Operant Conditionings From a Video - Assignment Example

Operant Conditioning In the YouTube video on Supernanny’s episode with the Agate’s family, one can be able to see how operant conditioning works in changing the poor parenting skills in place. When supernanny first arrives, the Agate’s family is in a complete mess and the mother is not in total control of the situation. Maryanne especially seems to be one commonly seeking her mother’s attention and disturbing her older sisters (Jane, 2014). She keeps disrespecting others, runs away from the house without her mother’s permission and always has tantrums when going to sleep.

When supernanny came to the house, she introduces a reflection area in the house with three bean bags where the girls went they misbehaved. This is a form of negative punishment technique of operant conditioning. When Maryanne misbehaves, she is taken to the reflection area by force and left there for 7 minutes to reflect on what she had done wrong to deserve such kind of treatment (Jane, 2014). After 7 minutes, her mom would go back to have an apology from Maryanne. After she apologizes, she is kissed and hugged.

Another operant conditioning technique applied in by supernanny is shaping. Supernanny places a stop sign in the front and back doors of the house to stop Maryanne’s habit of loitering outside without mum’s attention. The purpose of the signs was meant to help Maryanne reflect why she wants to go out, and ask her mother before attempting to go out. The technique was meant to instill discipline in the house by ensuring that the children acknowledged who is the head of the house and that they are not free to go and play without their mother’s permission (Jane, 2014).

In order to ensure that the children gain trust from their mother and vice versa, supernanny introduces a reward system whereby the mother gives the children more play time if they are able to return within the given time allocated for play. This is a form of positive punishment since a stimulus is provided for a good behavior. Another technique applied by supernanny is conditioning Maryanne to sleep without disturbing her mother or others. Her mother develops a technique of sending her to bed and ignores her attention cries after that.

The purpose of the technique is to ensure that the children are not nagging during bedtimes. In the process, Maryanne gets bored and sleeps (Jane, 2014). Another technique applied is “See me hear me” video technique (Jane, 2014). The technique was introduced so that the girls could record videos of themselves speaking about their feelings. The sole purpose was to foster communication in the house between the mother and the girls. The videos would then be played to their mother, who would later react individually to each one of them.

After finding out that the mother spent more time with Maryanne and little time with the rest, supernanny introduces a way in which the mother could spend equal time with the girls. Mother spending equal times with the girls and helping out in some of their activities positively encourages communication and mother to be able to understand each one of them. This is a form of positive reinforcement (Jane, 2014).In the end of the video, it is clear that the family returns to become orderly and happy.

ReferenceJane, E. (2014). Supernanny Uk The Agates family. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJZClgJ7ZJ0