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Ways of changing children behaviour.

Children behaviour can be changed using various methods. These methods are not limited to changing the behaviour only but, also they can be used to treat other physiological diseases such as depression. I shall explain various methods used and illustrate how these methods impact on the children life.

             Behavioural modification refers to changing the behaviour’s patterns of people, for example, a child behaviour using a certain technique. (Martin et al.), Argues that behavioural modification starts at the tender stages of a person or an animal. For example, dogs are usually trained when they are still young since at a tender age since they can easily be taught various skills and also as they are discipline to their masters. This also applies to the children, whose behaviour can be changed while they are at a young age. Behavioural changing in children can be broadly divided into two categories, but this method of categorization only considers the consequences of behavioural changing. A consequence that increase behaviour is called reinforces. In contrast to the, reinforces, they are those consequences that decrease the probability of occurrence of a behaviour. These are termed as punishers, and the phenomenon is termed punishment. Reinforcement and punishment are commonly confused and misunderstood since they mostly mean the same. For example, to increase the likelihood of specific behaviour in the future Reinforcement is used. After the improvement of the behaviour is shown, a stimulus is exhibited thus presenting Positive and Negative reinforcement. (Biederman et al.) This means that both positive and negative reinforcement can be observed in an individual, but the difference comes from the methods used to bring about the reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is presented by motivating the child after the desired behaviour is shown. When positive reinforcement is used it increases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated. Negative reinforcement is used to increase behaviour by the removal of the consequence. Negative reinforcement should not be used as a stand-in for actual punishment.  Punishment is a consequence of a particular behaviour; the goal is to decrease the frequency of a specific behaviour. (Whitcomb) There are two types of punishment, positive and negative.  Extinction, as it relates to behaviour modification, is used to reduce unwanted behaviour. Extinction is used to decrease behaviours such as tantrums whining and disruptive behaviour.

             Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement is used as a tool to increase a specific behaviour. When using positive reinforcement, it is important to remember that something must be added to have the desired response. When children understand that they will be positively praised, or receive rewards, they will more than likely repeat that behaviour. (De Graaf, Ireen, et al) When using negative reinforcement something must be taken away to receive the desired response. A good example is a child taking the initiative to clean their room so that they will not get yelled at by the parent. Taking child’s playing toys the from them whenever they misbehave acts as a good correctional way since it creates certain fear in the child which will act as a reminder to them whenever they are tempted to repeat the same mistakes. There is no child who will want to lose his or her precious toy, this keeps them off mistakes, and thus they will always try to behave themselves and avoid chaos.  The removal of the negative stimulus will increase the chances of the child cleaning their room more often without being told to do so. (Shaolin, Tadmore et al.)

Punishment is used to decrease specific behaviour. Punishment is most used to discipline children. The child will begin to associate the punishment with negative behaviours. The goal is to deter the child from resorting to bad behaviour. Some examples of punishment are spanking or the removal of privileges. Most children do not like having things taken away from them so they are more than likely to stop those behaviours.   Extinction is the removal of something so that a particular behaviour can be decreased.  When using extinction, most parents will take away games, phones, or play time. This is also a method to control certain behaviours. When dealing with children, this method can sometimes be hard to use because of the lack of understanding and attention spans. Children that suffer from ADD or ADHD can have a hard time being in the position of having things taken away. Their lack of ability to focus usually shifts their attention and they almost immediately forget what was taken away or the reason. (Singh, Nirbhay N,et al.) Argues that children may perform “some subset of the task to be trained and receive reinforcement. Because of attention problems or delays in processing verbal information, the child may misapprehend the contingency underlying this reinforcement, causing disruptions in the learning process.

