Essay on Operant Conditioning

Question

Using the concepts of operant conditioning discussed in the text and in class, change the behavior of someone or
something. In your report, identify the target (desired) behavior and the responses that you reinforced (or
punished) in order to direct your subjects behavior. Describe your subject and the specific steps you took to
change the behavior. Describe the results. (Note: If you are really good, this will even work on stubborn
husbands.)

Answer

The subject of this experiment is my 4-year-old son, Alex*. Alex has autism and exhibits several negative
behaviors per day that affect overall functioning, limit his ability to cope with common life experiences and the
people around him. For this particular experience I decided that I would focus on brushing his teeth. Brushing teeth
at night is dreaded because it usually causes full-blown tantrums and extreme resistance from Alex. One reason is
because it signals bedtime, usually ending a desired activity. Second, it causes discomfort because Alex has sensory
processing disorder (SPD) paired with oral aversion.
The target behavior I wanted to achieve was a peaceful, cooperative manner in which Alex allowed me to
brush his teeth and then tuck into bed. As our textbook states regarding operant conditioning, people perfom some
action and then a response occurs. If the response is useful or pleasurable, the [human] is likely to repeat the
action, (Berger, 2016, p. 27). I just needed to find something that was reward enough to get him to repeatedly
oblige in this bedtime routine. The first step I took was finding some sort of activity to act as a positive
reinforcement in exchange for his cooperation. With this I also decided an obvious audible signal for bedtime
would be helpful. Alex loves stickers so I went to the store and bought a ridiculous amount of little boy stickers,
coloring books and a kitchen timer to use for a 5-minute countdown. To address the second problem regarding his
SPD I took the advice of an occupational therapist and bought a vibrating baby teething toy for Alex to hold in
hopes that the sensory input on his hands would lessen discomfort in his mouth.
 I showed Alex his kitchen timer and explained that when the bell rang it was time to brush his teeth. He
immediately started to tantrum at the sheer mention of it. As soon as he had calmed down I showed him the new
basket of coloring pages and stickers and then explained to him that if he were willing to cooperate in brushing his
teeth he would get a sheet of stickers and could put them wherever he wanted to in the book.
The first night of experimenting didnt go as poorly as I had imagined. However, he only got half a sticker
sheet because there was some resistance. The vibrating teething toy did seem to help quite a bit. The second night
after the timer went off we headed towards the bathroom, but Alex insisted on getting his stickers without brushing
his teeth. I knew that if I tried to punish him by sending him straight to bed with the punishment of no stickers for
not brushing his teeth it would actually reinforce the negative behavior. For him, not brushing his teeth is a greater
reward than playing with stickers. So, I sat there in silence for about 15 minutes and waited until he would allow
me to brush his teeth, but he received no stickers because he had thrown a tantrum. This continued the third and
fourth night when the tantrum actually lasted longer than the second night. On the fifth night it was like a switch
was flipped. The timer went off, he looked at me and said, brush teeth. We headed into the bathroom, he grabbed
his teething toy and allowed me to brush his teeth. He then eagerly picked out his stickers and coloring book and
got to work. This led to a much more peaceful tuck in to bed and crazy enough, this happened the next night as
well. On the seventh night he resisted a bit as the timer went off, but just the mention of his stickers was enough
incentive to invoke cooperation. As time goes on, I will lessen the amount of stickers he gets from a full sheet, to
three-quarters and so on. The book states that once a behavior has been conditioned, humans and other creatures
will repeat it even if the reinforcement occurs only occasionally (Berger, 2016, p. 27). I really hope this will hold
true with Alex as we continue to work with him.

*Childs name has been changed, for privacy purposes.

Reference List

Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the Life Span (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.