Chapter 9 case study

1. Is Haley's fear of men most likely due to classical or operant conditioning? Justify your response (yes, it will all be hypothetical as we do not have enough information in this case)

I think that Haley's fear of men is most likely due to Operant Conditioning. I think this because the definition of Operant Conditioning is the form of learning in which a response increases in frequency as a reslut of being followed by a reinforcement. In other words, something has happened to Haley, dealing with a man, and there were some consequences that followed it. Some bad memories or something has happended, it could be her mother being beat in front of her, or something else.

2. How might you explain Meredith's aggressive behaviors from the perspective of operant conditioning?

I think that at home her mother gets beatin or hit by her father or some other family member. I think that Meredith sees her mother getting beat, yelled, or hit and ends up doing whatever she is told. Therefore, Meredith sees this and uses it to get what she wants. Even though she is just 6 years old, she sees her mothers and others weaknessess and takes full advantage of it to get what she wants. It's easy to see the perspective through operant conditioning because she has learned that hurting someone will get her the result of whatever she wants. Overtime, it's just become more and more frequent because she realized that it works.

3. What strategies from Chapter 9 might a teacher use in working with Haley? Be specific and describe how each strategy could be used.

I think that shaping could be used. This is the process of reinforcing successively closer and closer approximations to a desired terminal behavior. So when Haley goes into violin lessons, she could get rewarded with something. Not only would the reward work but she would realize that the violin teacher isn't so bad afterall.

Another strategie that could be used is the Token Economy. She could get a "token" for going into violin lessons or even just behaving every time a strange man would enter into the classroom.

I'm sure that there are more, I just can't think of anymore right now.

4. What strategies from chapter 9 might a teacher use in working with Meredith? Be specific and describe how each strategy could be used.

You could use the "token" method but I don't think that that will get anywhere with Meredith becuase she has been hurting people to get what she wants for awhile now. I think that the group contingency strategy may work. Just because when she's in a group that has done everything they need to get a reinforcment, so they may kind of peer pressure her into doing the right thing. Not that all peer pressure is a good thing but when it's a good response, it could be a positive thing.

Also, they could use cueing. The teacher could do a certain signal just for Meredith to show that her behavior is good/expected or even when it's bad/not desired. It's difficult to tell if this will work.

I'm really not sure what else would or wouldn't work with her. It's difficult to tell, especially with very little detail of really goes on with the home life. The same goes with the strategies to use with Hayley.