Operant Conditioning: A Case Study

If I was asked by a roommate to help him devise a weight loss program to increase his chances of making the football team, I would use the principles of operant conditioning. To create a one month behavior modification program, I would figure out whether positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment would work best. My roommate would also need to follow through with the program I would give him. According to B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning is a type of learning where a behavior is strengthened when it is reinforced and weakens a behavior when it is punished. When a person is reinforced for a certain behavior they are more likely to do repeat that behavior. If a person is punished because of a behavior then they are less likely to do that behavior again. Components of
Negative reinforcement is when a undersible stimulus is removed after a desirable behavior is exhibited. This can be shown when a person has a headache and they take medicine to make the pain go away. The person who does this is more likely to take medicine again the next time they have a headache. Negative punishment is when an undesired behavior occurs and because of this something is taken away. This is common when a child disobeys their parents, and the parents take their phone or electronics away.
When creating a one month behavior modification program based on the principles of operant conditioning for a roommate to increase his chances of making the football team, I would use positive punishment. I would have my roommate where a rubber band on his wrist at all times. When he eats or drinks something that is unhealthy, he will have to snap himself with the rubber band. Eventually, he will learn that eating or drinking the unhealthy things will cause pain. He will be more likely to eat healthy things because they will not result in