Duong Thi Hang

Psychology: Learning
OVERVIEW

Many children nowadays are frequently given phones or other

electrical devices to entertain while their parents are busy or simply
help kids stay quiet and do not disturb adults. This exerts several
negative impacts on children development, especially their health
(vulnerable eyes) and their lifestyles ( sedentary, inactive lifestyles).
My niece also falls into this habit of phone abuse! Having observed
this unhealthy behavior, I decided to apply my knowledge of
psychology regarding operant learning to change this.

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- Using phone on a daily
basis
- Crying to be given
phone by parents.
- The first thing she does
in the morning is to ask
for the phone

MY NIECE

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 Type of learning model: Operant learning

How I apply the model

Every morning before my niece wakes up, I apply a large
amount of eyeshadows to her eyes so that they look
extremely awful and scaring (especially to children).

Right after she wakes up, she, as usual, uses phone. But
this time there is a difference: Soon after she watches
phone for a couple of minutes, she is given a mirror and
comes to realize that her eyes have abnormal color and
look absolutely terrible.

I then inform her that the reason she got horrible eyes’
color is because she watches phone too much and because
she is a child so her eyes are subject to damage.
Procedure
To make sure that she always gets “abnormal eyes’ color”
right after she uses phone, I ask the whole family to hide
their phones during the day and say that their phones are
all run out of battery. This means she gets no access to the
phone except for the only time in the morning.

However, if she did not use the phone, I will wash her face
(as I often do for her in the morning). This ensures that
only when she uses phone does her eyes get unusual color.

Model analysis
In my self-designed model, the awful eyes’ color serves as
a positive punishment, meaning that every time the kid has
unwanted behavior, she receives undesirable stimulus that
weakens the tendency to repeat that behavior.

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RESULTS

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 Day 1
Reactions  My niece was frightened when she saw her
reflection in the mirror, she started to cry and
asked for help.
 She promised not to watch videos on phone
any longer as long as I helped her to make
her eyes return to its normal status.

Explanation This is the acquisition process where the kid

learned for the first time that the behavior of using
phones leads to an undesirable consequence. This is
supposed to gradually decrease the response (of
phone use)

Day 2
Reactions  She denied to use phone when being asked.
 She stated that the reason is because she was
scared of having abnormal color around her
eyes.
Explanation The punishment established on the first day had its
impact on her behavior change.

Day 3
Reactions  Surprisingly, she asked to use phone!
 When being reminded of having awful eyes,
she just stated that she still wanted to use the
phone because her mom would help her to
“cure” the abnormal eyes.
 After using the phone, she was given the
mirror to see her eyes with color around, she
became really anxious and asked me to
help.
 However, either her mom or I decided to
help her immediately yet waited until she
took a nap at lunch to make sure the
punishment is not so mild.
Explanation This is hard to explain yet these are some factors
that possibly add up and lead to that reaction:
 The fear of having abnormal eyes gradually
faded away after 1-2 days
 The habit of using phone is deeply rooted so
it takes more time to adjust the behavior.
 Since she was helped at the first time, the
punishment seemed to be “not harsh
enough” for her.
 She believed that her eyes turned into other
colors was due to another reasons. PAGE 6
 Discussion
What makes the learning unsuccessful/ successful?

In my experiment, I used punishment in order to change an undesirable behavior. Therefore, in

this discussion sector, I mainly discuss when punishment work, and when punishment doesn’t
work?

When punishment does not work

Since punishment is a common method which many parents rely on to discipline their
children. However, common types of punishment such as corporal punishment, sparking,
etc. seem to have several limitations in shaping children behaviors. Here are some
reasons why:
1. Traditional types of punishment as above relies heavily on the presentation of
punisher. Therefore, children, regardless of being punished by parents or teachers,
still display unwanted behavior when they are aware that they are not being
observed.
2. Some punishments fail because they are not severe enough or intense enough to
eliminate the intention/ desire of repeating a habit or inappropriate behavior. In
my experiment, on the third day, my niece continued to display unwanted
behavior partly because the punishment she received on the first day was not
intense enough.
3. Those types of punishment involving violence, insulting or lowing child’s self-
esteem can even lead to a counter-productive scenario in which children
developed hatred towards the punishers and do bad things as a way to express
their feelings.

When punishment works

To design the experiment for my niece, I have done some research on the internet to
understand what is needed to form an effective punishment. Furthermore, after
conducting the experiment and had relatively good results, I am more convinced that
efficient and appropriate punishments need those factors to become successful:

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 The punishment must occur every time the unwanted
1 behavior occurs.

Every time my niece uses phone, she (realized) she got horrible
My experiment
eyes’ colors as punishment.

The punishment should be repeated twice or more to have a

2 high chance of maintaining its effect in changing
inappropriate behavior

 On day 3, she still demanded to use phone because the

occurrence of the punishment had not yet to be confirmed,
meaning that she had not totally realized that the
punishment was not random.
My experiment
 However, after two times, she became more aware and her
fear was reinforced. This strengthen the impact of the
punishment while weaken her tendency to display
undesirable behavior.

The punishment must be intense enough to stop children

from repeating the unwanted behavior in the future but not
3 be too harsh that undermines the relationships of children
with other as well as evoke negative feelings such as hatred,
anger or desire of revenge.

 The third day experienced a failure because the

punishment of the first day is not severe enough.
Specifically, my niece had got rid of the “awful” eyes
color easily on the first day, therefore she did not stop her
behavior.
 After having realized that it was not easy to eliminate the
My experiment colors around her eyes (more intense punishment), she
seemed to get scared and did not repeat unwanted
behavior.
 Since she believed that the colors around her eyes are not
created by me but are the result of her watching phones
too often, she did not show any anger or loathing towards
me.

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 The punishments need to have a meaningful message. By this
I mean children learn something from the punishment by
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developing children’s responsibilities of their own action or
punishment seems to “make sense” and natural for them

 By coloring her eyes, I want to emphasize that watching

videos or playing games do many harms to children eyes.
 Therefore, my niece can easily accept it because she
herself also somehow understands that using phone much
My experiment
hurts her eyes (of course, not in the way that I designed
the experiment for her) and hurting her eyes is really bad.
 The choice of using or not using depends on her.
However, she is the one that shoulders the consequences.

Punishment needs:
Consistency
Repetition
Appropriate Level
Meaningful Message

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