Understanding and Supporting Behavior - Case Study Example

Understanding and Supporting Behavior Introduction Behaviourist approach has for long been used inclassroom situations to modify the behaviour of learners and make them desirable. This theory focuses on behaviour which can be observed and assessed such that a stimulus can be introduced or removed from the environment of the learner purposely to promote desirable behaviour and extinction of undesirable behaviour (Schunk, 1996). This paper starts by introducing Behaviourist approach to behaviour learning and its rationale in this paper. Then, it will analyse how Abdi would be assessed from a Behaviourist approach and then introduces the case of Abdi. The last section will attempt to unpack the behaviour issues with Abdi and how to address the issues using behaviourists’ theories. Behaviourist approach Behaviourist approach focuses on attributes of behaviour which can be observed and measured. Behaviourist theory of learning behaviour is concerned with changes in behaviour which is triggered by stimulus-response associations experienced by the learner in the learning environment. Behaviour change is triggered by a stimulus which is inflicted to the learner. As a result, the learner selects one response from the stimulus and adopts certain behaviour while ignoring another. This change is attributed to prior conditioning which have happened to the leaner (Parkay & Hass, 2000). According to behaviourist, this theory is only used to study behaviour which can be directly observed, thus, it involves behaviour which has actions as opposed to behaviour influenced by emotions or thought which cannot be physically manifested. Behaviourism theories explain normal behaviour which shows patterns of learning which are reliable. This means that this theory does not explain behaviour which is abnormal. Thus, behaviour is learned and this theory accounts for how behaviour and habits are learnt. While this theory attempts to explain how behaviour can be learned, it also provides that behaviour can be unlearned when it becomes unacceptable and then replaced with other types of behaviours which are more acceptable. For learning to take place, there should be a rewarded response (Skinner, 1953). Assessment of behaviour The child in this case study can be assessed through behaviour analysis to identify the types of unacceptable behaviour. The child has been noted to change in several aspects which disrupt other students, his studies and those of the other students while making learning difficult. Unacceptable behaviour in the child include; disruption in class, calling out, swearing and uncooperative with other students, argumentative and confrontational when attempts are made to correct him, lack of concentration on studies and more attention on play and lunchtimes. Assessing of the student’s behaviour can be aided by observation. His behaviour has changed a lot to a more disruptive an unacceptable behaviour since it disrupts his class. The behaviour change of this child can be attributed to changes in the environment of the child either in school or in school. The environment shapes the behaviour either positively or negatively. In order to analyse the behaviour of the child, it is important to look at his immediate environment to identify the cause of the negative change. Since the teachers feel the source of change is not the school environment, the teacher asked his mother who revealed that his behaviour changed after his father moved out of the house, and since then, he is not afraid of punishment. Thus, we can conclude that the change in the negative behaviours of Abdi can be attributed to emotional imbalance caused by his broken family. This may have led to feelings of neglect, parents stress, and confusion. This negative feelings lead to poor interactions, discriminative interaction, low self-esteem, unruly behaviour, lack of interest in studies, poor adult role models, and increased rates of negative interactions (Cross, 1989). Behaviour issues and solution Abdi gets punished by the teacher or the learning support assistant by being sent to see the head teacher. Instead of feeling punished, he finds it interesting as he goes to chat with the school secretary and he is very happy about it. This shows that the punishment being inflicted on him is not effective as it does not serve to correct the undesirable behaviour of Abdi. In fact, this punishment is viewed as a reward by Abdi since it gives him an opportunity to escape classwork and go do what he enjoys doing; chatting with the school secretary. Effective corrective action on the child should be able to reduce or diminish disruptive behaviour such that the child is able to return to his cooperative nature and good behaviour. Good behaviour should also be reinforced in order to encourage it to develop on Abdi as development of desirable behaviour will lead to weakening of the undesirable behaviours. The behaviour issues in this case include; disruption in class, calling out, swearing and uncooperative with other students, argumentative and confrontational when attempts are made to