Reflection
Journal 2
Definition
The
reading assignment for this module focused on behavioral and social learning. Slavin (2018) spoke of classical and operant
conditioning, consequences, reinforcers, punishers, shaping, and
extinction. When trying to extinguish a
negative behavior, there must be positive reinforcers for the desired behavior
and punishers for the undesired behavior.
Over time, the reinforcers for the desired behavior will be phased
out. There are also different types of
reinforcers. An intrinsic reinforcer
motivates students to participate or engage in an activity, and an extrinsic
reinforcer is given to students to engage in the desired behavior (Slavin,
2018).
Analysis
Before
discussing consequences, reinforcers, and punishers, Slavin discusses classical
and operant conditioning. With classical
conditioning, Pavlov trained his dog to hear a bell and expect food. Through this study, Pavlov was able to prove
that the dog learned to salivate by hearing the bell and expecting food
(Slavin, 2018). While Pavlov’s dog learned
to hear a bell and expect food, Skinner taught his rats to press a bar to receive
food (Slavin, 2018). This learned
behavior is called operant conditioning.
It is the consequences used to change a person or animal’s behavior
(Slavin, 2018). Slavin (2018) states “behavioral
learning theory has its own language to describe how consequences of behavior
shape later behavior” (p. 101). This
language included consequences, reinforcers, punishers, shaping, and
extinction.
Consequences
can be positive or negative. If it is a
negative consequence, it is a punisher.
If it is a positive consequence, it is a reinforcer. Reinforcers can be positive, negative,
primary, and secondary. A primary
reinforcer is food and water. There are
three types of secondary reinforcers.
They are social, activity, and token (Slavin, 2018). A social reinforcer is a hug or smile. An activity reinforcer is playing a game or
playing with a toy, and token reinforcers are points or money that can be used
to buy another reward. A positive
reinforcer can be a star, sticker, or praise.
A negative reinforcer is release from an undesired task. For instance, a child does not like doing
laundry, and a mother lets the child play video games instead of doing the laundry. This is a negative reinforcer because the
mother encourages the undesired behavior.
While
there are different types of reinforcers, there are different schedules for
reinforcement. The first is a fixed ratio. This schedule is allowing a student a
reinforcer after completing so many minutes of work or so many problems. The next is a variable ratio. This is not a reliable reinforcer for extinction
since it is unpredictable and takes too long to receive a reward. Another is a variable interval. This reinforcement schedule is unpredictable and
is always not available. The expectation
for students is to work at all times to receive a reinforcer. The last is a fixed interval schedule. This reinforcement is given at certain times
(Slavin, 2018). With this schedule, the
student may not work until closer to time for the positive reinforcer.
Like
reinforcers, there is more than one type of punisher. They are presentation and removal. With a presentation punisher, “a student is
scolded” (Slavin, 2018, p. 105). Removal
punishment is when a positive consequence is removed like a time out or loss of
a game. Response cost is another type of
removal punishment. With response cost each
minute a student is off task, the student has a minute of detention (Slavin,
2018). When providing a consequence, the
feedback should be immediate. The purpose
of immediate feedback is to connect the behavior to the consequence. If a student receives a consequence an hour
after the behavior, he or she may not understand or remember what they did to
get into trouble.
Along
with consequences and reinforcers, there is shaping. This is used to teach new behaviors like
tying shoestrings (Slavin, 2018). When
teaching a new behavior or skill in the classroom, it is not shown to students
one time and then they are expected to do it right the first time. Extinction is the last step in learning new
behaviors. Extinction is when the
undesired behavior no longer exists.
Sometimes when trying to extinguish the negative behaviors, those
behaviors are increased. This is called extinction
burst (Slavin, 2018). If a teacher is trying
to extinguish a behavior of interrupting, the student may talk more since the
teacher is ignoring the student. While
extinction is not a quick process, it does work.
Reflection
The
reading in this module was interesting to me because I work at school that has
reinforcers, consequences, and work to extinction of behaviors. We have a token system in place for all
students and reinforcers that are on a fixed and variable schedule. Because of my experience with reinforcers, I
enjoyed the reading. I found it informative. While we use fixed and variable scheduled reinforcers
at my school, I did not know that there was a specific name for them. One positive aspect that I liked was the
response cost. Until recently, my school
did one minute out of the classroom for one minute of disruption, etc. I liked that the response cost was minute for
minute, but it was after school. While
students still had a consequence, it was after school instead of missing out on
the lesson.
Even
though I already knew about reinforcers, consequences, and extinction, I did
not know there were different types of reinforcers. I never thought of food and water as a
reinforcer except for treats. Also, I never
thought of reinforcers as intrinsic and extrinsic. At my school, we focus on the extrinsic
reinforcers, so the thought of someone doing something because they enjoy it did
not occur to me on a conscious level. Hopefully,
when we go back to school in the fall, I will be better at giving social
reinforcers. At one point, I had a
student who loved comment cards. During
the last year, I was bad about writing him a comment card when he was completing
his work because it happened more and more every day. I hope that next year I will be more diligent
about writing the comment cards to the students.
This
year and reading this chapter made me realize how important class time is for
students. I plan to not use time out or response
cost except for extreme circumstances.
When a student loses valuable class time, they miss out on instruction
and can fall behind. The part about
extinction is very true. It does not
come quickly, but it is great when we have students who extinguish the
behaviors. I miss the students when it
is time for them to go to their home school, but that is our goal for all the
students.
References
Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational
Psychology: Theory and practice. NY, NY: Pearson. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
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