Topical Blog Week #14 (due Thursday)

The news article that elicited a reading behavior from me was about the increase in violence on Black Friday from shoppers trying to get good deals. People were shot, robbed, and pepper sprayed this year as people fought for the holiday sales.

1) The target behavior is spraying others waiting in line with pepper spray.
2) The consequence of the behavior is moving up in line and getting an X-box 360 at a reduced price.
3) The consequence will increase the frequency of the behavior because it is pleasurable to get items at a reduced cost.
4) The consequence involves the addition moving up in line and the addition of a cheap X-box 360.
5) The antecedent is being in a large crowd during Black Friday shopping and waiting in line with only a limited number of X-box 360’s for a reduced price.

Please then list the ABC's of the behavior
A=Large crowd during Black Friday shopping, being in line, limited number of X-box 360’s
B=Spray others in the line with pepper spray
C=Increase chance of getting X-box 360 at reduced price

This is an example of positive reinforcement because it involves the addition of a cheap X-box 360. The behavior does involves establishing operations because really great sales on X-box 360’s typically only occur on Black Friday so emitting the behavior of pepper spraying others waiting in line to get a cheap X-box 360 is not likely to be reinforced on other days of the year.

1) The target behavior protesting shopping i.e. trying to prevent people from entering at large, chain stores on Black Friday.
2) The consequence of the behavior was being pushed aside and people still shopping at the chain store on Black Friday i.e. the protestors were ignored.
3) The consequence will decrease the behavior because it is aversive to be pushed aside and have one’s cause ignored.
4) The consequence involves the addition of a push but the removal of people’s attention.
5) The antecedent is Black Friday.

Please then list the ABC's of the behavior
A=Black Friday
B=Protesting shopping at large chain stores
C=Being pushed aside and ignored

This is an example of positive punishment in regards to the push because there is the addition of the push which is aversive and likely to decrease the behavior. In regards to being ignored, it is negative punishment because the attention of the target audience is being removed which is aversive. This behavior involves extinction because people do not listen to protestors that often so their behavior is not being reinforced. The protestors probably experienced an extinction burst in which they emitted several behaviors to try to gain attention such as yelling, chanting, waving signs, and physically getting in the way of others.

Terms: positive punishment, negative punishment, positive reinforcement, target behavior, behavior, emitted, elicited, extinction, extinction burst, establishing operations, antecedent, consequence, aversive, pleasurable

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15879139

I chose to emit a reading behavior of an article called Fighting Childhood Obesity: It's a Family Affair. This article is about steps a family can take to reduce childhood obesity and maintain a healthy diet for their children. The overall goal is not necessarily to lose weight, but instead to maintain a healthy lifestyle and improve confidence in that weight without gaining.

1) The target behavior in this article is to maintain a healthy weight by gradually cutting back on junk food and increasing the amount of exercise.
2) The consequence of this behavior is becoming a healthier person overall.
3) This consequence will increase the behavior because it will create more confidence and will make the child feel better.
4) This target behavior involves both the addition and removal of a stimulus. It involves removing junk food gradually while steadily increasing the amount of exercise the child takes part in as well.
5) The antecedent to this behavior I believe would be the child sharing his or her feelings to his parents about his or her weight.

A= Child sharing his feelings about his weight
B= Maintaining a healthy weight by decreasing junk food and increasing exercise
C= Increased confidence and healthier lifestyle

This is both an example of negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement I believe. I believe it is negative reinforcement because it involves the removal of junk food which has a negative effect on the body to increase the behavior of maintaining a healthy body weight. I it also positive reinforcement because it is adding exercise which has a positive effect on the body. It could be punishment in a way, but since the consequence is trying to increase the behavior of maintaining a healthy weight, it is not a punishment. In the program, it is meant to be a positive thing and the children don't even realize that there is anything aversive taking place. It elicits a positive response rather than a negative one because these children are taking part in these activities with family and see that others are doing it too. The exercises could even be activities such as playing games with the family as well. That is why I believe that negative and positive reinforcement are used.