            Children will more than likely respond to the action that causes them less pain. In certain instances, children will throw a bigger tantrum if spanked because of the dislike of pain. Positive and negative reinforcement is a bigger agent for change. Children will eventually grow out of the need for spanking. Positive and Negative reinforcement can be used throughout the teenage years.  Research has shown that under some conditions, positive reinforcement can be effective for reducing problem behaviour maintained by escape even when extinction is not implemented. Reinforcement studied by who called it classical conditioning conducted studies on animals. Shalon and Tadmore studied the salivary function in dogs. During the study, they noticed that the dogs began to salivate before he would feed them. They concluded that their salivating was due to an expectation of food by the ringing of a bell, their response became learned. Shalon and Tadmore understood that the response to the food unknowingly led the dogs to salivate thus calling it an unconditioned response. The dogs did not respond to the sound of the bell until it was paired with food.  Shalon and Tad more called this response a conditioned stimulus. (Shalon, Tadmore et al.) Classical conditioning happens when an individual has an association between two things. If a child has a fear of going to the doctor, if after each visit the child is presented with a lollipop the child will then condition the doctor’s office with being able to receive a lollipop, and the fear will slowly begin to decrease because the child has replaced fear with a pleasure. 

            It is evident that Parents bring up their children differently and in a different environment, depending on such factors, parents will do what works for their children. There are so many different cultures and backgrounds which also affect the type of behavioural method used. Some cultures do believe in negative and while others do support positive reinforcement. Other cultures believe in punishment and spanking. This implies that there are so many ways to implement behaviour modification techniques. It is therefore advisable for parents to select the most suitable method of behaviour modification that suits their childbearing in mind the environment and cultural background factors. When a parent chooses to use Positive and negative reinforcement as a way to modify behaviour they are more than likely to get the desired response.  Most parents see a downfall in this aspect because the child will then become conditioned to the response and expect a reward for good behaviour all of the time. When dealing with punishment, there is a thin line between punishment and abuse. Parents should take care not to abuse their children when using punishment as a method of behaviour correction. Use of very harsh mode of punishment may bring depression to the child who will bring discomfort to the child. Most parents like to shy away from this method of reinforcement because they feel that spanking the child will lead to far worse responses. For example, a child throwing a tantrum who then is spanked will possibly have an even worse reaction to the pain rather than recognizing the reason of the discipline.  Extinction is the removal of something to decrease negative behaviour. In comparison to punishment as a method of behaviour, correction extinction is much more effective since the child will be denied their most treasured pleasures whenever they misbehave this ensures that the children behave themselves all the time since they cannot do without various pleasures. Although extinction leaves no physical harm to the child like spanking, some parents prefer this method but can find it hard to use because the child can at some point expect to receive their things back so their behaviour remains good for that moment. Some children might fool their parents that they have changed their behaviour but in the real sense what they need is their normal favours and pleasures back.  Each one of these methods has their positive and negative points. (Payne.S et al.)

In conclusion, it is therefore advisable for parents to choose the technique of behaviour modification that fits best your children. It all comes down to what the child will condition them to do. Positive and negative reinforcement may work for one child whereas punishment may work for another. It depends on how the child conditions themselves, and the culture of the family.

REFERENCES

Work cited

Biederman et al. ". A response to "the negative effects of positive reinforcement in teaching children with developmental delays"." 24 June 2014. Physchological behaviors. 1 August 2018 < http://search.proquest.com>.

Miltenberger, Raymond et aL. Behavior modification: Principles and procedures. . Newyork: Cengage Learning, 2011.

De Graaf, Ireen, et al. "Effectiveness of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program on behavioral problems in children." A meta-analysis. Behavior Modification ( 2008): 714-735.

Martin Et al . Behaviour modification: What it is and how to do it . Chicago: Psychology Press, 2015.

Payne.S et al. "POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT AS TREATMENT FOR PROBLEM BEHAVIOR MAINTAINED BY NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT." Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (2013): 699-703.

Shalon, Tadmore et al. Systems and methods for monitoring and modifying behavior. New york, 29 Mar 2011.

Singh, Nirbhay N,et al. "Mindful parenting decreases aggression and increases social behavior in children." Behavior Modification ( 2007): 749-771.

Whitcomb, S. " Behavioral, social, and emotional assessment of children and adolescents." Whitcomb, S. Behavioral, social, and emotional assessment of children and adolescents. New jearsey: Routledge, 2013. 50-60.