Reinforcement Procedure Paper
Samantha Craig
Psy/420
7/18/2016
Introduction
This paper with discuss behaviors in a scenario where a mother is trying to increase the total amount of peas that her two children are eating even when they do not like them to begin with. It will also cover the method of reinforcement used along with the reason this method only worked for one of the children. Then it will outline three proposed options that should increase the intake of peas for both children.
Behavior
Many young kids do not particularly care for green foods and peas is the hardest one to get them to consume. This is the behavior the mother is trying to eliminate and get her children to eat more peas, yet for some reason only of the children will eat them with her preferred method.
Reinforcement used
When it comes to the reinforcement theory is when an individual tries to eliminate an unwanted behavior either with positive or negative reinforcements. In this particular scenario the mother is using a positive reinforcement by using stickers placed on a chart and based by how many stickers they have they get a reward at the end of each week. This particular method provided the children with something that could motivate them in order to get them to alter their behavior that the mother wants to change.
Reason why it method worked only on one child
There can be many reasons as to why this particular method only worked for one child and not the other. The first reason could be the fact that the child is simply unimpressed by the stickers and is not motivated by it. The second could be an age difference. If the child that isn't eating the peas is older than stickers might not be working in the manor the mother wants it too. Lastly it could be the schedule in which the mother hands out the peas along with the amount. If she is putting less on one child's plate and more on the other it could affect the outcome she desires. This could also be with how frequently she puts the peas out there such as once or twice a day or every other.
Three outlined and proposed ideas
When trying to get kids to eat foods that they don't prefer to eat there are many different ways to try and reinforce the behavior the parents would like to change. One easy reinforcement is to start off small with a one bite rule. This is where you tell the child to at least eat one bite of the food and they can be done and then every other time take it up one more bite and each time they do this praise their behavior. Kids love to hear praises when they do something and soon enough they won't realize how many bites of peas they ate.
The second method I would suggest is the clean plate method. In this particular method when feeding kids it's always a fun idea to go to the store and grab the disposable plates that have animal faces on them and cover it with food for that meal and in the middle of the plate but the undesirable food so that it covers the most important part of the picture. When they clean their plate they get to see the full picture. If they are older kids you can write a message in permeant marker that says what they earned but only once the plate is clean. This gives them an incentive to eat everything presented to them.
The third method is what is referred to as a negative reinforcement. This doesn't mean that the child in question is getting punished. If one child is already eating the peas but the other one refuses each time the peas are presented to him and he might throw a tantrum or refuse to touch his plate because it is on there then the mother might remove the peas from his plate which takes away the undesired food and the child gets their way with not wanting to eat it.
Conclusion
In conclusion there are many different ways that reinforcement can be used depending on the situation. Kids of all ages find things that they don't particularly like and vegetables such as peas is one of them. If one method works for only one child then there are other positive methods such as the one more bite or clean/happy plate methods along with praising the behavior that is changing. However, just as there are positive reinforcements there are also negative ones and this could be removing the undesirable food from the child's plate which in turn prevents them from like the food further and lets them think the behavior is okay.
References
Malott,R. W., & Shane, J. T. (2014). Principles of behavior