1) Another behavior emitted in this article is that a parent should listen to his or her child's cry for help.
2) The consequence of this behavior is that the parent can find a solution to help the child with his or her weight problem, which will therefore lead to a happier, healthier life.
3) This will increase the frequency of the parent listening to the child because they will see that the child is happier overall and therefore they will believe that listening to the child can help with other problems as well.
4) This behavior involves the addition of the mother's listening which is a positive aspect.
5) The antecedent could be that the child was having problems at school being bullied about his or her weight.

A= Child having problems at school
B= Parent listening to the child's problems
C= Parent helping solve the child's problem

This behavior is an example of positive reinforcement because the parent is adding the fact that he or she is listening to the child which, in turn, reinforces the child by helping him or her solve the problem with weight and health. In the future, however, this could result in extinction because the child might be tired of the parent knowing all of his or her problems, and may even try to get the parent to stop listening in on his or her life. It could turn into a punishment instead.

Terms: target behavior, emit, elicit, consequence, extinction, aversive, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, antecedent

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/11/28/142672879/fighting-childhood-obesity-its-a-family-affair

After emitting a behavior of reading an article about a Vermont man taking his own life after a hunting accident, I related the behaviors of the individual to concepts we have learned in class. On Saturday, a hunter in Vermont emitted a behavior of taking his own life after accidentally killing a friend while deer hunting. The 49-year-old man, Timothy Bolognani, was found dead next to the man he accidentally shot, Benjamin Birch. According to Mark Colford, a man hunting with Bolognani and Birch, Birch emitted a behavior of shooting a deer, and while tracking it Bolognani shot at the deer but missed and hit Birch. Birch cried out in pain, and the other two found him injured. When the police arrived at the scene, they emitted a behavior of finding Birch dead from the gunshot wound, and Bolognani also dead by his own hand. No foul play was suspected. Unfortunately, this is the second tragedy to strike the family of former state representative Betty Bolognani. Tim Bolognani’s daughter, Jessica, was killed in a snowmobile accident, when she fell off her own and was run over by another snowmobile early in 2010.

The target behavior I have emitted a behavior of choosing to discuss is shooting a loaded gun. In this situation, the behavior of shooting a gun elicited a consequence of killing an individual. This consequence will result in decreasing the likelihood of the individual emitting the target behavior, because the consequence is aversive. This consequence elicits the removal of something, unfortunately, the removal of a friend’s life. The antecedent in this situation is people emitting a behavior of hunting deer.

A= hunting deer
B= shooting a loaded gun
C= killing a friend

This is an example of negative punishment because the consequence elicits the decrease in frequency of the target behavior. Unfortunately, in this situation extinction is involved because the behavior will be extinguished because the person emitting the target behavior is no longer capable of emitting the behavior.

Another target behavior I have chosen to emit a behavior of discussing is running over a person on a snowmobile. In this unfortunate situation, an individual emitted a behavior of accidentally running over another person, Jessica Bolognani, and killing her as a consequence. This consequence will elicit a decrease in the target behavior because the consequence is aversive. The consequence elicits the removal of something, unfortunately, the removal of a person’s life. The antecedent is people emitting a behavior of riding snowmobiles.

A= riding snowmobiles
B=running over a person on a snowmobile
C=killing a person

This is another example of negative punishment, because the consequence elicits a decrease in frequency of the target behavior. Sadly, extinction is probably involved in this example because the person will be apprehensive about riding a snowmobile again, due to the negative memory of killing a person while riding one. Thus, if the behavior of riding a snowmobile is decreased, then the behavior of running over a person while on one, will hopefully be extinguished, because the person will hopefully be more careful in the future, if they choose to emit a behavior of riding a snowmobile again.

