Use Of Rewards For A Games With A Scoring System

Operant conditioning is the effects punishment and reinforcement have on behavior; “the law of effect, which states that behaviors associated with good consequences (satisfiers) are more likely to occur again in the future, whereas behaviors associated with bad consequences (annoyers) are less likely to occur again” (Durwin 162). This is a necessary component used by many psychologists and educators to provide the best positive outcome in a child’s behavior. When analyzing the “Billy Scenario,” it is obvious that the teacher, Ms. Allen, tried different techniques of punishment to decrease the students’ misbehavior, but was unsuccessful; leading to an increase in the frequency of response or more disruptive behavior.

In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.

Specific Praise. Specific praise includes verbal or written statements to a student that recognize a desired or correct behavior. Praise can function as a tool for instruction and for increasing social and academic behaviors. To be effective, the student must view the attention provided through praise as pleasurable or motivational (Curran, 2017). Specific praise promoted more on‐task behavior than positive praise and significantly increased academic self‐concept (Bizo, 2004). Offering specific praise will help Sam because it sends a message that the teacher is aware of the effort he is putting into staying on task. As time goes on, Sam will desire the teacher’s positive statements. He understands that the statements are the result of him remaining on task and reaching his six-week goal. Sam will also develop an understanding of how to meet the teacher’s expectation. In the end, Sam will mature and advance in his academics. As he matures, the need for constant specific praise will become unnecessary. The added benefit of specific praise is to the teacher. The high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion while attempting to teach in the classroom with Sam will diminish as he progresses.

Operant conditioning could be used to increase students’ performance on their tests. One thing that could be done to reinforce this behavior would be to reward the whole class for increased performance on their tests with a pizza party. I would just say that if the whole class has an average of 90% on the test, then they will get a pizza party. They would be more likely to study and therefore do better on the test because they want the pizza. The students will have to have a drive to want to get better grade and then the reward of that also. Their emotions have to be determined to do better, if they are to get the reward that they seek.

The author’s assumption is that students’ behaviors can be determined by teacher’s behaviors; teachers make use of operant conditioning with rewarding system to build up students’ appropriate behaviors3. The experiment done by Becker had three options to change students’ behaviors: 1. Reward appropriate behavior and withdraw rewards if a student does inappropriate behavior. 2. Strengthen the rewards if 1 fails.

A reward system in the human service organization is a great idea. Having a reward system can help boost morale and give employees something to look forward too and work harder to strive to get the reward that is being offered. When deciding to have a reward systems there are many things that need to be considered.

Skinner (1951) argues that the principles of operant conditioning can be used to produce extremely complex behaviour if rewards and punishments are delivered in such a way as to encourage a student to get closer to the desired behaviour. In order to do this, the conditions required to receive the reward should shift each time the student moves a step closer to the desired behaviour. Attention from parents is reinforcement, often used as a reward for good behaviour. However, if parents are not providing enough attention to a child then they may begin to seek attention in other areas, such as the classroom. Teachers often give more attention to a misbehaved child, so disruptive behaviour is a better strategy for attracting attention, resulting in Aiden being the centre of attention from the negative responses and punishment given by the teacher, the attention seeking behaviour is reinforced. Aiden should be rewarded with something he finds positive and each time his behaviour improves the rewards should shift in which he receives the reward. When the reinforcement of the desired behaviour is acknowledged by Aiden he will understand there will also be punishment for his

Planned reinforcement are methods that reward a student for completing class assignments and homework early or on time, or it can be a parent’s verbal praise as well as a reward for completing household duties (Wheeler, 2010). In order for reinforcement to be effective, a teacher must consider an individuals learning preferences and must individualize the reinforcement, according to the student’s need (Wheeler, 2010). The goal of reinforcement is to maintain a behavior that is either positive or negative. In most cases teachers and parents use reinforcement to promote desirable behavioral form children, which can included, stickers, candy, verbal praise, money, a smile, or food (Reinforcement, 2010). Reinforcement can also be used to teach a child school subjects or social behaviors, where learning becomes appealing to the child.

