Use of Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment to Change a Behavior

Classical Conditioning Essay
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Behavior modification refers to a psychotherapeutic strategy designed to mitigate or address maladaptive behaviors in adults or children (Kelly & Pohl, 2018). I wish to change the behavior of my niece, Kate, who does not want to do her homework. Positive reinforcement can be used to encourage Kate to do her homework with rewards. For example, I would reward Kate with additional playing time and the removal of a poor grade when she completes all her homework and shows good manners during a specific week. In this case, the extra playing time constitutes positive reinforcement, while removing a poor grade is an example of negative reinforcement. Nevertheless, there are also chances that Kate will continue misbehaving and avoid doing her homework. In this case, I will need to punish her by demanding that she stays an extra hour after regular school hours and take away her smartphone. Staying in school for an hour after normal school hours is an example of positive punishment while removing the smartphone is a practical example of negative punishment (Kelly & Pohl, 2018).