Terms used: behavior, emitting, emitted, elicited, consequence, negative punishment, antecedent, target behavior, aversive, extinction, extinguished

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/28/vermont-man-kills-himself-after-fatally-shooting-friend-in-deer-hunting/

The weight and overall health of our children is a major concern for our country today. The article that I found that interested me was about how fighting childhood obesity should be less and individual mission for the child and more oriented around the family as a whole. The program is designed around a traffic light system to let the children know what they are eating red for the worst foods, green for healthy foods, and yellow for ok foods. This program allows kids to cut back on their junk food intake at a gradual rate making it less shocking for the child to change immediately. The idea of the program is to help develop healthy habits in kids now that they are able to use the rest of their lives.
1. The targeted behavior is to get the child live a healthier lifestyle through better eating habits.
2. Through the program the child keeps track of their diet and if they progress with the program the child’s eating habits should improve.
3. As the child follows the program their eating habits improve and their dependence on junk food is lessened.
4. The consequence is that junk food is removed for the benefit of the child’s health.
5. The antecedent to this would be a parent seeing their child struggling with their weight.

A. Parents realize their child has a weight problem.
B. The child eats too much unhealthy food.
C. Parents take the junk food away and the child lives a healthier life.

This treatment is a form of positive punishment. By taking away unhealthy food that the child may enjoy the parents are able to help their child live healthier.

1. Gabriel loves burritos which aren’t necessarily a healthy food.
2. Gabriel joins the program and keeps track of the food that he eats.
3. Gabriel through the program reduces his “red lights” from 90-30 food items per month.
4. By reducing the amount of unhealthy food Gabriel is able to live a more healthy life.
5. Gabriel’s parents realize he has a weight problem.

A. Gabriel’s parents notice that he has a weight problem.
B. Gabriel is a self-confessed burrito lover along with other unhealthy foods.
C. Parents enroll Gabriel into the health program and as a result he becomes healthier by eating healthier foods.
Once again the treatment is a form of positive punishment. Gabriel has his favorite foods taken away but because of this he is able to live a healthier life.

I chose to emit a reading behavior about a 5 year old kindergartener who was bound by his feet and hands, was arrested, charged, and taken to a mental hospital. The boy (Michael) is suffering from the disorder ADHD. Michael emitted an acting out behavior in class, did not listen, and distracted other students. The school thought it was necessary to bring in a “school police officer” to have a talk with Michael. The officer reported that after he touched Michaels hand during the conversation, Michael pushed him, pushed all the papers off the desk, and then kicked him in the knee. This story had now brought on a controversy asking “was this much?” and what other measures should, and can be emitted.

1)) One of the target behaviors being emitted in this article would be the 5 year old boy assaulting the officer. One of those target behaviors would be kicking the officer in the knee.
2)) The consequence to this behavior is that the boy get his hands and legs tied down, arrested, charged and is taken to a mental hospital
3)) this consequence is pretty aversive, and it would most likely decrease the behavior the boy emitted.
4)) The consequence of this behavior would remove something, as well as add something. The removal from this consequence would be that the boy is removed from the school, yet the addition to this consequence would be that Michael was charged, and taken to a mental hospital, which would both cost money (even thought the charge was eventually dropped).
5)) The antecedent would be the police officer meeting with the boy, and touching his hand.

A)) The police officer touching the boys hand
B)) The boy assaulting the police officer (pushing, and kicking)
C)) The boy being arrested, charged and put into a mental hospital

I would say that this is an example of negative punishment. The boy received something aversive after his actions; which means he will most likely not do those same things again, such as kick, and push the officer. The consequence he received elicits a decrease in the target behavior, which would make it a punishment.

There was also another story cited in this SAME article about an elementary student girl who was talking too much, so a paraprofessional in the classroom taped her mouth shut with clear tape, to prevent her from emitting a talking behavior.

1)) The target behavior would be placing clear tape over a young girls mouth
2)) The consequence of the behavior would be that the paraprofessional was put on leave
3)) The consequence will most likely decrease this target behavior, because something is being removed
4)) The consequence of this behavior would elicit a decrease of something, and in this case her job. The individual that taped the girl’s mouth shut was currently put on leave, which means she is currently unemployed, and this could also mean it is the removal of money or income considering his behavior she emitted could potentially mean a loss of her job.
5)) The antecedent would be in a classroom

A)) In a classroom
B)) Paraprofessional taping a young girls mouth shut
C)) Being put on leave

