Social Reinforcers Affecting Children's Behavior

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As seen in the child’s reaction after the teacher’s social reinforce, this observation provides much instruction in education. Instead of consistently demanding children to be quiet and punishing them for any disruptive behavior, teachers need to provide children the small gestures of approval and attention. All children require attention and love, and usually, the most disruptive children are the most neglected ones. To provide children the attention they demand, a teacher can show them appraisal through smiles, winks, and praises. This observation validated the theory of social reinforcements increasing a child’s behavioral frequency. I was surprised to see how well a simple smile affected the child’s behavior, and the change of behavior …show more content…

According to the Law of Effect, individuals will repeat the behavior that includes good effects and avoid those with bad effects. This theory explains why reinforcers work, and it provides insight on how to utilize reinforcers for learning. Learning refers to the process of permanently changed behavior because of experience. Reinforcers provide children the experiences needed to understand the information to learn. Reinforcers’ effectiveness depend on children’s cultures, ages, and genders. Social reinforcers are the easiest and most encouraging reinforcers to children, enhancing their learning. Activity and tangible reinforcers can teach kids that sucessful performances are directly associated with rewards and to only perform a task for that reward. Mrs. Walden agreed that she does not approve of tangible reinforcers, and she strongly believes that social reinforcers are the most effective reinforcers when dealing with children. Although goal-oriented behavior is one milestone in the stages of cognitive development, educators need to adjust the goal to the correct motivator. In the beginning, children make decisions that serve them best, but educators need to stamp on their students the ability to perform a task for self-improvement and obedience. As learned in this course, two groups of children were given the same test. The first group of students were encouraged for their effort while the second group were praised for their performance. Then, both groups were assigned a more difficult test, and the difference in behavior underlines an important theme. The first group was more inspired to attempt the test while the second group felt discouraged, because they could not perform as well as they previously did. This study substantiated the importance of correct social reinforcers. The performance praise (social reinforcer), activity, and tangible

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