Chapter 14: Positive and Negative Control

What is the function of secondary reinforcers in the use of positive control?

-It is possible to follow desireable behavior with large numbers of secondary reinforcers. -Everyone learns to respond to smiles, kindess and consideration as secondary reinforcers, and once we learn how to give them generously, its effortless to use positive reinforcers with everyone who does desirable behavior. -In general, people with similar values and behavior repertoires bring more reinforcers into each others lives than do people with dissimilar values and behavior repertoires.

How does observational learning work as an alternative to punishment?

-Models provide techniques for avoiding undesireable behavior and switching to positive alternatives. -Coping models and Mastery Models

What are the positive of humanistic reasoning?

-Reasoning helps children learn to avoid hurting others, and therefore avoid being targeted for punishment. -Helps them think ahead, evaluate the consequences of their various actions and select good options that minimize bad consequences.

What are 3 methods of decreasing negative control?

-Removing Aversives -Not adding Aversives -Not withdrawal of positive stimuli

How can person 2 remove aversives from person 1?

-Two people do not have to be friends or lovers to remove aversives -If person 2 has the skills and strengths to do something that person 1 cant, person 2 can remove aversives by performing the behavior. -The skills can be mental, physical or emotional.

What are the 5 alternatives to punishment?

1. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (Mostly DRI) 2. Observational learning 3. Rules and Reasoning 4. Extinction 5. Gentle Punishment

What are the 6 problems with punishments?

1. Punishment often teaches aggression 2. Punishment causes more vigorous responding (person who receives punishment is likely to show a general increase of muscle tension and increase in vigor of responding) 3. Punishment only temporarily suppresses response. 4. Punished person learns to avoid both punishment and people who punish. (Socializing agents must realize that if they use punishment in order to suppress someone elses behavior, they will motivate the punished person to avoid detection and/or the people who punish. 5. Punishment conditions negative emotions. (Negative control is based on aversives, and these aversive stimuli condition many other features of the punished persons life into CS that elicit painful emotions.) 6. Punishment can cause generalized response suppression.

What are the two forms of gentle punishment?

1. Time out: Period of time in which a person can not enjoy normal reinforcement schedules because some undesireable behavior has occurred. 2. Response Cost: Attaches some extra cost to an undesireable behavior, without taking away reinforcers, the way timeout does.

What are the differences in positive and negative control?

Behavioral science has shows that almost any activity can be learned through positive or negative control. -Nevertheless, there are motivational and emotional differences between the use of both.

What has behavioral science done for society?

Behavioral science is the first disciple to analyze positive and negative control, develop better methods of positive control, devise alternative to negative control, and give people the information they need to switch from a negative control to a positive approach.

How does reasoning and rules decrease the frequency of undesireable behavior?

Instead of punishing people, it is possible to have a gentle but firm conversation about the consequences of both the undesireable behavior and several more positive alternatives. -Human reasoning: Emphasizes the human happiness or suffering produced by many of our actions -Reasoning helps children understand how their emotions and actions affect both others and themselves.

What is the function of primary reinforcers in the use of positive control?

Most people prefer to be with and learn from people who bring them positive primary reinforcers into their lives, and optimal sensory stimulation is a major primary reinforcer in social interaction.

What is the use of modern technology to human applications?

Much of modern technology and culture function to decrease our exposure to aversive stimuli and increase our access to positive stimuli. EXAMPLE: medicine has given us countless drugs and procedures to product or cure us from diseases.

How can a person not add aversives?

Nagging is a common form of adding aversives. -If our goal is do help others do desireable behavior, we are wise to avoid nagging and other types of negative control. -Aversive words condition desireable target behaviors into CS that elicit aversive feelings for the recipient of the nagging. -As a result, people who were nagged come to dislike a desireable behavior and avoid doing the behavior.

What is negative Control?

Negative control consists of all conditioning that is based on negative reinforcement. -Punishment suppresses the frequency of operants and cause predictive stimuli to become CS that elicit fear, anxiety and other aversive emotions.

What are the disadvantages of using negative control?

Negative control decreases the frequency of behavior and condition the behavior to become a secondary punisher. -Most people try to escape or avoid aversive control and the behavior conditioned by it.

What is one of the main goals of behavioral science?

One of the main goals of behavioral science is to develop methods to minimize aversives and replace them with practices that increase positive reinforcers in everyday's lives.

What is positive control?

Positive control consists of all conditioning that is based on positive reinforcement.

What are the positives of positive control?

Positive control increases the frequency of the behavior and makes a person eager to learn more skills. -Positive control also conditions the behavior into a secondary reinforcer.

Why is removing positive stimuli not good?

Pouting, sulking, withdrawal and withholding love are all common ways of controlling others by removing positive stimuli.

What are two ways to increase positive control?

Through the use of primary and secondary reinforcers. -People benefit enormously by learning how to increase the use of positive reinforcements for their own behavior and the behavior of others.