Paper Example. Skills for Positive Reinforcement

In our daily lives, people involve themselves in activities and doings in anticipation of benefits or positive outcomes. During these activities, there are some factors, which are either internal or external, which keep pressing on for better results. These factors are thus called reinforcement. The main aim of applying support is learning and enhancing the ability to draw the learners. The educator always determines the learner's behavior. It can be either motivating or demotivating, depending on the situation of the activity. Reinforcement can also initiate the learner during the instructional activities. The instructor's learning activities (a teacher maybe) should bear meaningful information such that the learners attain the best of the benefits from the instructors.

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Performing learners; positive verbal reinforcement not only increases good behavior but also can lead to building up undesirable behaviors. Take a case where a student is whining to get attention and succeeds in getting it; this attention is serving as positive reinforcement but also increases the likelihood of the student continuing with whining. Positive verbal reinforcement is mainly affected by social reinforcers and activity reinforcers (Morison, 2011). Social reinforcers are mediated by several groups; peers, teachers, parents, or even other adults that can express approval and positive praise for desirable and appropriate behavior. Social reinforcers can make use of smiling, nodding of the head, a pat on the back, or even clapping all who are effective reinforcers. Activity reinforcers, on the other hand, are as well useful for students, and they do so by allowing the learners to take part in preferred engagements. This may make use of physical objects such as computers, which involve the learners directly in the process. This is a powerful tool of reinforcement because the learners are given a chance to choose which part they feel they are interested in and whom they would like to get involved in their doings.

All the above reinforcers have the main aim of improving the behavioral activities of the learner to change to desirable conditions. Positive verbal reinforcement is the best reinforcement for learners. It gives the learners motivation and a more significant thought of their real picture, and this encourages them to work harder. Positive verbal support also improves activating the class whereby the teacher and the learners are all actively participating in the session. In all the responses from the teacher, they should be all motivating the learner to bring out a positive impact on the performance, which results in a change of behavior.

The learner whose behavior needs a change ranges at the medium level of performance but is never showing a concern of appreciation. From several analyses, the learner can perform better than that and achieve higher scores in whatever he/she does. The study shows that the student is always smiling when after a positive recommendation of the answers, she hails out. However, when a negative proposal follows her point of view, she is much annoyed and goes to the extent of even losing concentration and ends up losing the teachings. The current situation is getting somehow better, and this is after being allowed to participate in computer program classes, which are done through peer teaching (Morison). This shows more concern about the learner's behaviors and means that activity reinforcers will work more on affecting the learner's response.

The learner is capable of adapting to new environments, coping with the requirements without any struggles, and is always interested in making new friends and able to hold peer discussions. From the previous consecutive performance, a slight improvement has been noted following the measures taken for all learners to ask questions after every session held. This shows that the participation of the learner currently is playing a significant role, and if stressed on, much better results can be achieved. A follow-up of interests is gaming and computing during free time at school. The verbal reinforcement that allows for participation can be seen to be working.

Positive reinforcement has prominence in a classroom of learners. One of the important is that it can be applied to change the behavioral condition of the learner effectively. If the learner is appreciated several over a particularly good habit, the learner will keep track for more appreciation. At the end of the whole exercise, the learner will have acquired new and desirable behavior (Nicoletti, 2011). Positive reinforcement also creates opportunities to increase the display of necessary practices. Such opportunities help educators to avoid inadvertently and haphazardly booing undesirable behaviors. In such, paying attention to the reinforcement will pose a challenge in changing the misbehavior; hence active participation will be required.

For the cases of direct reinforcement, the norm brought up will be applicable for such occasions in the future, and the involved learners will be exceedingly willing to demonstrate positive behavior (Drasgow, 1999). From the incident where the learners are allowed to choose their peers for an exercise, it builds up the roles of social interactions where the learners grow up with the knowledge of understanding their friends and even knowing how to treat them in such cases.

The goal-setting principle states that the necessity of goal-setting is linked to the evaluation of the task. The set goals indicate and show the direction to learners on what needs to be accomplished and the effort required. The principle has several underlying importance (Huber, 1985). First, it enhances motivation because the learner shows a greater willingness to do what is needed. Higher outputs are witnessed due to specific and clear goals where such measurable and realistic goals are accompanied by due time of completion to avoid misunderstandings. The practical and challenging purposes equip individuals with triumph and pride feeling if the goal is attained, and this gives motivation for achieving the next target. Appropriate feedback of the results provides a direction to the employee's behavior and leads to higher performance than when there is feedback.

There are several types of reinforcers, external, internal, and various reinforcers, all of which contribute to positive reinforcement. The external reinforcers include tangible reinforcers, where there is the use of physical tools such as toys and edibles, which are mindful. Another example is activity reinforcers, where the learners involve themselves in activities during the learning process, mostly done with peers (Green, 2001). The other type of external reinforcers is the token reinforcer. These are where the learners are awarded on their efforts with tokens which can be exchanged with higher valuable things.

The internal reinforcers include; genital stimulations, where genital rubbing is used to draw peer or adult attention. The stimuli then cause the gaining of pleasurable internal responses. Such can be determined by looking into the eyes and understanding the gaze's expression. Another type is self-injurious behavior were headbanging can be used to get rid of undesirable behaviors. Such reactions occur from external environmental conditions—such internal functions as echolalia help to reduce aversive internal states.

The other form of reinforcer is the vicarious reinforcer where an individual imitates actions of another after seeing the person being rewarded positively for their deeds. Examples of vicarious reinforcers include role models and mentors. The learners out in their minds as a goal to attain what the person has accomplished and begun working to achieve it.

Positive verbal reinforcement can be taught by the approach of the student to the teacher participation mechanism. As the teacher, I will have to be friendly to my learner to create a freedom zone where each learner can express their thoughts. Extra time will be built where the learners will organize themselves into groups of their own choice to discuss the session teachings; then, later, each group will explain their part to the class. I will direct the learners on the topics of discussion; then, they will present their arguments to be able to notice their weaknesses from their presentation. For the external reinforcers, peer groups will be used; then the learners will have access to the tangible objects to practice better. For every active participation, there will be the winning of different tokens, which can be exchanged for them to bear value to the learners. In the case of learners failing mere tests, a corresponding positive punishment will be induced where the learner will be assigned more similar assignments to do and submit for corrections. Such a penalty will positively benefit the learner to put more effort next time to avoid the same punishments.

References

Drasgow, E., Halle, J. W., & Sigafoos, J. (1999). Teaching communication to learners with severe disabilities: Motivation, response competition, and generalization. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 23(1), 47-63.

Green, G. (2001). Behavior analytic instruction for learners with autism: Advances in stimulus control technology. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 16(2), 72-85.

Huber, V. L. (1985). The interplay of goals and promises of pay-for-performance on individual and group performance: An operant interpretation. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 7(3-4), 45-64

Morrison, H., Roscoe, E. M., & Atwell, A. (2011). An evaluation of antecedent exercise on behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement using threecomponent multiple schedules. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 44(3), 523-541.

Nicoletti, F., Bockaert, J., Collingridge, G. L., Conn, P. J., Ferraguti, F., Schoepp, D. D., & Pin, J. P. (2011). Metabotropic glutamate receptors: from the workbench to the bedside. Neuropharmacology, 60(7-8), 1017-1041