Question

James uses socially appropriate behavior to greet peers but does so up to ten times in one class period. His teacher decides to use DRL to lower the rate of his behavior but she does not want to eliminate it completely. She decides to deliver reinforcement (ex. computer time) to James if he greets peers five or fewer times during the class period. If he greets peers more than five times, he does not receive reinforcement.

Do you believe this case exhibits DRL or a DRH and why? 2) What type of reinforcement does his teacher use? 3) Can you think of an alternative reinforcement for his behavior and how would you determine what is the most appropriate one to use for James?

Answer 1

1)Greeting peers around ten times in one class period can be a socially appropriate behavior but doing something extra is not praiseworthy and it is important that a teacher takes some decision for the student's better understanding of a subject and differential reinforcement is an example of that only. It reinforces one response under different categories and also can limit it due to some good reasons. Here James has been given one opportunity so that he greets fewer students and doesn't repeat one thing. If a student is hyperactive to do some task then it's the teacher's responsibility that he/she points out the mistake and give the student some other extracurricular activity, can set it as a boundary by which the student can further work on the problem. This case therefore exhibits DRL.

2) Here the teacher applied the DRL process which means his activeness is quite high and he has been provided with some alternative task like extra computer time. In order to get this opportunity he is not allowed to greet more than five people in one class. To get the response at a low rate this formula is used by the teacher while DRH is the opposite of it is reinforcement of high rates. Inactive students needs this to improve their skills. The reinforcement here she decided to give is extra computer time for James. So that he controls his peer greeting behavior, As a teacher she did good and hopefully the student will change his behaviour.

3) An alternative reinforcement would be that he will be given extra play time or he will be rewarded with some small achievement. otherwise the following one is not bad but choosing other is also appreciated.