I would also say that this is an example of punishment, because the paraprofessional is getting something taken away. Eliciting this behavior put her on leave, which means she had the removal of her job, which also means she has a removal of money, and income, which could potentially elicit the removal of other things considering she will have less money (it could really go on and on..). Also, this could lead to extinction, because this leave could potentially turn into her being fired, which may mean she would lose her license, which means she can no longer teach.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/michael-davis-5-year-old-_n_1118963.html

BMOD Words: Aversive, consequence, elicit, emit, target behavior, behavior, removal punishment, negative, extinction, antecedent,

The article I found dealt with the issue of HIV in the United States. According to this article, the United States isn’t doing a good job of treating people with HIV, therefore Americans can expect to see many future cases of HIV in the future. However, If we treated HIV more efficiently, we would be likely to see a decrease in this epidemic. Another problem that is causing HIV to spread is that often times people are unaware that they even have this disease, so educating people about HIV is also crucial in stopping HIV from spreading.
1.) The target behavior is not treating HIV cases efficiently.
2.) The consequence is that HIV is still spreading.
3.) The consequence of HIV spreading will hopefully decrease the target behavior because HIV spreading is aversive.
4.) The consequence involves the addition of HIV viruses.
5.) The antecedent could be a number of things: poor research on treatments of HIV, laziness of doctors while administering treatment, etc.

A= Poor research on treatment of HIV
B= Not treating HIV cases efficiently
C= HIV spreads

This is an example of positive punishment because by increasing the spread of HIV, this will likely decrease the likelihood of people not treating HIV cases efficiently in the future.

1.) The target behavior is people coming in for treatment.
2.) The consequence of the target behavior is that HIV spreading will decrease.
3.) The consequence will increase the target behavior because we want to stop the spreading of HIV.
4.) The consequence involves the removal of HIV virus spreading.
5.) The antecedent is educating people about HIV and its symptoms.

A= educating people about HIV and its symptoms
B= people come in for treatment of HIV
C= HIV stops spreading

This is an example of positive reinforcement because by adding education, more people will come in for treatment.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/11/30/142942894/hiv-treatment-lags-in-u-s-guaranteeing-more-infections

The article that I chose to relate to class this week is about how the former CEO of Blackwater is threatening to sue a congresswoman who has been and continues to make degrading remarks about the military contracting company.
1) The target behavior that is being punished in this article is the negative comments about Blackwater by the congresswoman.
2) The consequence of these behaviors are the former CEO of the military contracting company threatening the sue the congresswoman because her comments are eliciting a negative response from the former CEO.
3) This consequence will more than likely decrease the emitting of the behavior because who would want to be sued? Usually using something like suing the person will stop the aversive behavior.
4) The consequence involves the addition of the threat to sue the congresswoman if the comments continue.
5) The antecedent in this case is Blackwater USA being tied to a shooting in 2007 that left 17 civilians dead.
ABC's:
A= Blackwater being tied to a shooting in 2007 that left 17 civilians dead
B= A congresswoman, who was a harsh critic of Blackwater ever since the incident, continues making "defamatory statements" about the military contracting company
C= The former CEO of Blackwater threatens to sue the congresswoman if the statements continued
This is an example of positive punishment because the congresswoman is being punished for her actions, and the punishment will more than likely cause her to stop emitting the behavior.

After reading further into the article, I found another behavior that could be applied.
1) The behavior that is being punished here is the actual shooting incident in 2007 that Blackwater was tied to.
2) The consequence of the behavior was the Iraqi government refusing to renew the firm's operation license, as well as The State Department refusing to renew their contract with the company in 2009.
3) The consequence here will definitely stop the behavior from happening, because the company has lost support in many ways. I think this is an eye opener to show them that they need to be more careful.
4) This consequence involves the removal of the firm's operating license as well as their contract with The State Department.
5) The antecedent here is Blackwater being a main military contractor in Iraq.
ABC's:
A= Blackwater being a main military contractor in Iraq
B= Blackwater becoming tied to the 2007 shooting that left 17 civilians dead
C= Iraq refusing to renew Blackwater's operation license as well as The State Department refusing to renew their contract with the firm in 2009.
This is another case of positive punishment because Blackwater is being punished for the shooting, and something like that is bound to not happen again with their firm because they lost a lot of confidence and support from very important people and places.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/30/jan-schakowsky-blackwater-erik-prince_n_1121142.html

