Behaviourist Approach - Contemporary Debate: Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children

Question 1

Why are conditioning techniques appropriate at home

Answer 1

• naughty step from “Supernanny” to correct bad behaviour: uses operant conditioning (positive reinforcement)
• Gill (1998) parents encourage positive behaviour by giving pocket money (+reinforcement) or withholding it. Found that it led to children performing up to 20% more household chores
• this suggests that it is appropriate to use at home in order to condition appropriate behaviour that leads to the child behaving at home, and therefore having a higher chance of being accepted by society when they grow up

Question 2

Why are conditioning techniques not appropriate at home

Answer 2

• Not ecologically valid: supernanny isn’t their mum = no emotional struggle for Jo to do it, where it would be more difficult for their actual mum
• Morris (2014): children are incapable of reflecting on their behaviour in the same way adults do (no capacity for empathy), instead it just shames them (long-term emotional effects) and then has no effect on improving behaviour
• This suggests that conditioning techniques aren’t appropriate at home because they have low applicability to the home environment for parents, as well as not being applicable to children
  —counter—> Bridget sizer (2013) suggests ‘7 tips for practising positive discipline’
• understanding the meaning behind the behaviour, controlling yourself (not your child), giving attention to behaviour you like, etc…
• suggest that conditioning can be appropriate at homes if applied properly

Question 3

why might conditioning techniques be appropriate for schools

Answer 3

• education uses operant conditioning through gold stars or merits
• this is an example of using a token economy: using positive enforcers in classrooms keeps the children motivated to do homework and not misbehave
• McAllister et al (2009) found that increased use of ‘teacher praise/disaproval’ led to a decrease in inappropriate talking. In a control condition = no change
• therefore we need to use conditioning techniques to improve children’s behaviour in schools

Question 4

why might conditioning techniques not be appropriate for schools

Answer 4

• Montessori education: believes rewards/punishments = harmful to a child’s development –because–> it interferes with the child’s internal motivation to learn
• Lepper et al (1973) supports this.
• children who were promised a reward spent half the time drawing as children who were not promised a reward
• suggests intrinsic motivation had been destroyed by the expectation of extrinsic reward
• This suggests that conditioning techniques don’t always lead to better performance and that it creates children that are less cohesive and more selfish

Question 5

why might conditioning techniques be appropriate to control the behaviour of vulnerable groups of children

Answer 5

• Chaney et al. (2004) ‘Funhaler’
• After 2 weeks of using funhaler, parents reported fewer problems with medicating children and a more positive response to treatment
• uses positive reinforcement
• important for them to receive treatment in a healthier way
• Robinsons et al (1981) Token economies
• improved the reading and vocabulary tasks in children with hyperactivity
• this can also be generalised to drug addicts who can exchange tokens for desirable goods when they abstain
• Lovaas (1987) Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
• shaping techniques used to teach children on Autistic spectrum appropriate behaviour
• they’ll be accepted by peers

Question 6

why might conditioning techniques not be appropriate to use with vulnerable groups of children

Answer 6

• critics of Lovaas say that his methodology was flawed:
  1) participants weren’t randomly allocated to control or treatment = conclusions aren’t valid
  2) says that treatment needs to be intensive 40 hours, however Anderson et al (1987) found that an average of 20 hours is sufficient enough
• It doesn’t treat what causes symptoms, bad behaviour will persist in a different form once the reinforcement is removed

Question 7

what are the ethical and social implications for using conditioning techniques for children + why they’re important to consider

Answer 7

• Children don’t know they’re being conditioned = unethical
• they can’t remove themselves from unpleasant situations = takes away their free will
• children model their behaviour off their parent’s = parents should change their behaviour first
• if reward increases grades = benefits society and economy
• conditioning influences acceptance in society = politeness and following the law
• other punishments like smacking are illegal