstances into account. The severity of the punishment should be from mild to moderate unless it a priority to stop the behavior, then the punishment can be severe (Learning Theory at Mental Help).
Spanking is commonly form of punishment. The majority of psychologists and child development specialists are opposed to spanking. The more often physical punishment is used, the higher the risk that the negative consequences of punishment will occur. Although spanking is highly opposed, there are some ground rules that should be followed if a parent chooses to use spanking. The parent should not spank the child when angry, it is recommended to take some time to cool down and try to come up with an alternative consequence. Spank no more than three times, one swat is best and do not humiliate the child. Over all spanking should be the last option and left only for the most serious of offenses (Learning Theory at Mental Help).
Children tend to continue a behavior when it is rewarded and stop a behavior when it is ignored. Consistency is the persons reaction to a behavior is important because rewarding and punishing the same behavior at different times can be confusing for the child. The child learns that a bad behavior is not tolerated and that good behavior is rewarded, and these are skills that last them a lifetime (Learning Theory at Mental Help).