Terms: target behavior, aversive, elicit, emit, positive punishment, consequence

I emitted the behavior of reading an article regarding body image and how positive or negative thinking causes individuals to emit certain responses that eventually become habitual. Many individuals are displeased with their appearance, and think negative thoughts about themselves. The negative thoughts elicit a negative response such as eating junk food. According to the article, overtime, the neurons in the brain will wire together and form neural networks. Once these neural networks are established, habits are formed. The article suggests that one should think positive thoughts and emit positive behaviors in order to form a better body image. The target behavior discussed in the article is thinking negatively about oneself. The consequence of the target behavior is emitting negative responses such as eating junk food. The consequence will increase the frequency of the negative thinking because the aversive, negative response will make the individual’s body image worse. The consequence involves the addition of a negative response. The antecedent is a person having a poor body image.
A- Negative body image
B- Individual thinks negatively
C- Emits negative (aversive) responses (e.g. eating junk food)
This is an example of positive reinforcement because it involves the addition of a negative response such as eating junk food, which will increase the frequency of negative thoughts.
The article states that being emotionally aware of your feelings which will encourage you to think positively and engage in healthier responses. The target behavior is to think positively. The consequence of this behavior is engaging in healthier responses such as going on a jog. The consequence will increase the frequency of the target behavior because engaging in healthy activities will elicit positive feelings about one’s body image. The consequence involves the addition of healthier or positive responses. The antecedent is being aware of your feelings.
A- Being emotionally aware of feelings
B- Thinking positively about self
C- Emitting positive, healthier responses
This is an example of positive reinforcement because it involves the addition of healthier responses which will increase the frequency of positive feelings or thoughts. This is also an example of DRO or differential reinforcement of other. The article encourages DRO in order to improve body image. Instead of emitting negative thoughts and responses, the article encourages emitting positive thoughts and responses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-liddy-ma-pcc-cpcc/better-body-image-story_b_1119205.html
Words used: Aversive, positive reinforcement, emit, elicit, differential reinforcement of other, antecedent, target behavior, consequence

I read an article about a woman, Heather Mayo who had emitted the behavior of calling the police to have her boyfriend removed from her house. The elicited response was their arrival on the scene. The boyfriend then proceeded to emit the behavior of showing the cops the vehicle in which she had driven and had borrowed on the night of an unsolved hit-and-run, the victim had died. Heather was then arrested and interrogated and finally admitted to the crime she had committed. She was charged with leaving the scene of the crash and driving while intoxicated.

1) The target behavior was Heather calling the cops.
2) The consequence of the behavior was the arrival of the cops.
3) The consequence will increase the likelihood of this behavior occurring again because the response she had hoped for was elicited.
4) The consequence involves the addition of something, the police.
5) The antecedent was the boyfriend being in Heather’s home.

A: The presence of Heather’s boyfriend in her home.
B: Heather calling the police.
C: The police arriving on the scene.

This is an example of positive reinforcement because the response elicited was initially the response she had hoped for and it is positive because it involved the addition of the police. However, I am going to assume that extinction has occurred because of the consequence of the behavior which will be talked about next.

1) Heather’s boyfriend emitting the behavior of showing the police the vehicle which had been involved in an unsolved hit-and-run accident which had happened prior to these events.
2) The consequence of this behavior is Heather’s arrest.
3) The consequence will likely increase the likelihood of this behavior being emitted again (as I assume this was the response he expected).
4) The consequence involves the removal of something, Heather’s presence.
5) The antecedent is the presence of the police (to pick up Heather’s boyfriend).

A: The police at Heather’s house (which were there to pick up Heather’s boyfriend).
B: Heather’s boyfriend showing the police the vehicle which was involved in an unsolved hit-and-run.
C: Heather being arrested.

This is an example of negative reinforcement as it involved the removal of Heather from the picture. I assume that this was reinforcement for the boyfriend because I do not think that he would have emitted the behavior of showing the police the car had he not wanted the elicited response of her being taken away.

