Overview
Respond to at least two colleagues’ posts in one of the following ways:
- Explain whether you agree or disagree with your colleague’s explanation of how positive reinforcement could be utilized to help Bobby increase physical activity and why.
- Offer additional insight into their suggested evaluation of the effectiveness of the proposed reinforcer.
Be sure to support your posts and responses with specific references to behavior-analytic theory and research. In addition to the Learning Resources, search the Walden Library and/or the internet for peer-reviewed articles to support your posts and responses. Use proper APA format and citations, including those in the Learning Resources.
How positive reinforcement could be utilized to help Bobby increase physical activity
Hello class! Many people believe that punishment is the best way to combat behaviors for children. However, in the field of behavior analysis we know that positive reinforcement is most likely to be more effective. I would urge people to “clean their glasses” and change how they view children. Positive actions should be the focal point over the problem behavior itself (Redshaw, 2007). Positive reinforcement is a foundational principle of behavior analysis. It is defined as, “The presentation of a stimulus immediately following a behavior that results in an increase in the future frequency of that behavior under similar conditions” (Cooper et al., 2020).
Given our scenario, we have a child that is overweight and does not prefer to increase physical activity despite medical advice. However, he does prefer to play video games and play on his cell phone. This could be a helpful tool. We already know that motivation lies in access to his cell phone and video games. These can be used as reinforcers. After doing some further research, I found that contingent reinforcement tied to meeting weight loss skill targets produced greater improvements than noncontingent controls (Wilfey et al., 2018).
With that being said, using video game and cell phone access as contingent positive reinforcement could help Bobby increase physical activity. Using interventions such as first/then statements with a reinforcement schedule could make all the difference. Reinforcement schedules are an important aspect of the intervention, not only for basic behavioral science but also for applied work as well (Morgan, 2010). I would use a fixed interval schedule. This is when reinforcement becomes available after a fixed amount of time (Cooper et al., 2020). Starting off, after 10 minutes of physical activity (eg. walking, playing outside, dancing), I would reinforce Bobby with his phone or video games, since there is already established motivation for these activities. I would then shape this behavior and add another 10 minutes as he continues to reach mastery.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed reinforcer
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this reinforcer, I would perform a reinforcer assessment, which tests if a stimulus actually changes a response (Cooper et al., 2020). Using a single-operant reinforcer assessment would be most effective. I would observe if Bobby engages in the desired behavior without the reinforcer first to see the natural response rate. Then, I would add the reinforcement condition of access to his video games and cell phone with the fixed interval schedule and compare the response rates. If the response rate increases from the baseline, then the proposed reinforcer is effective.
References
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Morgan, D. L. (2010). Schedules of reinforcement at 50: A retrospective appreciation. The Psychological Record, 60(2), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395708
Redshaw, S. (2007). “Cleaning your glasses”: A prerequisite for “catching your child being good.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 28(1), 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1375/anft.28.1.28
Wilfley, D. E., Hayes, J. F., Balantekin, K. N., Van Buren, D. J., & Epstein, L. H. (2018). Behavioral interventions for obesity in children and adults: Evidence base, novel approaches, and translation into practice. American Psychologist, 73(8), 981–993. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000293