correct him, lack of concentration on studies and more attention on play and lunchtimes. All this behaviours can be addressed using the Behaviourist approach through negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, and punishment. Negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, and punishment results into consequences which take place prior to behaviour. Consequences of any conditioning determine the type of behaviour to be elicited by the child. The consequences can be immediate or take a long time to manifests, positive and negative, material or symbolic, expected or unexpected and emotional or interpersonal (Schweiso, 1989). Positive reinforcement Positive response can be applied to the case of Abdi solely to increase the probability of him generating a positive response. Positive reinforcement is useful in this case because its application in classroom situation leads to positive change in behaviour (Huitt & Hummel, 1998). Since Abdi is very disruptive in class, the teacher should give him special tasks to perform and make him in charge so as to make him concentrate. Once he completes the task successfully, the teacher should applaud him before the other students in order for him to feel appreciated. The teacher should praise him for his success in any project accomplished successfully with a smile and this will motivate him to continue doing it. Since he is does not like interacting with pupils who are not in his friendship group, he should be rewarded every time he is seen being nice to them. In positive reinforcement, Abdi should be rewarded every time he does what the teacher asks him to do like doing his homework, being nice, being cooperative in class and doing his homework. The reward should be introduced immediately he achieves this in order to increase chances of him repeating the same behaviour. Negative reinforcement Negative reinforcement can also be applied to increase the chances of promoting positive behaviour in Abdi. This will involve removal of those things which Abdi views as undesirable for him on condition that he does another thing which will lead to positive behaviour. Application of negative reinforcement in this case will promote the likelihood of Abdi generating positive responses the way the positive reinforcement does only that in this case, motivation will be effected through the removal of certain consequence. For example, negative reinforcement can be achieved by excluding Abdi from class duties when he completes his assignment. He is promised to be exempted from doing the final exam if he attains a score of 70% on average on all his subjects, he will not get the lowest grade if three of his subjects are more than 80%, if he stays calmly in class and participates with all students equally and does all his homework, he gets a “homework pass” (Bell, 1993). Punishment Punishment involves giving the learner a stimulus which is strong enough to decline the likelihood of an undesirable behaviour from happening. In this case, punishment should be presented to Abdi effectively and immediately by making sure that he can feel the effects and connection between the unpleasant behaviour and the punishment. Abdi should be punished every time he engages in bad behaviour in school. For instance, he should be punished for disrupting the class by making him stay in class during lunch time and break times. If he refuses to submit his homework, he should be given a zero in the grade. Punishment should not involve anything he likes to do as this will serve as a reward to him. The intention of punishment is to enable him to realize that doing contrary to the instructions of the teacher will lead to negative consequences. As such, he will learn to obey resulting to changes in behaviour (Repp, Deitz, & Deitz, 1976). Conclusion Behaviourism attempts to change behaviour by focusing on the observable features of behaviour which can be traced through reinforcements and punishments. Assessment of behaviour involves observing the behaviour of learner through analysis of the past behaviours of the learner, the present and the expected behaviour after learning. Behaviour issues in the case study presented in this paper are identified and solved through this theory. Behaviourist approach attempts to change behaviour by using positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and rewards. This attempt seeks to decline the unacceptable behaviour of the learner and introduce desirable behaviour. Bibliography Bell, A. 1993. Some Experiments in Diagnostic Teaching. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 24, pp 115 - 137 Cross, J.J. 1989. A behavioural approach to class and pupil management in the comprehensive school. Educational Psychology in Practice, January, pp 198 - 203 Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. 