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Behavioral Control of a Behavior Problem
Timmy B. was a five-year-old child of average intelligence who was a “behavior problem.” He
screamed, fought, disobeyed, and bossed others both at home and school, despite his young age.
His parents were concerned over his obviously undesirable behavior, which they expected to get
even worse as he grew older. “He continually told other children what to do and how to play, and
enforced his demands with punches, kicks, and slaps,” they reported.
A behavioral psychologist’s observations of Timmy’s mother’s interaction with her son revealed
three things:
1. She reinforced his undesirable behavior with attention
2. She did not enforce consequences in a consistent fashion
3. She did not make the relationship between behavior and consequence clear, because she
often used lengthy explanations before applying discipline
The behavioral psychologists who consulted with Timmy’s mother taught her to arrange three
types of contingencies for Timmy’s behaviors: punishment, extinction, and positive reinforcement.
Punishment: As soon as Timmy acted aggressively or disobediently, Mrs. B. took him to a
time-out room that contained no items of interest to the child. He was told only that he
could not stay with the others if he fought or disobeyed. He was put in the time-out room,
without conversation or further explanation, for a two-minute period (or two minutes from
the end of his last cry or tantrum). This punishment involved the negative stimulus of loss
of opportunity for stimulation. It could be removed by behaving in socially acceptable
ways. When the time was up, Timmy was taken back to his regular activities without
comment on the previous episode.
Extinction: Less serious forms of undesirable behavior were ignored so that they would
have no reinforcing consequences.
Positive Reinforcement: Desirable behaviors such as cooperative play and following
instructions were directly praised, and at the end of some periods of desirable play Timmy
got a special treat.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of mother as behavior therapist, the psychologists first observed
Timmy’s behavior for a baseline period, and then instructed Mrs. B. to carry out her behavioral
contingency management program. This sequence was then repeated. Timmy’s aggressive and
disobedient behaviors were dramatically changed by manipulating their consequences. His parents
and neighbors commented that Timmy behaved like a “different child.” During the first baseline
period Timmy followed only about 30 percent of instructions given to him, but a week later he was
following three-fourths of them. On some days, Timmy never misbehaved, even not striking back
when another child hit him. As Timmy’s problem behavior declined, his mother commented more
favorably about him; she felt she was a more effective mother and showed more affection for her
son.
WALDEN TWO
In Walden Two, B. F. Skinner presented a hypothetical community based on behavioral principles.
Given what we know today about behaviorism, and cognitive theory, is such a community feasible?
You might discuss with students some of the ideas presented in Walden Two and ask for their
opinions about these ideas. Are they outdated? Are they workable? Have recent gains in knowledge
in cognitive theory and information processing made some of Skinner’s ideas obsolete? Do students
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CHAPTER 7: LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
even believe that such a community is possible?