Discuss the methods of shaping behavior in detail.
Shaping Behavior
When a systematic attempt is
made to change individuals’ behaviour by directing their learning in graduated
steps, it is called shaping behavior. There are four methods of Shaping
Behavior. They are as follows:
1. Positive reinforcement
– This is the process of getting something pleasant as a consequence of a
desired behavior, to strengthen the same behavior. For example, one get a
commission, if he/she achieves sales target.
For example,
i) Bonuses paid at the end of
a successful business year are an example of positive reinforcement.
ii) Employees will work hard
for a raise or a promotion.
iii) Salesmen will increase
their efforts to get rewards and bonuses.
iv) Students will study to get
good grades, and
v) In these examples, the
rises, promotions, awards, bonuses, good grades, are positive reinforces.
2. Negative reinforcement
– This is the process of having a reward taken away as a consequence of a
undesired behavior. For example, scholarship is withdrawn from the student who
has not done well on the examination. Just as people engage in behaviours in
order to get positive reinforces, they also engage in behaviours to avoid or
escape unpleasant conditions. Terminating an unpleasant stimulus in order to
strengthen or increase the probability of a response is called negative
reinforcement.
3. Punishment is
causing an unpleasant condition in an attempt to eliminate an undesirable
behavior. This is the process of getting a punishment as a consequence of a
behavior.
According to B. F. Skinner,
punishment is still the most common technique of behaviour control in today’s
life. When a child misbehaves, he is spanked. If a person does not behave as
the society or law wants him to do, he is punished by arrest and jail.
Example: Loss of pay for coming late to office.
Punishment can be accomplished either by adding an unpleasant stimulus or
removing a pleasant stimulus. The added unpleasant stimulus might take the form
of criticism, a scolding, a disapproving look, a fine, or a prison sentence.
The removal of a pleasant stimulus might consist of withholding affection and
attention, suspending a driver’s license, or taking away a privilege such as
watching television.
Accordingly, in situations
where punishment is desirable as a means of behaviour modification, certain
guidelines would make it more effective thus minimizing its dysfunctional
consequences.
a) Praise in public; punish in
private.
b) Apply punishment before the
undesirable behaviour has been strongly
reinforced. Thus, the punishment should immediately follow the undesirable
behaviour.
reinforced. Thus, the punishment should immediately follow the undesirable
behaviour.
c) The punishment should focus
on the behaviour and not on the person.
4. Extinction – An
alternative to punishing undesirable behaviour is extension – the attempt to
weaken behaviour by attaching no consequences (either positive or negative) to
it. It is equivalent to ignoring the behaviour. The rationale for using
extinction is that a behaviour not followed by any consequence is weakened.
However, some patience and time may be needed for it to be effective.
This type of reinforcement is
applied to reduce undesirable behaviour, especially when such behaviours were
previously rewarded. This means that if rewards were removed from behaviours
that were previously reinforced, then such behaviours would become less
frequent and eventually die out. For example, if a student in the class is
highly mischievous and disturbs the class, he is probably asking for attention.
If .the attention is given to him, he will continue to exhibit that behaviour.
Both positive and negative
reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a response and increase the
probability of repetition. Both punishment and extinction weaken behavior and tend
to decrease its subsequent frequency