Reinforcement Procedures Paper

In this assignment, you are able to connect the concepts of reinforcement to a real example of a mom and her children, which allows you to see how a highly effective reinforcer (the token economy) can still fail when not individualized.

Consider the following scenario:

A mother is trying to increase the amount of peas that her two children eat. She uses a sticker chart to monitor the amount of peas they are consuming and rewards them based on the number of stickers they have earned at the end of the week. The mother has found that this works for one child, but not the other.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper discussing the following:

• Identify the behavior the mother is trying to reinforce.

• Identify the possible functions of the behaviors.

• Identify the method of reinforcement being used.

• Explain possible reasons for this method working for one child but not the other.

• Propose and outline three ideas that may work to increase pea consumption for the children, and include one method that uses negative reinforcement.