Nama : Siti Bari’ah binti Azli

Matrix no : U2004358

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT PIA2004 BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

1. Differentiate negative reinforcement and negative punishment in terms of the

effects, the characteristics of the stimulus and the presentation of the stimulus.

Negative reinforcement is the removal of an undesirable stimulus or an aversive

stimulus prior to the occurrence of the behavior which is done to increase or strengthen
the target behavior. Example of negative reinforcement is people will always buckle up
their seatbelt everytime they want to drive because they don’t want to be disturbed or
annoyed by the beep sound. Because one wants to remove the annoying beep sound due
to not wearing the seatbelt, the likelihood of buckling up the seat belt will be increased.
Something that is unpleasant or uncomfortable is removed or taken away in response to
stimulus. The effect will increase the desired behavior and also encourage the behavior to
occur again in the future. Stimulus here is known as aversive stimulus which means by
the stimulus where one tries to remove but the response (target behavior) given is tried to
be maintained. It is like adding something negative in order to increase the desired
response.
Negative punishment is used to decrease the behavior. It is the action of removing
a pleasant or reinforcing stimulus when a certain undesired behavior is exhibited which
later will result in less occurrence of the behavior in the future. For example, when a
child misbehaves like fighting with their sibling, the parent will take away their favorite
toy. The pleasant or reinforcing stimulus is the toy is removed so that the undesired
behavior will not be repeated in the future. Reinforcing stimuli that has been taken away
is anything that the target person loves or cherishes, it can be anything such as a token,
money, or even their favorite foods.
2. Describe and give an example of a behavior modified through (a) chaining and (b)
shaping.

Chaining is a technique used in behavioral modification where each component

behavior in the complex behavior will produce a stimulus change that will act as stimulus
discrimination for the next response in the chain. It also refers to the multi-step tasks that
are broken down into a sequence of smaller tasks where the learner is taught one step at a
time. There will be task analysis where all the individual stimulus-response components
will be analyzed. An example of a behavior modified through a chaining technique is
teaching a child on how to brush their teeth independently. They may start with learning
how to hold the toothbrush properly. The skill needs to be mastered first before
proceeding to the next step where they will learn on how to put on the toothpaste on the
toothbrush. The step is done gradually and slowly until the learner is able to do the
wanted behavior.
Shaping is also a technique in behavioral modification where it is used to develop
a target behavior that the person doesn’t exhibit in that particular time. Shaping is defined
as the process of implementing the target behavior by different reinforcement of
successive approximations of the target behavior. In simpler words, the learner will take
baby steps in learning to perform the goal behavior where the teacher will help to
reinforce the approximation of the goal and lead them to the final goal. The cycle will
keep on repeating until the final goal which is the target behavior is built. There will be
reinforcement in many forms such as getting praise or getting rewards. An example of a
behavior modified through shaping is trying to encourage a student to speak in front of
his classmate. The student might be someone who is shy and afraid to stand in front of an
audience. Therefore, instead of giving a reward after he succeeds in talking in front of the
classroom, the reinforcement takes place when he is able to do the task step by step.
When he is able to stand up even not able to speak, he is encouraged by getting praise
from the teacher. Next, when he is able to go in front and say greetings to his friends.
Later, maybe he can try to read out a passage from the textbook and finally until he is
able to give a speech. All attempts of shaping the wanted behavior needs to follow the
guidelines for it to work effectively.
3. Demonstrate stimulus discrimination training with a suitable example.

Stimulus discrimation (Sd) is a stimulus that will stimulate or encourage the

learner to increase the target behavior. It refers to the antecedent stimulus that is
presented or given upon the learner when a behavior is able to reinforce. Stimulus
discrimination training is the process take place while reinforcing a behavior only when
the Sd is present. An example of stimulus discrimination training is when reinforcing the
behavior of drinking water in the learner.
Stimulus discrimination for this target behavior is encouraging the learner to
workout and actively exercise in her daily life. All of these is things that can increase the
target behavior where the learner will choose to drink water when he/she is instructed to
do the stimulus discrimination training. Stimulus discrimination also can include fasting
where the learner will be thirsty due to unable to drink and even the weather can be the
stimulus discrimination that will make the learner to drink more. The stimulus
discrimination is the stimulus that stimulate the target behavior and reinforcement also is
used in stimulus discrimination training in order to strengthen the behavior.