I read an article on Huffington Post that addressed an uprising issue across London restaurants and food establishments. In this particular article, it discusses a restaurant that has recently started enforcing a 'baby tax' for bringing your young children out to eat. The mother was initially outraged by the extra $5 that was added to her bill. This restaurant claims that this 'tax' is enforced when toddlers eat, but just not as much as children. The behavior I am particularly examining is the restaurant adding a extra tax fee for parents with young children/toddlers. However, I (and many others) believe that restaurants have started incorporating this tax as a way to discourage parents from bringing the children. Therefore, the consequence of this behavior is parents bringing their children out to eat less frequently. In this case, the behavior involves the addition of something, which is the 'baby tax'. Finally, the antecedent seems to stem from a number of reasons or possibilities. I think that the main antecedent is how children in restaurants require extra care and attention. They're messy, they're loud, they're rowdy... From my personal experiences of working in the restaurant business, I can say that taking care of small children while waiting tables is a hassle and requires extra cleaning and attention.

A = The extra care, cleaning, and attention children require when at a restaurant.
B = Restaurant enforces a 'baby tax' when parents bring their children out to eat with them.
C = Parents less likely to bring their children out to eat, or may be more cautious of children's activities while out in public.

This is an example of positive punishment, because it involves the addition of the new tax, while discouraging parents to bring children to restaurants.

Another behavior I observed within this story was at the end. A mother spoke out about how she thinks the tax is reasonable. She was thinking on the same lines as I was earlier by saying that children are a hassle and definitely require extra attention. I believe the consequence of this behavior the mother emitted is that more mothers and fathers will understand and grasp the concept of this extra fee. When you see other parents rationalizing (instead of being biased to their "perfect" children), it's easier to understand and be content with this tax. I think the consequences of this mother speaking out about this issue will increase the likelihood of parents obeying this tax and bringing to realization how their children can become an "inconvenience" to restaurants. The consequence involves the addition of the mother's words. Without them, I think that parents would continue to pretend their kids are perfect and never cause a ruckus while eating out. The antecedent to this behavior must be the mother's own experiences with restaurants and children. I think we have all see or witnessed the wrath of kids when they come to restaurants... It's sometimes as if they'd eaten ten pounds of sugar before dinner, then end up running around the restaurant for 30 minutes without eating a single thing. It's frustrating to witness, and that is why this mother chose to support this 'baby tax'.

A = Seeing first-hand how children disrupt restaurants.
B = Women with children of her own speaks out and agrees with the new tax.
C = More parents will start to see the reasons why they added the tax and spend less time fighting it.

This behavior is an example of positive punishment because it involved the addition of an aversive stimulus, which is the mother speaking out against outraged parents, and this stimulus will, in turn, decrease the frequency of upset parents.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/london-restaurant-baby-tax_n_1119609.html?ref=parents

The article that I chose to read was titled “Coffee shop caffeine levels ‘vary’ widely” by Eleanor Bradford from the Scotland Health Correspondent. The article talks about high street coffee shops posing a risk to pregnant women because of the large variations in the amount of caffeine in each cup. Researchers found that of 20 shops, one was six times stronger than the others. Too much caffeine can result in miscarriage or a low birth weight. It’s such a risk for pregnant women because they metabolize caffeine much more slowly. The FSA currently advises pregnant women to consume no more than 200mg of caffeine a day. The analysis done showed the amount of caffeine ranged from 50mg per cup from Starbucks, up to over 300mg per cup from another coffee house, Patisserie Francoise.
1) The target behavior is pregnant women emitting the behavior of drinking more than 200mg of coffee a day.
2) The consequence of a pregnant woman drinking too much caffeine can cause risk of miscarriage or a low birth rate.
3) This is a very serious consequence that will definitely decrease the behavior of pregnant woman drinking more than the recommend amount of caffeine per day.
4) The consequence involves the removal of emitting the behavior of drinking caffeine.
5) The antecedent is a pregnant woman drinking going to a coffee shop.

