Parenting through positive reinforcement...Need some info?

Question

I am writing a paper on using positive reinforcement instead of traditional parenting techniques. This is for an English class, I am in the first stages of writing this paper and I am in need of knowing some history on the subject. I have looked in my psychology text book and online and I am not finding what I need. I realize this is a form of operant conditioning, so do I date back to B.F. Skinner's research? Is there nothing more up-to-date?

Thanks in advance for all of your input.

Answer 1

Skinner was one of the forerunners and one of the most enduring thinkers in psychology. It has not changed much over time as research supports his assertions.

Positive reinforcement is giving something (positive) to encourage a behavior (reinforcement). I think the typical parenting uses punishment, that is attempting to discourage a behavior. Research has shown that it is more effective to encourage a behavior than to discourage a behavior, ie it is better to reward a child for completing his homework than to punish him when he does not do the work.

I would look into the schedules of reinforcement; will you be rewarding all behaviors or only reward the behavior every so often. It is best to reward every time in the beginning then move to intermittent reinforcement. This has shown to have longer standing results.

There is research on both of these areas however I do not know the researchers by name. Look into research using animals subjects, which is abundant.

Answer 2

Of course there's Skinner, but you're going to find your best sources in anything about relating to kids with ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, and/or autism because these conditions don't respond to anything else.

A lot of Jean Piaget's work can also be used in a positive reinforcement child-rearing (I know I used it) because his stuff is so playful, so joyful to the child that it is easy to distract a kid from undesireable behavior with his methods.

Good luck.

Answer 3

This may help for starters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Behavior_Analysis

See especially section 5.

Answer 4

so we are supposed to reward some-one for not raping or molesting or stealing or murdering?.what a quaint idea