Operant conditioning, punishment and reinforcement can be used in a variety of settings including homes and schools. The classroom relates as a giant skinner box. In turn, teachers could profit from knowing that reinforcement is effective in helping to elicit changes in behaviour (Lefrancois, 2006). Using several objects as reinforcers such as consumables such as food or sweets and lollypops, manipulatives such as toys or trinkets or a pillow, social stimuli such as praise, and tokens that can be cashed in for no homework (Lefrancois 2006). More than likely used in primary school and less likely used in post-primary school. But all of these can increase the probability that a response will occur again such as good behaviour, good work, progress and even more.

Cognitive behaviourism assumes the behavioural elements of reward and punishment as a basis for behaviour compliance in combination with cognitive strategies to support student’s management and responsibility for self-regulation of individual behaviour, with intent to minimise disruptive behaviour that interferes with successful teaching and learning (Porter, 2007; Lyons, Ford, & Slee, 2014). As a philosophy, this underpins belief that successful teaching and learning requires a teacher to hold possession of strong pedagogic knowledge of their subject matter while organising structures that will assist students in understanding this subject matter and how it interconnects to their life. Additionally,

During this chapter, it discussed many different behavioral views of learning. The chapter began by talking about the different ways the students learn. With the beginning stages of learning such as remembering things and putting the memories together. When they are similar or when they contrast from each other. This is the beginning way for younger students to start putting things together, from what they learn in the classroom or at home. During this time a students will start to learn positive and negative behaviors. Teachers who teach at a younger age level tend to use reinforcements to give positive feedback on something that a student does well. In the book Educational Psychology it states, “Whether the consequences of any actions are

Educational researchers are continuously developing a myriad of strategies and techniques to increase the growth of successful students. Teachers are made to attend yearly workshops and seminars enlightening them on the newly discovered methods of discipline that promise to yield the desired pupils. Many of these methods foster stringent classroom education and regulation, that create an environment of intimidation and fear-driven submission. However, educators with these stern class structures are shown to produce bleak improvements in academic achievement. Contrary to popular belief, the arguably most powerful method of teaching is accompanied with positive reinforcement opposed to popular draconian initiative. Positive reinforcement focuses on recognizing and rewarding the strengths of students instead of bringing attention and punishing the weaknesses. Creating an encouraging surrounding for students, using positive reinforcement, establishes the motivation and engagement necessary for students to flourish behaviorally and academically.

Behaviorism was a slow revolution that proved to become a popular study within psychology that lasted through the second decade of the twentieth century and through the beginning of the cognitive science revolution (Behjamin, 2014). During this time, there had been a vast amount of academic individuals that contributed to the multifaceted studies within the context of behaviorism. Many of the studies within this movement were based on the concept that all behaviors are the result of conditioning which the individual could be trained in an identified manner regardless of their previous background. In respect to the worldview of this psychological approach, it assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli (n/a, 2016). The theory discusses that the learner begins with a clean slate and the behavior is then shaped through the use of negative or positive reinforcement or reinforcement which increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will occur again (n/a, 2016). In contrast, punishment (positive and negative) decreases the likelihood the antecedent behavior will occur again. In respect to the act of positive reinforcement, the application of a stimulus in action, negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus (n/a, 2016). Learning is defined as a change in behaviors of the learner, but in this approach, it is considered to be created with reinforcement. In regards to the benefits of allowing researchers to investigate observable

One of the simplest and most commonly-used methods of conceptualizing learning is that of reinforcement theory (Noe 2010: 142). Every time a parent promises a child a toy for being good during a grocery store trip or threatens a teen with being grounded for bad grades, he or she is using reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is based upon the assumption that people want to experience as much pleasure as possible and avoid pain. Thus, businesses offer workers bonuses for good work, and issue reprimands (such as docking pay or denying a promotion) for poor behavior.

The term behaviorism referred to the school of psychology founded by John B. Watson based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors (Staddon, 2001) . And this behavior could be researched scientifically . According to Pavlov, "Respondent Conditioning” resulted from the association of two stimuli, such as causing dogs to salivate at the sound a tuning fork. Consequently, Skinner developed “Operant Conditioning” where the “Stimulus-Response” association was elicited through selective reinforcement (rewards or punishments) to shape behavior. In this regard, behaviorism assumed that a learner was a passive recipient and responding to environmental stimuli. When applying the tenets of Behaviorism to teaching, Skinner asserted that the learner started off as a blank slate, and then his behavior was shaped via positive or negative reinforcement. Behaviorist