Eating Christmas in Kalahari

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a type of operant conditioning. According to Cherry, positive reinforcement involves anything that follows a behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future. Normally The positive reinforcement has a pleasurable outcome. Some examples of positive reinforcement includes after making the sales quota at your job at a dealership so your boss gives you a bonus, receiving a praise from your boss when doing a great job, and awarding your child with a pet for having good grades at school. Sometimes positive reinforcement can be used in a bad way such as a parent giving a child a lollipop to quiet down the unruly child. Instead the lollipop is actually rewarding the child for bad behavior. I use positive reinforcement to increase a desired behavior in my children. If my children bring home good grades, show good behavior, and keep your room clean I reward them. I either reward them with money or something that they would like to do such is going to the movies. I believe that this in feels good values within my children. I want them to know that you have to work for what you want. I also want them to know that hard work reaps benefits. I also reward my children with dessert if they finish all of their dinner. I believe that this helps them associate sacrifice with reward. I believe that positive reinforcement helps me raise my children and teaches them worlds in values. I too was raised with positive reinforcement. Without positive reinforcement children don't feel appreciated for their good work. Whenever I award my children for good behavior they truly appreciate the reward. In return I get the behavior that I want out of my children. I believe that positive reinforcement makes the child work harder for what they want.

Negative Reinforcement

According to Amabile, negative reinforcement occurs when the likelihood of a certain behavior increases as a result of removing something unpleasant after the behavior. An example of negative reinforcement is when I take medication to stop a toothache. The likeliness of me repeating the behavior is increased. I will now associate pain with pain relievers whenever I experienced pain. Another example of negative reinforcement is when the car chimes when the car doors open in the keys are left in the ignition. The chime is to remind me to remove my keys in the ignition so I won't lock my keys into the car. I will now associate the chime with removing the keys therefore it is very likely that I will repeat his behavior. We use negative reinforcement in our everyday lives. For example, the behavior that we use when using an alarm clock is considered negative reinforcement. In the morning the alarm clock makes an annoying buzzing sound so we press the stop alarm button. We hear the alarm and quickly want to hit the stop button every time. There are children in the stores every day who through tantrums to get what they want. The kids screams and throws a tantrum, the parent buys it a toy, and the child is happy. The child will repeat this behavior every time he sees something that he wants. These are all examples of negative reinforcement in our everyday lives.

Positive Punishment

My family was born and raised in the South. It is very common to use spanking while raising your children. I don't like physically punishing my children. I only physically punish my children I have run out of other options. I believe in using punishment by application but only when necessary. I am not exactly for or against spanking. I try all other forms of punishment first. When all else fails I use spanking. I feel that sometimes other forms of punishment doesn't get the same results. According to Cherry, spanking is used as a form of discipline by 75% of parents in the United States. Some people believe that mild spanking is not harmful when disciplining as long as you don't go too far. There are also other people who believe that spanking is child abuse. Spanking should be used with other forms of discipline to be effective. According to Gershoff, spanking is associated with poor parent-child relationships as well as increases antisocial behavior, delinquency, and aggressiveness. I believe that positive punishment should only be used when behavior is very bad. For example when my children disrespect elders, disrespect me, or is acting unruly I will use positive punishment. I have never had to restrain my children but I have had to use spanking. Growing up I never experienced being spanked by my mother so I didn't know what it was like until I was spanked by another family member. I remember that I hated the feeling and I felt abused. I always said that I would never spank my children. Now that I am older I try my hardest not to use physical punishment. I remember back at those times when I was spanked and I don't want my children to feel that way.

Negative Punishment

I have news punishment by removal which is known as negative punishment. Negative punishment is a form of behavior modification in which the removal of something after an operant (behavior) decreases the probability of the operants re-occurrence according to Elsevier. Examples of negative punishment are children fighting over the video game and the parents take it away, a child being disobedient in class and the teacher not allowing the child to go on a field trip, and a child bringing home bad grades so the parents ground him for a month. This type of punishment is the most preferred because it doesn't include physically punishing the person such as spanking or time out. According to Cherry, negative punishment is the most effective when it immediately follows a response and it is applied consistently. If the punishment is not consistently applied there is a chance the person may do the wrongdoing again. There is also a chance that if the punishment is not always consistently followed through the bad behavior will return. I use this form of punishment with my children quite frequently. For example when my child talk back to me I take away the cell phone or television. Another example is when my child bring home bad grades she is on punishment until she brings her grades back up. I believe that this form of punishment is one of the most effective. My children hates getting everything taken away, so they try to correct their behavior so I won't have to.