Behaviourist Debate Flashcards
Why should conditioning techniques be used to control children at home?
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN suggests that operant conditioning techniques (punishments like time out) do NOT cause harm to children, but physical punishments should be avoided.
Study - tracked ~1400 families and parenting strategies at 3, 5, and 10 years old. Found no differences in children’s levels of anxiety and depression, but children were aggressive with physical punishment.
Why SHOULDN’T conditioning techniques be used at home?
Benjamin et al. 1971 - 90 parents who had night-trained children under 9. Study explored how children LEARN not to wet the bed at night.
Night training was significantly retarded when punishments were used, like shaming or spanking.
What are the implications of using conditioning at home?
SOCIAL: Better behaved children is better for society.
ECONOMIC: Incentives can encourage them to see the value of money and prepare for the workplace.
What are the social implications of Benjamin et al. (1971)’s research?,
SOCIAL: If children are desensitised to punishment, they may not be deterred from crime.
Physical punishments linked to long term mental health issues.
Why should conditioning be used in schools?
Lee Ross (2022) - compared behaviour of students in a class in Hong Kong as more reward-based systems were applied.
Specifically positive reinforcement increased desired behaviour
Why shouldn’t conditioning be used in schools?
Lepper et al. (1973) - independent groups of children who performed a marker task - one group were told they’d get a reward and one wasn’t.
Group who expected a reward were less interested in the activity than other group who completed it again after.
Implications of Ross’ (2022) research
ECONOMIC: Incentives increase work ethic in schools and work.
Implications of Lepper et al.’s (1973) research
SOCIAL: raising children to be extrinsically motivated decreases wellbeing
Vulnerable Groups - FOR
Frank M. Hemwett- case study with a child with severe ASD who struggled to read, write, and speak.
Using conditioning (specifically positive and negative reinforcement of sweets) helped the child learn to read, write, and speak certain phrases.
Vulnerable Groups - AGAINST
Wilson et al. (2014) - extensive use of operant conditioning discourages intrinsic motivation and lack of independent functioning in children with autism who are visual learners
Implications of Hemwett’s research
SOCIAL: Integrates vulnerable children into society
Implications of Wilson’s (2014) research
SOCIAL: Discourages independent functioning
