Behavior Modification
Operator conditioning is a behavior regulation mechanism whereby an individual’s trait is controlled by the effects of the person’s deeds.
Procrastination before Examinations among Students
This refers to a situation whereby students postpone difficult tasks and concentrate on easier topics before exams commence, which leads to knowledge gaps when taking exams. This usually results to failure in examinations and wastage of time in remedial sessions. This pattern of behavior compromises creativity and intellectual development because students avoid brain storming exercise and critical analysis of academic problems.
Principles of Operant Conditioning
Positive reinforcement is one of the techniques which can be used to change the above undesirable behavior. This can take the form of rewards whereby students are promised compensation upon achieving set targets. This kind of behavioral conditioning will psychologically motivate the students. This will make them unleash their potential in the process of learning without being compelled by external forces.
Positive punishment refers to the employment of unpleasant stimuli in order to change undesirable behavior. For instance, corporal punishment can be employed in order to eliminate the procrastination behavior of the students. Disciplining students is effective because it is an action-reaction measure hence students will struggle to avoid infliction of pain through spanking. According to Gambrilln (2007), children respond promptly to punitive disciplining than guidance and counseling. In addition, this technique will compel students to perform to the beast of their capability hence improvement in academic standards.
Shaping principle can be applied in regulating behavior. This is possible through offering easy subjects to the students and giving them difficult tasks when they are academically mature. This gives the students sufficient time to grow and develop academically. Indeed, this will enable them to appreciate the studying process hence development of self-drive in pursuing academics. This will increase creativity among the students.
Winters & Cox (2010) assert that negative punishment is a principle of controlling behavior whereby a pleasant stimulus is removed from the subject of study in order to influence change of behavior. In this case, students can be denied extra comforting social amenities in order for them to concentrate on their studies. For instance, time for co-curricular activities and entertainment can be reduced in order to provide more time for academic studies.
Negative reinforcement can also be used to modify behavior. This is the elimination of negative stimuli, which causes propagation of behavior (Sheldon, 2008). In the case of student procrastination behavior, elimination of laxity of the teaching fraternity will automatically lead to outright change of behavior among the students. This will result in the exhaustive study and research among the students hence high performance standards will be attained.
Discrimination principle will assist in modification of behavior in the sense that students will be given incentives after working hard and smart in difficult academic stuff as opposed to easy subjects. This will enable students to put more effort in the subjects, which are rewarded than in those which are not.
The behavior modification program that is appropriate for procrastination among students can be obtained from the incorporation of behavior determining variables like incentives, discipline and academic fame. Therefore, this program can be represented as follows:
80% overall grade attainment = Trophy
This implies that every student who will attain this mark will be guaranteed a brandy trophy. This will motivate the students hence lead to desirable performance.
References
Gambrill, E. D. (2007). Behavior modification: Handbook of assessment, intervention, and
evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sheldon, B. (2008). Behaviour modification: Theory, practice, and philosophy. London:
Tavistock Publications.
Winters, S. A., & Cox, E. (2010). Behavior modification techniques for the special educator.
New York: MSS Information Corp.
