CHAPTER 12 - Decreasing Problem Behaviours Flashcards
In a two or three sentence, describe several possible causes of problem behaviours shown by young athletes at practices.
o Some causes of problem behaviors stem from a lack of understanding by young athletes as to what is expected of them at practices. Some athletes may have worked with different coaches in the past who allowed them to do different things that current coaches find annoying, Another cause may occur at practices because they are immediately followed by natural reinforcer, while the desirable alternative behaviors do not lead to immediate reinforcers.
For a sport with which you are familiar (other than figure skating), list at least five desirable behaviours and five undesirable behaviours for young athletes at a typical practice.
o For hockey, five desirable behaviours would be skating hard, shooting the puck to score, making tape to tape passes, executing a drill properly, and listening attentively to the feedback provided by your coach and implementing it the next time you do the same drill. Five undesirable behaviours would be to look at the clock when a coach is explaining the next drill, going to the bench for water while a drill is taking place, talking to your friends while waiting in line to do the drill (distracts both you and the ones around you), doing a desired drill improperly (ex. skating forwards between blue lines when you should be skating backwards), and lying on the ice after you have done a drill because you are tired (shows the coach you are lazy/uninterested.)
Briefly describe four steps that a coach might take at the beginning of a season to minimize chances of problem behaviours occurring in the first place.
o The first step is to identify reasonable rules concerning desirable and undesirable behaviours of athletes. Second, to identify the consequences for rule violations. Third, obtain a commitment from the athletes to follow the rules. Fourth, monitor desirable and undesirable behaviour during the season, and provide feedback.
In several sentences, describe the three steps of the strategy followed by Coach Hume to decrease off-task practice behaviours of the figure skaters.
o Coach Hume’s first step was to identify specific desirable practice behaviours. These behaviours were itemized in a checklist of the jumps and spins that Heather, Claudia, and Cathy were expected to practice for 45 minutes per day while she gave lessons to the other skaters. The second step was to devise a strategy for the skaters to self-monitor the occurrence of the desirable practice behaviours. A big chart was prepared for each skater containing the checklist of jumps and spins, the elements in the skater’s program, two graphs, and appropriate instructions. Coach Hume then explained the charts to the skaters and they began to implement them in their practices. The third step in Coach Hume’s strategy was to provide feedback to the skaters for improvement. At the end of each practice, summary bars were added to charts of off-task behaviour and elements attempted so that the skaters could clearly see their progress. Progress was praised by Coach Hume.
Define stimulus control over behaviour (see Chapter 3). How was stimulus control involved in the program with figure skaters developed by Coach Hume?
o Stimulus control is used to refer to the degree of correlation between a stimulus and behaviour. Stimulus control was used by Coach Hume to develop the figure skaters by the involvement of the big chart. The big chart, which allowed the skaters to prepare checklists and view the instructions for the practice, had a direct correlation with improved jumps and spins over the course of practices.
Define positive reinforcement (see Chapter 3). How was positive reinforcement used by Coach Hume in the program with figure skaters?
o A positive reinforcer is a stimulus, the presentation of which immediately after behaviour causes that behaviour to increase. When a positive reinforcer is used to strengthen behaviour it is called positive reinforcement. Coach Hume used positive reinforcement by immediately providing positive feedback to the skaters for improvement following a practice. In doing this, Hume was able to ensure that improvements would continue as she would continue providing feedback after each practice.
What are two differences in the self-recording program with figure skaters used by Coach Hume versus the public posting program with tennis players applied by Galvan and Ward? What do you see as the relative advantages or disadvantages of the two approaches?
o One difference is that with Coach Hume alternative behaviours and reinforcers for them were identified once they occurred at practice where as with Galvan and Ward they identified problem behaviours before hand and suggested alternative behaviours for the athletes to work on before the program started. Another difference was the chart used by Coach Hume displayed both positive and negative applications while the graph displayed by Galvan and Ward displayed only negative applications. Coach Hume displayed the graph that allowed the figure skaters to record when they had rated a program well and when they had rated a program poorly. Galvan and Ward’s chart was only up for the players to publicly record inappropriate behaviours. I see Coach Hume’s program has having the advantage that all behaviours are displayed so the athlete can not only see what they need to work on but can also feel good about what they are already doing well. In saying that I see Galvan and Ward’s program has having the disadvantage of only presenting negative behaviours which may have a negative effect on the athletes as it may provide less confidence and motivation to want to do well since they are not reminded of behaviours they already are performing well. One advantage in Galvan and Ward’s program was that they met with the athletes before the program even began to let them know what it is they are doing wrong and what can be done to change that. I see this as having an advantage because it focuses the athlete’s attention narrowly on only the behaviours that need to be improved without having the distractions of other behaviours present. With that being said, Hume’s program is at a disadvantage because there is more information present on the chart, which can lead to a lack of focus on what needs to be improved if the athlete is distracted by focusing on what they are already doing well.
Briefly describe the educational sign-prompting program applied by Yu and Martin to increase ball mark repairing by golfers. Does their program rely on natural reinforcers or deliberately managed reinforcers? Justify your choice
o Yu enjoyed playing golf at local public golf courses but was dismayed with the large amounts of ball marks on the putting greens. With the approval of the course superintendent, Yu launched an investigation of low-cost procedures to influence golfers to repair ball marks. During baseline observations, data indicated an average of 20 ball marks per green per 100 golfers. Following baseline, Yu introduced an educational sign prompt near the entrance to the clubhouse. The sign contained an explanation of, and photographs of, some unrepaired ball marks, a description of how to repair ball marks as depicted in photographs, and a request for golfers to help repair ball marks. This prompting decreased the number of unrepaired ball marks by approximately 37% and was kept as a permanent fixture. This program used relied on deliberately managed reinforcers because the sign displayed at the entrance of the clubhouse acted as a reinforcer that was used to deliberately change the behaviour of the golfers. The intention was to change the behaviour of not repairing ball marks to now repairing them.
Describe a plausible example of self-reinforcement that might be used by an athlete that is not in this chapter.
athlete that is not in this chapter.
o An example of self-reinforcement that might be used would be in Tennis. An athlete could provide self-reinforcement by using praise for each good serve that he or she makes. After the occurrence of a good serve the athlete could say to themselves “That’s it, that’s the serve that I am looking for. If I can keep making serves like that one I should have no trouble at all in winning this match.” This praise will work towards increasing the likelihood that a good serve will result the next time the athlete goes to make one.
Briefly describe the three approaches to gathering information during a functional assessment.
o The first approach is to conduct an interview and/or questionnaire assessment of the people familiar with the client. Hopefully the answers will allow the behaviour analyst to identify the causes of the problem behaviour. A second approach to discover a problem behaviour’s controlling variables is to perform an observational or descriptive assessment in which an observer carefully observes and describes the apparent antecedents and immediate consequences of the problem behaviour of the individual as it occurs in natural settings. The third approach is to conduct a functional analysis, which is the systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role as antecedents or consequences in controlling or maintaining specific problem behaviours.
