Page 149 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

as punishment. Punishment decreases the future likelihood of a response. Examples of punishment include the
receipt of a traffic ticket for an improper left turn or the inability to fit into a favorite outfit after gaining
weight.

Third, responses may result in the removal of adverse stimuli that are already present. This consequence is
known as negative reinforcement or escape and is similar to positive reinforcement in that it increases the future
likelihood or probability of a response. Examples of negative reinforcement include escaping devastating cold
by going into a heated building, escaping a boring television show by changing channels, or eliminating or
reducing hypoglycemic agents in type 2 diabetes by losing weight and following a sound meal plan.

Finally, responses may prevent an unpleasant event from occurring. Examples include avoiding the cold by
staying indoors or engaging in regular physical activity to prevent weight gain. The avoidance of adverse
events increases the likelihood of the response, as does positive reinforcement. Behaviors that are neither
positively nor negatively reinforced should typically decrease in strength.

Parents and caregivers shape children’s eating habits.
Source: US Department of Agriculture.

Later behaviorists continued where Thorndike concluded. B.F. Skinner is best known for championing a
set of methods and terms to explain behavior on the basis of the principles of operant conditioning. Skinner
developed a situation in which behavior could be observed in discrete units and subsequently recorded. This
situation was an operant chamber, which has been dubbed a “Skinner box.” The lever presses of rats and key
pecks of pigeons have been the most frequently studied responses. Skinner’s enthusiasm for the behavioral
approach was not limited to lower animals, however, as he proposed wider application for the principles that
were established. In fact, the behavioral approach has become an important practical technique in many
settings, such as classrooms, mental health interventions, prisons, offices, and self-management situations.1,5

Modeling

In addition to classical and operant conditioning as modes of behavior change, a third form of learning is

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