A= Pregnant woman going to a coffee shop
B= Pregnant woman drinking more than 200mg of caffeine in a day causing potential pregnancy risks
C= The decrease of the behavior of drinking more than 200mg of caffeine a day
This example would be considered negative punishment because the consumption of caffeine is being taken away from the pregnant woman. If the woman found drinking more than 200mg of caffeine a day pleasurable, this is negative punishment because we are taking away something that they enjoy doing so we can decrease the frequency of the undesired behavior.

Second target behavior:

1) The next target behavior is the behavior of coffee shops like Patisserie Francoise putting a lot of caffeine in their drinks.
2) The consequence of this behavior is losing customers that are expecting.
3) Losing customers of any sort should cause a decrease in the behavior of adding caffeine to their coffee drinks.
4) The consequence involves the removal of certain coffee shops adding too much caffeine to their drinks.
5) The antecedent in this case would be an employee making a coffee drink in a coffee house such as Patisserie Francoise.

A= An employee at Patisserie Francoise making an espresso
B= The employee emits the behavior of adding more than 200mg. of caffeine in the drink
C= Pregnant women will not drink the espresso and will not do business with this coffee shop

This is an example of negative punishment for the coffee shop. The coffee shop is losing business as punishment for making their drinks too caffeinated, which is aversive to pregnant women. There will be a decrease in the behaviors of having pregnant women do business with them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15968515

Terms Used: negative punishment, emitting, behavior, target behavior, antecedent, consequence, decrease, and aversive.

The article I found of interest and decided to emit the behavior of reading was about an Afghanistan woman who was raped and she along with her attacker was sentenced to jail time. However as long as the woman agreed to marry him they would both be cleared of the charges and allowed to be freed from prison.

1) The target behavior I am focusing on for this example is the behavior of the man raping his young female relative. This behavior is being reinforced.

2) The consequence of the behavior of the man raping his female relative was him gaining her as a second wife.

3) I think that the consequence will increase the behavior of the man raping women because as long as the women agree to marry him he does not have to do anymore prison time. It makes it appear as if this behavior is okay.

4) The consequence involves the addition of the woman becoming the man’s second wife.

5) The antecedent would be being in Afghanistan because if this behavior would have happened in the United States the consequence would be very different.

A= In Afghanistan
B= Man rapes female relative
C= she becomes his wife

I would say that this would be an example of positive reinforcement because I feel like the behavior of the man raping his female relative is being rewarded or reinforced by him gaining her as a second wife.
______________________
1) The target behavior that I am addressing at this time is the behavior of the young women being raped by her male relative.

2) The consequence of the behavior of the women being raped by a male relative is that the woman was sentenced to prison time for “committing adultery”.

3) The consequence will decrease the behavior of the women “emitting the behavior of adultery” because she is in prison and is not able to be attacked. (still doesn’t make sense to me how she emitted adultery when she was the one who was raped)

4) The consequence involves the removal of the young women’s rights which I find horrible since she was the one that was attacked and she is the victim, but I guess that is how things work in Afghanistan.

5) The antecedent again for this example would be being in Afghanistan because if this behavior would have happened in the United States the consequence would be very different.

A= In Afghanistan
B= Women is raped by a male relative
C= goes to prison for adultery

I would say that this is an example of negative punishment because her rights are being taken away in order to decrease the behavior of her emitting the behavior of adultery.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/01/143006173/afghan-rape-victim-pardoned-after-agreeing-to-marry-her-attacker

