Chapter 12 Flashcards
skill deficiencies vs. problem behaviors
- difficulties performing athletic skills, such as following through or free throws
- problem behaviors - nonathletic activities that interfere with athletic performance and/or create aversiveness for others
describe five possible causes of problem behaviors shown by young athletes at practices.
- stem from a lack of understanding by young athletes as to what is expected of them at practices
- because the problem behaviors are immediately followed by natural reinforcers (including peer interactions), while the desirable alternative behaviors do not lead to immediate reinforcers
- because athletes don’t have the skills to earn rewards for skilled athletic performance
- may stem from the emotional side effects of operant extinction
- may stem from the interpersonal interactions of the athletes away from the athletic environment
If a young athlete (like Jason) shows problem behaviors at practices as a side- effect of extinction (i.e., for some reason, desirable behaviors that previously resulted in considerable attention no longer do so), what guidelines should a coach follow to appropriately deal with such problem behaviour
talk the situation over with the athlete away from the sport, have Jason set personal goals, encourage him to work towards self improvement, and deliberately provide a little extra feedback for Jason contingent on self improvement
What are desirable behaviors, and what are undesirable behaviors
- Listening
- Watching
- Effort
- Concentration
- Trust
- talking
- fooling around
- low effort
When formulating rules and consequences for rule violations for a group of young athletes, what questions should coaches ask concerning the nature of those rules and consequences?
- are the rules reasonable
- how well do they contribute to the effectiveness of the practice
- are there frequent positive consequences for following rules
- are the negative consequences for violations of rules fair to the individuals involved, and to the rest of the team
- how well to the rules contribute to the instructions of particular athletes
Briefly describe four steps that a coach might take at the beginning of a season, regarding rules and consequences, to minimize chances of problem behaviors occurring in the first place.
- identifies reasonable reasonable rules concerning desirable and undesirable behaviors of athletes
- identifies consequences for rule violations
- obtains a commitment from the athletes to follow the rules
- monitors desirable and undesirable behaviors during the season and provides feedback
Describe five plausible reasons why the program (training) boards used by McKenzie and Rushall exerted a positive influence on the swimmers
- clear prompt for athlete when finished a set
- finished sets at different times = less fooling around at end of lanes
- coaches instructions may have worked as a conditioned motivating operation to establish the checkmarks as a conditioned reinforcer for appropriate behavior of the athletes
- intermittent attention and praise from the coaches
- delayed reinforcers and/or punishers such as peer recognition for completing sets
What are two reasons that public posting of practice performance might be more effective as a motivator than the athlete’s private monitoring of performance?
- may be effective in stimulating peer interactions to reinforced increased output
- reminder to coaches to provide praise for progress
State three strategies for decreasing problem behaviors of athletes at competitions
- Monitoring, charting, and public posting
- post signs to prompt desirable alternative behavior
- teach athletes to use self reinforcement instead of self criticism
Describe a plausible example of self-reinforcement that might be used by an athlete
slipping out in a corner, don’t dwell on the mistake, just think, i know how to do it, i got this next corner
A functional assessment of the causes of a problem behavior asks what two questions?
- what are the antecedents of the behavior that might be setting it off
- what are the immediate consequences of the behavior that appear to be maintaining it
Briefly describe the three approaches to gathering information during a functional assessment.
- interview and/or questionnaire assessment of the people familiar with the client
- observational or descriptive assessment; in which an observer carefullly observes and describes the apparent antecedents and immediate consequences of the problem behavior of the individual as it occurs
- conduct a functional analysis; systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role as antecedents or consequences in controlling or maintaining specific problem behaviors
