Mr. Byrne's Operant Conditioning

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Mr. Byrne is having trouble getting his students to listen. He is trying scolding as a punishment, but that is not working. By the end of this essay, Mr. Byrne will learn how use operant conditioning to get his seventh grade students to listen.

Mr. Byrne can 't understand why scolding his seventh-grade students for disruptive classroom behaviors makes them unrulier. Mr. Byrne 's can use operant conditioning techniques to reduce disruptive behaviors and increase cooperative behaviors.

Operant conditioning is a condition in which the desired behavior or increasingly closer to the approximations to it are followed by a rewarding or reinforcing stimulus. “The fundamental principle of operant conditioning is that behavior is determined by its consequences. Behavior does not occur as isolated and unrelated events; the consequences that follow the actions of an animal, be they good, bad, or indifferent, will have an effect on the frequency with which those actions are repeated in the future,” (Laule 2). A reinforcement strengthens a response, reinforcement …show more content…

My Byrne’s scolding does not make the children settle down because his scolding is not followed by punishment or reinforcement. “In a positive reinforcement-based system, animals are rewarded with something they like for responding appropriately to the caregiver’s cues or commands,” (Laule 2). Mr. Byrne could use positive reinforcement instead of just scolding the students. “Reinforcement training, where the animal performs the correct behavior in order to escape or avoid something it does not like,” (Laule 2). Mr. Byrne could give the students practice quizzes containing information on the tests as a positive punishment. “In a positive reinforcement-based system, animals are rewarded with something they like for responding appropriately to the caregiver’s cues or commands,” (Laule 2). Mr. Byrne could try adding more engaging material, and send them to the principal’s office when they continue to be