Punishment Vs. Operant Conditioning In High School

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If I were an underpaid, highly skilled preschool teacher and on the first day of school noticed that one particular student is pushing other preschoolers, snapping all of the crayons, throwing puzzle pieces on the floor etc, I would definitely make sure each behavior was followed by punishment. Given Skinner 's theories of operant conditioning, reinforcers would only repeat a problem, while punishment would diminish the behavior, as long as an act itself is immediately followed by punishment. However, both reinforcers and punishers have the potential to be positive or negative. In short, operant conditioning is a theory of behaviorism. It broadly focuses on changes in an individual’s observable behaviors. Punishment itself means decreasing a behavior or behaviors. On the other …show more content…

In this case specifically, I would most likely have to rely on negative punishments. For example, I would not allow the child to play with toys for at least that day, given his destructive behavior, because playing with toys would result in the removal of a pleasant stimulus in order to decrease the unwanted behavior. Or I would not allow him to enjoy of his playground time with his friends, instead he would be on time out in the classroom while every other child is playing outside. The principle of shaping could also be helpful in this situation. Shaping itself is a process that shapes an animal or a person to perform a targeted behavior through the rewarding of the expected behavior. Essentially, through a series of positive reinforcers, or rewards, I could get this child in preschool to clean up the crayons along with the puzzle pieces and also stop him from pushing his classmates. I am aware that I would have to offer the child a different reward each time, because if I were to only offer food, eventually the child would be too full to even listen. Thus, the shaping of his behavior would be utterly ineffective. Hence, I could offer food along with different combinations of