4. Farah is teaching her 2-year old son to brush his teeth. Suggest an instructional
method that involves the use of stimulus control, prompts and fading.

Stimulus control refers to the situations in which the behavior is affected by the
presence or absence of the stimulus. The behavior is said to be under stimulus control
when there is an increased probability that the behavior will be repeated again in the
presence of specific antecedent. Prompts are the stimuli given either before or during the
occurrence of the behavior whose purpose is to increase the likelihood for the behavior to
occur again. When the behavior occurs, the teacher will provide reinforcement. For
Farah’s case in teaching her 2 years old son to brush his teeth, she will use modeling and
physical prompts to her son so that he will easily learn about how to brush his teeth. next,
fading is the gradual removal of the prompt phase as the behavior continues to repeat or
occur in the presence of the stimulus discrimination (Sd).
 The instructional method is first, Farah needs to know how to properly control the
stimulus discrimination to enhance the behavior of brushing teeth to her son and identify
the stimulus delta that might not reinforced the desired behavior. Stimulus discrimination
which is the stimulus that will increase the probability of the behavior is making the
behavior as a habit or a routine for his son to brush the teeth when he wake up from bed
and before he goes to sleep. The procedure is she will start by teaching his son step by
step until he eventually can brush his teeth without needing any help. Prompting start by
she becomes the model (modeling prompts), showing the exact way or example on how
to brush teeth. This is due to children tend to easily catch up or learn fast when they
observe the things that are in front of them. Another prompting style she used is physical
prompts where she will physically guide or touch his son to initiate the target behavior.
This prompt is like a training for her son so that in future, he will know what he shall do
for the day. As for fading, it will be applied when her son is showing good results such as
he is able to brush his teeth even if they are not fully right but as long as he knows what
he shall do in his life routine.

5. a) What is the target behavior in this case?

The target behavior in the stated case is to increase the rate of interaction between
a 5 year old boy and his nursery school classmate. The behavior of increasing rate of
interaction is the behavior where the students talk to each other, play together and do
activities in a group. To increase the target behavior, the five year old boy is encouraged
to initiate activities with his classmate where the teacher will provide the initiative
(passing candies) for him. Communication skill is crucial, therefore the teacher tries to
help the student to get out of his comfort zone as interaction between individuals will
always need to be done throughout our life journey.
b) Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.

Based on the graph, the intervention can be considered as effective as the target
behavior increased and developed more when compared to the baseline data. The
interaction rate becomes higher after the reinforcement and the intervention has been
done. From passive and not having the initiative to initiate activities with his classmate, it
could be said that now the 5 year old preschool is able to interact more often with his
classmate.

c) Describe two possible reinforcements that exist in this intervention.

Two possible reinforcements that exist in this intervention could be positive and
negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement could be by rewarding the 5 year old
preschool boy with something that he likes or things he can be proud of. Giving stickers
or rewarding him with ice cream whenever he is able to initiate an activity with his
classmate, or whenever he is able to bring himself to talk with others. This reinforcement
is to encourage him to increase the likelihood of the behavior to be repeated. Another
possible reinforcement is the teacher pays attention to everything that he has to say or in
another word is the teacher spends extra time with the 5 year old boy to hear what is
hindering him from interacting with his classmate. It could be negative or positive
reinforcement depending on the student. If he found all the attention he gets from the
teacher is unpleasant and uncomfortable, he might choose to do the desired behavior to
avoid being called or need to talk with the teacher. If he feels comfortable with the
reinforcement, it could be some sort of encouragement for him to keep on trying to
interact and doing activities with his classmates.