1998. The Behavioral System. Retrieved via the World Wide Web, February 15, 2002. Available at: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/behovr.html Hergenbahn B.R. and Olson M.H. 2001. An Introduction to Theories of Learning. Prentice-Hall, Inc.: New Jersey. Parkay, F.W. & Hass, G. 2000. Curriculum Planning (7th Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Repp, A.C., Deitz, S.M., & Deitz, D.E.D. 1976. Reducing inappropriate behaviors in classrooms and in individual sessions through DRO schedules of reinforcement. Mental Retardation, 14, 11-15. Skinner, B. 1972. Utopia through the control of human behaviour. In John Martin Rich, ed., Readings in the Philosophy of Education. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Schunk D.H. 1996. 2nd Edition. Learning Theories. Prentice-Hall, Inc: New Jersey. Schweiso, J.J. 1989. Behavioural approaches in education: explanations in terms of science and in terms of personal justification. Educational Studies, 15 (2) pp115 – 127. Skinner, B. E., 1953. Science and Human Behavior. New York: The Free Press. Skinner, B.F. 1959. Current trends in experimental psychology. In B.F. Skinner, Cumulative Record (pp. 223-241). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Touchette, P.E., MacDonald, R.F., & Langer, S.N. 1985. A scatter plot for identifying stimulus control of problem behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18, 343-351. Ullmann, L.P., & Krasner, L. (Eds.). 1965. Case studies in behavior modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Voeltz, L.M., & Evans, I.M. 1982. The assessment of behavioral interrelationships in child behavior therapy. Behavioral Assessment. 4, 131-165. Wahler, R.G. 1969. Oppositional children: A quest for parental reinforcement control. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 159-170. Wahler, R.G., & Fox, J.J. 1981. Setting events in applied behavior analysis: Toward a conceptual and methodological expansion. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 14, 327-338. Wheldall, K. & Glynn, T. 1988. Contingencies in Contexts: a behavioural interactionist perspective in education. Educational Psychology, 8 (1/2), pp 5 - 18 Wheldall, K., Houghton, S., Merrett, F. & Baddeley, A. 1989. The behavioural approach to teaching secondary aged children (BATSAC): two behavioural evaluations of a training package for secondary school teachers in classroom behaviour management. Educational Psychology, 9 (3), pp 185 – 196. Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura Introduction Social learning theory was first introduced by Albert Bandura. This theory attempts to explain changes in behaviour by using observable models of behaviour. Bandura maintains that people need not learn the consequences of their behaviour by experiencing the consequences themselves as that would be very hazardous (Bandura 1977). Thus, he proposes that consequences resulting from different types of behaviour be modelled and be used to teach the learner instead of allowing him to learn from his mistakes. This paper will examine the use of this learning theory to change the behaviour of Abdi in our case study. The paper will first unpack the theory, and then assess the behaviour of Abdi. This will be followed by identification of the behaviour issues and how the issues can be solved using this theory. The last part will introduce the analysis of the strengths and limitations of this theory while comparing and contrasting it with the behaviourist approach. Social Learning Theory This theory of behaviour learning is based on the learning processes which are induced by interaction with behavioural and environmental factors. Bandura demonstrated by use of experiments that learning can be achieved by observing other people do something without necessarily engaging in the performance of the behaviour directly and immediately. Observational learning can be illustrated on a daily basis as leaners witness the performance of activities, events, sports and other classroom engagements. The observed behaviour they witnesses on a daily basis may have an impact on their behaviour change. This implies that this theory is effective in behaviour change of children by presenting models in their environment which have the same behaviour the learner is supposed to enumerate. For children with undesirable behaviour, this theory can be used to change their behaviour into a more desirable one by presenting a model in the environment of the child which has the positive behaviour and then to learner will learn the behaviour due to the effects it brings. In this theory, children learn through other people’s experiences as they observe the consequences of various types of behaviours and their resulting consequences. This theory can be used to change the unacceptable behaviour of Abdi by presenting models in his environment which will intrigue him to change (Shaffer, D. 2000). Assessment of behaviour Assessment of Abdi’s behaviour can be done through observation of his behaviour patterns. This includes his past behaviour which gives us the background of evaluating the changes he has gone through. The past behaviour reveals that Abdi has recently changed into the disruptive pupil he is now since his father moved out. Another way to assess his behaviour is to look at his present behaviour. His behaviour does not fit his environment since he does not get along well with the other pupils and disrupts them while learning. This