Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children

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  • Created by: chlopayne
  • Created on: 13-04-19 13:11

Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children

Advantages

  • Reasons for using conditioning techniques on children:
  • At home = correct inappropriate behaviour (supernally). Resist reinforcement. Parents fuss what a child does right.
  • At home = control over pocket money increases good behaviour. Gill (1988) found that 20% of children did chores when they were encouraged by chores.
  • In school = major user of operant condition (stars, merits) Reward good behaviour and punish bad behaviour. McAllister (1969) found increased use of teacher praise/disapproval lead to a decrease in bad behaviour. Control condition - no decrease.
  • In school = LeFrancois (2000) classical conditioning can be used to improve performance e.g. pleasant stimuli (smells, walls) creates positive feelings.
  • Peers = start by being influenced by parents, then in school and further on, by their peers. Reduce negative sanction and increase positive sanction by imitating their peers.

Disadvantages

  • Reasons against using conditioning techniques on children:
  • At home = techniques such as the naughty step is criticised by childcare experts. Morris (2014) found it creates long term emotional effects. Children can't reflect on their behaviour or verbalise feelings, which has a negative effect on development.
  • At home = consistency is an issues because parents may slip up. Not as affective and may be confusing for the child.
  • In school = Montessori education believes its harmful to a Childs development and internal drive to learn. Lepper (1973) supports this. He asked children to draw a picture, those who were offered a reward actually spent less time on the picture, suggesting their motivation was destroyed.
  • In school = 'learned helplessness'. Dweck (1975) found those who were praised for achieving well on a test, did worse on a later test. Suggesting they gave up easily. Those who were disapproved for doing poorly, improved on the next test.
  • In school = Not evident in different cultures - Lewis (1995)
  • Peers = peer influences may not be desirable. Bricker (2006) found children as young as 10 were more likely to smoke if their peers did.

Evaluation

In conclusion, there are more reasons against using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children. However, after taking into account all of the reasons for using conditioning techniques, the pros outweigh the cons because it can improve children's good behaviour, helping with chores, performance in school and more. 

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