We can use operant conditioning as a way to curb children’s behaviour.

Operant conditioning was

theorized by B.F. Skinner and it describes using reinforcements to increase behaviour and punishment to

decrease behaviour. For both reinforcement and punishment there are positives which means adding

and there are negatives which means subtracting. Positive punishment means adding to decrease a

behaviour for example giving a time out for bad behaviour. While positive reinforcement means adding

to increase a behaviour, for example giving your child an allowance for doing chores. Negative

punishment means subtracting to decrease a behaviour, for example taking away your child’s phone for

bad behaviour. Negative reinforcement involves subtracting to increase a behaviour, for example a child

doesn’t have to clean up the dining table if he/she eats their vegetables. Therefore, in curbing children’s

negative behaviour, reinforcement is used when you want the behaviour to continue while a

punishment is used when you want the behaviour to stop.

When reinforcement and punishment stops, the children’s behaviour gradually weakens and also stops

in a process known as extinction. Therefore, reinforcement needs to be continued to be effective.

Skinner proposed two types of schedules for this, interval based schedules and ratio based schedules.

For interval based schedules reinforcement is given after a period, this may be a fixed period (called

fixed- interval schedule) or a after a variable period (also called variable-interval schedule). For ratio

based schedules, reinforcement is given after a certain number of responses. The number of responses

may be fixed (called a fixed-ratio schedule) or may be variable ( called a variable-ratio schedule).

Social Learning theory explains how children model behaviour by observing and imitating it. When

children observe punishment for certain behaviour, they are less likely to imitate that behaviour. This is

true for the Bobo doll experiment Albert Bandura conducted, where children watched adults behaving

aggressively towards the doll. If there was no consequence to this behaviour, they were more likely to
repeat this aggression. This theory can help in curbing bad behaviour. It teaches us that children model

what they see. They pay attention to their environment, focusing on things that are new or different.

They retain the information they observed, this retention is for later use in a similar context. Children

also reproduce certain behaviours they have retained and most be motivated based on their

observations to repeat that behaviour.

Pamela Li, M. (2021, July 21). Operant Conditioning in Psychology (With Examples). Retrieved from
https://www.parentingforbrain.com/operant-conditioning/

YouTube. (2016). B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning: Managing Students' Behavior in the
Classroom. YouTube. Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Cy20ktBJWbQ.

Wheeler, S. (2021, March 16). Bandura's 4 Principles Of Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from
https://www.teachthought.com/learning/principles-of-social-learning-theory/