Contemporary debate - Behaviourist debate

Question 1

Debate : Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children

Answer 1

• conditioning techniques are appropriate to control the behaviour VS conditioning techniques are not appropriate to control the behaviour of children

Question 2

Why is this a debate?

Answer 2

• Using conditioning techniques is controversial because it involves manipulating behaviour
• Child may not know you are manipulating them
• Impact of conditioning has important implications for society
• Believe if benefits children, parents and teachers and employers

Question 3

How to structure the question?

Answer 3

• Intro
• State two sides of the debate and why it exists
  -Topic 1 - supporting side of debate
  -Topic 1 - Opposing side of the debate
  Mini conclusion sum up the debate and talk about implications etc

Topic 2 - supporting side
Topic 2 - opposing side
Mini conclusion - sum up points, is it appropriate? talk about implications
Conclusions - sum up overall points about debate as a whole

Question 4

Why conditioning at home is appropriate

Answer 4

• the idea of positive reinforcement is used which guides the childs behaviour
• leads to a better household
  e.g psychologists found that giving children moeny for completing household chores was successful because they completed the chores
• can encourage appropriate behaviour and help parents to encourage their children
• give supernanny as an example ( goes into homes to see the problem and teaches them techniques to use like the naughty step )

Question 5

Why conditioning at home can be inappropriate

Answer 5

• punishments such as the naughty step can cause long term emotional harm as children can not vocalise their feelings and feel invalidated
• parents may be inconsistent in their use of conditioning which can send mixed signals
  
  • can lead to the techniques
    being useless and futile as
    life may get stressful
• if children are being rewarded and reinforced at home they may expect that from other contexts of their life when theyre grown - can cause disappointment

Question 6

Why conditioning at school is appropriate

Answer 6

• many good examples of operant conditioning working in schools so it must work e.g detentions, being told to stand outside, exclusions
• Le francois suggests classing conditioning can be used. By maximising the pleasant stimuli e.g attractive wall displays, laughter and minimising negative ones - students will feel better in their work environment and will be more motivated - causes achievement to improve
• shown that financial incentives improved academic performance which has long term benefits

Question 7

How conditioning techniques at school are inappropriate

Answer 7

• can diminish the childs WANT to learn and instead are doing it because they are getting a prize or reward
  e.g in japanese culture reward systems are rarely used but want to learn and are more internally motivated

-Rewards do not always lead to better performances
Dweck (1975) found that children who were praised for doing well on a maths test did worse than those who told they were lazy as those who were told they were lazy felt as if they had to do better

Question 8

Mini conclusions

Answer 8

THIS IS WHAT A03 IS.
evaluate if the techniques are appropriate and does it do more harm than good?

Question 9

Overall conclusion

Answer 9

• rephrase the question
• make a judgement
• present further questions

Question 10

Implications

Answer 10

• Could money be spent elsewhere instead of on rewarding children at school? (economic)
• Frequent use of rewards may lead to a society where people are motivated solely by incentives ( Social )
• If children are conditioned early what long term affect could it have e.g could it lead to them behaving better at school?
• is conditioning more appropriate than smacking? (ethical)