VARIABLES: Choice Therapy, Behavioral Economics
DOMAINS: Education, Business, Marketing
Contributors: Jason Kielbasa
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
DEVELOPERS:
B.F. Skinner
BACKGROUND
Consequences which will lead to rewards will increase behavior. It is best to reward a positive behavior while it occurs not at a later point. (Ludin, 48) It has also been shown that unethical behavior increases within companies when unethical behavior is rewarded or ethical behavior is punished. (Baucus, 359)
Consequences leading to punishments will decrease behavior. In order to receive a reward an employee may modify what they self report in order to appear competent. (Baucus, 360)
Consequences without rewards or behaviors will extinguish a behavior. In a study it was found 20% of students will leave a study using only adverse effects when told it will not interfere with the study and 50% withdraw when told most of the others have left.. (N and B, 103)
According to Ludin, “it is the subtle manipulation of the reinforcements which makes for improvement, not the practice itself. (Ludin, 48. Following Reinforcement Theory it is the feedback caused by rewards, positive and negative, that illicit improvement. We don’t improve for “the love of the game” but the praise, sense of achievement and accolades the game gives us.
In a conjugate reinforcement schedule, “the duration or intensity of a reinforcing stimulus is proportional to the duration of or intensity of a response.” This style allows a direct assessment of attention not through the use of verbal reports or gaze. (Morgan, 162) Instead of behavior this looks at people’s attention to a specific stimulus.
RECOMMENDATIONS/APPLICATIONS:
From an educational standpoint positive actions should be rewarded when they occur, not after words. By specifically pointing towards good answers or behavior you are directly showing them what they are doing well in. Telling someone they did a good job on a project does not reinforce any specific action but mentioning exactly when and/or where a student that is looking for help was correct you are reinforcing actions that they can build upon.
From a managerial point of view Reinforcement Theory will lead you to believe that the behaviors you are trying to get out of an employee might not be as tied into the rewards as you would expect. People like bonus and will work towards them. This may mean they will cut corners and act in a self, not company, interests to do so. Rewards do not make model employees, just ones that will work towards a specific outcome. This behavior was quite relevant to the current recession and the implosion of the banking industry.
REFERENCES ~ Coding Spreadsheet - Web View