Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site bigburd.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!burdvax!bigburd!paula From: paula@bigburd.UUCP (Paula Matuszek) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: Positive Reinforcement (LONG!) Message-ID: <2099@bigburd.UUCP> Date: Sun, 29-Dec-85 11:56:07 EST Article-I.D.: bigburd.2099 Posted: Sun Dec 29 11:56:07 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 31-Dec-85 00:41:10 EST References: <283@h.cs.cmu.edu> <625@cylixd.UUCP> Reply-To: paula@bigburd.UUCP (Paula Matuszek) Organization: System Development Corp., Paoli, Pa. Lines: 91 Keywords: positive reinforcement, punishment, modeling Summary: It's not that simple. eat, eat, eat... I can't resist commenting on this any longer. 1. Doesn't the behavior diminish once you remove the positive reinforcement? Of course it does. There are several ways to minimize this, including making the reinforcement schedule irregular, making the reinforcement strong enough to elicit a LOT of good behavior for a single reward, and gradually substituting "easy" or "acceptable" reinforcements like praise and Mommy's happiness for treats, money, etc. Why shouldn't the behavior diminish? How long would you keep working if your paychecks stopped? Or if no one ever told you you were doing a decent job? Kids are no different. So how do you use positive reinforcement to control behavior? You DO keep praising the behaviors you want to see. You can diminish the rate for well-established behaviors, and you can, as mentioned earlier, substitute social reinforcements like praise and smiles if you have started with more tangible rewards. But you don't really WANT to stop praising your child. (This tends to be the biggest failure of "behavior modification plans"--did you follow the plan? well, yes. did the behavior change? well yes, but once I stopped the rewards the nasty brat went right back to his nasty behavior--this ISN'T a surprise). The other aspect of how you keep the behavior is that if you're doing it right, the result of the behavior SHOULD ITSELF be rewarding to the child. Clean room, more fun with siblings, good grades in school, etc--children do like these things, and if their behavior is contributing to them that in itself is reinforcing. Now if what you're using the reinforcement for is something like trying to make a six-year-old sit quietly for an hour, you're going to have to work a lot harder at it (and I'm not going to help you any). 2. Positive reinforcement is always better than punishment. This is a bit naive. Different kinds of reinforcement have different effects. Punishment IS effective at temporarily suppressing behavior. If it's strong enough it can be permanently effective (ever read the experiments about one trial learning in animals?) Why might you want to do this? Mild punishment to suppress one behavior (eg, fighting with siblings) long enough to allow a competing positive behavior to be built up. Somewhat stronger punishment for behaviors that to YOU it is really critical that your child not engage in. Some such behaviors carry their own punishment--getting burnt on a hot stove, for instance. Sometimes you would rather that your child not do something because the consequences COULD BE fatal--I have punished mine for things like running into the street. The risk of the latter is that if the connection between act and punishment is arbitrary, with you as the arbiter, it will only prevent it to the extent that you are likely to know about it. 3. Modeling. Since people aren't really rats, there is more to human learning than reinforcement (brace for flames from Skinnerians). Children, as all of you who have them know, are great little models. When they are faced with a situation, their first approach will be one they have seen tried successfully, if they know of one. You CAN teach children appropriate concepts and phrases like "taking turns" and "you do this part, I'll do that part" and "let's trade". And "I'm sorry" and "Let's make friends again" and all the other little niceties that make them more pleasant to be around. Your own behavior is, of course, one very important model. Books, playmates, schools and TV provide others. Appropriate behavior includes not only the motivation for appropriate behavior (which you can affect through reinforcement), but also the knowledge of appropriate responses and behaviors--and for humans, modeling, including just plain TELLING a child ways to deal with something, is the fastest way to provide this knowledge. 4. My "background" for this--PhD in school psych, 12 years professional experience working with children, and four children of my own, all of whom I enjoy (most of the time!). 5. Most important thing I've learned about kids: they're surprisingly resilient--don't let all the jargon and worries and theories keep you from enjoying them! Paula Matuszek