behaviour has probably changed for the worst and thus needs to be remedied. The last assessment will look at the consequences of the behaviour on Abdi and others. It is clear that the behaviour is having negative effects on his life because he is already on a grade below his level. His behaviour is also affecting the other pupils as he becomes uncooperative with other pupils except for those in his friendship group. This assessment of Abdi’s behaviour revels that he needs help to change his behaviour as extreme change will aggravate his condition into a serious problem (Measel & Alfieri, 1976). Behaviour issues and solutions The behaviour issues in this case include; disruption in class, calling out, swearing and uncooperative with other students, argumentative and confrontational when attempts are made to correct him, lack of concentration on studies and more attention on play and lunchtimes. This behaviour can be changed through social learning theory which proposes to change Abdi by presenting him models or examples which produce the effects which he would appreciate. He is then to learn to associate the learnt behaviour with the positive consequence which will change his behaviour as he will start doing the same thing in order to experience the same effects. This will help in transforming his unacceptable behaviour into more desirable behaviour. This theory contributes to behaviour change in four stages; attention, retention, reproduction and motivation (Hergenbahn & Olson, 2001). Attention; to effectively learn behaviour by observing it, the model of the example used should attract the attention of the learner. In our case, Abdi is very unruly and all efforts of the teachers or the learning support assistant to punish him or correct him go unpunished. Thus, the example should be designed in w ay to make him wish to watch it. The example should be unique to Abdi, it should also be distinctive, have adequate prevalence, functional value and possess affective valence. The effects of the behaviour should also be good from him. For example, a model should be made when a child is very obedient to his mother; he does all his homework, obeys the teacher and respects all the classmates. At the end of finishing all this tasks, the pupil is given a trip to his place of choice; he is also applauded and respected, gets a higher grade and is respected by the teachers and the other students and eventually, he becomes the school captain. Now Abdi will leave with one question, “why didn’t I think of that before? I could be the one getting all that instead. Retention; this is the second stage and occurs when a learner is able to remember what had been noticed from the performance witnessed. As in the example before, Abdi will be able to change his behaviour only if he can remember what he had seen in the model. Since the models in designed in a way to attract his attention, he will remember all the things the boy got for doing what he did. He will then associate the behaviour with the outcomes and this will keep lingering in his mind. This will help him realize that his behaviour is causing him the opposite results of the boy in the model because his behaviour is also the opposite. Then he will realize what he has been doing wrong and that his behaviour is just a consequence. Reproduction; this is the third stage of behaviour learning and happens when a leaner is able to produce the observed behaviour exactly as it was noticed without rehearsals. In this case, Abdi, having been intrigued by the consequences of the model, will try to repeat the same behaviour in the same way the boy did it. If the teacher asks him to finish his homework on time, he would do exactly that, if he is told to work with pupils who are outside his friendship group, he has no problem at all and he can comfortably sit in class without making noise. At this point, he figures out that, if the boy in the model can do it, then he can do it too. This behaviour persists as he is motivated by the targeted consequences. Motivation; this is the last stage and the learner is motivated when a reproduced behaviour attracts a consequence which determines the probability that such a behaviour will be repeated in the future. In this case, the probability that Abdi will repeat the same behaviour in the future is determined by the responses he receives. When he finishes the homework and the teacher applaud him and congratulates him, he will be motivated to work even harder the next day. This stage is determined by reinforcement that the student receives on doing the expected behaviour. Abdi will be rewarded every time he engages in the behaviour which was modelled to him and every time he deviates from the model, a privilege will be withdrawn. This way, he will learn to associate what kind of behaviour is associated with rewards and what kind of behaviour is associated with negative consequences. This will help him in shaping his behaviour and changing for the better. Strengths & limitations of Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura Strengths Social learning theory has several strengths as a behaviour learning theory. First