Behaviourism assignment

Deadline:

Plan

Select an unwitting participant of your choice and produce a plan of how you will shape one of their undesirable behaviours so that it is more 'socially acceptable'.

The plan should provide a clear explanation of each of the following terms: operants, positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, primary and secondary reinforcers, antecedents, primary and secondary reinforcement, schedules of reinforcement (all of them), shaping, behaviour modification, and any others that seem relevant but aren't listed here. It should go on to show how each of them will be applied where appropriate and, if it is not appropriate, why not.

Practical

You should then proceed to shape the person's behaviour.

Write another report detailing your success or otherwise in shaping the behaviour. An evaluation of the whole process will complete the report: how would you have improved the procedure?; is the behaviourist explanation of what occurred adequate or do cognitive factors have to be taken into account?; was the whole thing ethically sound?

You should debrief the participant afterwards...they will thank you for it.



Reading:

Gross: Psychology, the science of mind and behaviour

pp3-4
pp22-24
pp156-172
pp871-876