This is a continuation of the same titled article (PART I)



that should be in this same article directory?

Another term is Extinction. No, this does not mean a

species died out. It simply means a behavior went away.

If a behavior stops occurring, it is said to have become extinct

(stopped). This happens all the time. How many behaviors do

you not do anymore? If you are an adult, you probably no longer

stuff things under your mattress (like kids do when they do not

want to take the time to clean their room). In the past, did

you yell at your friends but later learn to talk quietly? Good.

Yelling became extinct. You want to make extinct some of the

(less than ideal) behaviors in your child or else you would not

be so curious about the terms in this article. People grow and

change. Old behaviors yield to new ones. You get the idea.

Another term is Modeling. This is when you show off good

behaviors, hoping others will copy you. At the dinner table, you

use your silverware to eat, not your hands. Right? Your kids

will (sooner or later) do the same partly because you do, partly

because you praise them after they finally pick up a fork

(positive reinforcer, in this case combined with shaping).

Another example is driving the speed limit; a good behavior to

model, especially when teenagers first get behind the wheel.

Getting a driver's license later is a good though delayed

positive reinforcement.

A subset of modeling is cueing. That just means you

provide a hint that something is coming, good or bad, and that

usually stops the child long enough to think first, then behave.

You are prompting the child that other, better behavior should

follow, which resembles modeling. It is just not as formal as

modeling. For example, your child starts to reach for food

with his hands (vs. using silverware). You clear your throat

loudly while raising your eyebrows and looking at the silverware.

The kid gets the idea even though you are not yet eating with

silverware (which would be modeling, formally).

Another term is Classical Conditioning. Remember when

Pavlov (the Russian physiologist) rang a bell and then gave a

dog some food (meat powder), which made the dog salivate?

Pavlov did this over and over with the same dog and soon the dog

would salivate just to the sound of the bell, anticipating the

food. Well, in my office I do not do much of this, because it

is hard to get children to sit still long enough to listen to

bells and search for food. However, the principle is good and

illustrates that when good or bad reinforcers follow stimuli,

the behaviors increase or decrease, respectively, no matter what

the time, place or event. Telling or showing people what is

coming before it occurs is training them to react positively to

the anticipated event.

These are some of the many terms parents should know.

No, we psychologists do not treat kids like dogs or rats, but

believe it or not, we all apply these principles every day in

every relationship we have. In the office, we just formalize

some of this so that the child gets a different set of

reinforcers, cues, etc. I have detailed this and much more on

how to change children's behavior in my publications.

Dr. Griggs