because Bandura has already verified this theory using experiments. Other strengths of this theory are as follows. Social learning theory accounts for inconsistencies in behaviour of the learner. Its application results into different outcomes depending on the type of model one used to shape the behaviour of the learner. The theory is very optimist as presented in different stages of behaviour learning. It proposes that relating good behaviour with good consequences will trigger the child to change from bad behaviour to good behaviour. The theory uses models and examples which are real and have real consequences and thus the behaviour produced is accurate. Social learning theory provides for integration of social and cognitive theories by implying that behaviour is shaped by both the social environment and also through reasoning. This theory accounts for cognitive processes which takes place in the mind of the learners while watching the model or the presented example up to the point where the leaner takes on the learned behaviour. Many types of behaviour changes can be explained using this theory as it is has a wide applicability. The theory is easy to use and accurate and can be understood by the teachers and used to aid in behaviour learning in the classroom level. weaknesses The theory puts more concentration on the model and what happens while little attention is paid to what happens to the learner after watching the model. The theory fails to account for mental and physical changes which occur to the learner while watching the model. Social learning theory does not account for behavioural differences. Social Learning Theory and Behaviourist approach Similarities Both social learning theory and behaviourist approach are similar in several aspects. The most important similarity is that they are both theories which account for behaviour learning and thus can be used to change undesirable behaviour to desirable behaviour. Both theories can only be used to explain behaviour which can be observed but does not consider the cognitive or emotional changes which can cause behaviour change. This is because in order for behaviour to be modelled or rewarded, it has to show outwardly, thus the two theories are similar in this aspect. Furthermore, they both are applicable in the classroom situation in teaching and learning and both involve the application of reinforcement for motivation of the learned behaviour. Differences While the two theories are similar in in explaining the change in behaviour, they differ in different ways as they present different elements in trying to explain the changes in behaviour and the motivation behind the change. The elements in both theories have a strong base which supports their application and thus, we cannot judge which theory is better than the other one based on their differences. Behaviourists attempts to explain behaviour change by focusing only on observable behaviour which is induced through an external stimulus. The stimulus produces the response which causes behaviours change. This theory also holds that behaviour is changed through repeated reinforcements which boost the behaviour by encouraging it. On the other hand, Social learning theory does not only use the observable behaviour in behaviourist approach but it expands behaviourist approach in explaining changes in behaviour by combining both observable stimuli use in behaviour approach and the internal psychological processes taking pace in the learners mind when learning new behaviour. While behaviour approach focuses on reinforcements to change behaviour, social learning theory focuses on four requirements which are; attention, retention, reproduction and motivation (Thomas & Howard, 1971). Conclusion Social learning theory by Albert Bandura attempts to explain the changes in behaviour by using observable models and examples of behaviour. The theory does not only use observable features of behaviour but also accounts for the cognitive processes which takes place in the mind of the learners while watching the model. Assessment of behaviour involves analysis of the past behaviours of the learner, the present and the expected behaviour after learning. This theory has four stages of learning; the attention, retention, reproduction and motivation which explain how behaviour is learned. While both behaviour approach and social learning theory explain processes of behaviour change, they have different elements to account for it. Bibliography Bandura, A. 1986. Social foundation of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Brewer, E.W., Campbell, A.C., Petty, G.C. 2000. Foundations of Workforce Education. 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Thomas, R.L., & Howard, G.A. 1971. A treatment program for a self-destructive child. Mental Retardation, 9, 16-18. Voeltz, L.M., & Evans, I.M. 1983. Educational validity: Procedures to evaluate outcomes in programs for severely handicapped learners. Journal of The Association for the Severely Handicapped. 8, 3-15. Wason P.C. and Johnson-Laird P.N. 1972. Psychology of Reasoning: Structure and Content. London: Batsford. Read More