The article I read discusses “human inertia.” The author compares asteroids to humans; they are on a path in their life that they cannot seemingly get away from. He believes that the forces that are pushing us forward in our lives are too great to diverge from with just one simple decision. He says that we must add new forces to our lives that have more power than the ones that are currently choosing our direction.
1) A target behavior in this article is having a job we don’t like.
2) The consequence of having a job that we do not like is that we are unhappy with the rest of our lives and have a feeling of loneliness.
3) This consequence should decrease the behavior of keeping a job we don’t like.
4) The consequence adds negative feelings.
5) The antecedent, according to the author, is a combination of many factors. He believes that as a child, you are set in motion down a certain track in life and you do not have control over where it takes you (unless you make an extremely drastic change.)
A= Many and all events of your life.
B=Having a job you do not like.
C=Feeling lonely and depressed.
This is a form of positive punishment, the addition of negative feelings acts as a punishment for having a job you do not like. This behavior includes extinction, if you take away the job, then you can take away the consequence of negative feelings, which can act as a reinforcer for quitting your job. Satiation can also be a factor in not liking your job. If you are there more than you wish than you can get overwhelmed and dislike being there just for the fact that you can’t do what you really wish to be doing.
1) The second behavior I decided to analyze is changing our life direction.
2) The consequence of changing our life direction by some large force is that we are experiencing more happiness from our lives.
3) This consequence should increase the likely hood of making more life changing decisions
4) The consequence adds positive feelings to person who alters their life path
5) The antecedents to this behavior are feeling unsatisfied with your life, resulting in the change.

A= feeling unhappy
B=making a life altering decision
C=positive feelings

This is an example of positive reinforcement. The behavior of making a change is reinforced by the addition of happiness. Satiation is in use here, the person is satiated with being unsatisfied which results in their life changing move.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/asteroids-law-human-inertia_b_1116917.html?ref=healthy-living.

The article I choose to emit the behavior of writing about was about two people who fell in love after meeting in a Black Friday sale line. They emitting the behavior of going to a Target sale on Black Friday and elicited a response of talking to each other while in line. Three years later they are now happily engaged. The target behavior here is the boy engaging in casual conversation with the girl while standing in line. The consequence of this behavior is that the boy gets the girl’s number so that he could talk to her again. The consequence could increase the target behavior because the boy could figure that if he talks to girls while he is in line then he will always get a girl’s number (however if the boy ends up marrying this girl then I’m pretty sure he’s not going to continue to talk to girls in Black Friday lines, but you never know.) Although, I suppose the girl giving the boy her number could increase the behavior in that the boy will end up talking to the girl again. The consequence involves the addition of something, that something being the girl’s number. The antecedent is both the boy and the girl waiting next to each other in the Black Friday line at Target
A=both girl and boy waiting in line for Black Friday sales
B= Boy talks to girl
C= Girl gives boy her number.
This would be a form of positive reinforcement because it is increasing the likelihood of the behavior by the addition of something. The likelihood of the boy talking to the girl again or talking to a girl while in line again is increased by the addition of a pleasant stimulus of the girl giving him her number. I think you could also say that the whole day of Black Friday could be a discriminative stimulus because it is setting the occasion for the behavior to occur. Without Black Friday they wouldn’t have been waiting in line and never would have met.
The second target behavior would be that the girl texts the boy the next day. The consequence of this behavior is that the boy and the girl start a relationship and eventually get engaged. I suppose the consequence would increase the target behavior seeing as if you are in a relationship with someone you are probably going to want to text that person. The consequence involves the addition of something, the something being a relationship. The antecedent is that the boy and girl exchange numbers while waiting in line.
A= Boy and Girl exchange numbers waiting in line
B= Girl texts the boy the next day
C= Boy and girl start relationship and eventually get engaged
This would be another example of positive reinforcement because the addition of the boy and girl starting a relationship increases the chances of the pleasant stimulus of texting each other occurring.
Terms: Target behavior, antecedent, consequences, behavior, positive reinforcement, pleasant stimulus, discriminative stimulus, emit, elicit
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45401358/ns/today-holiday_guide/

This assignment elicited me to read an article from the Huffington Post about a mother who is sentenced to life for first degree murder. Her boyfriends aversive attitude to become closer in their relationship, lead Sharon Hinojosa to emit a fire starting behavior in her home, killing her two kids that didn't belong to her boyfriend.

1. The target behavior is Sharon killing her children.
2. The consequence is her receiving a life sentence.
3. This consequence will decrease the frequency of her committing the same crime because she will stay in prison for the rest of her life.
4. The consequence involves the removal of an aversive behavior.
5. The antecedent is being closer to her boyfriend.

A) Boyfriend wants Sharon to be closer to him
B) Sharon kills her two children
C) Sharon earns a life sentence

This is an example of positive punishment. Sharon's crime is justified by receiving a logical punishment. This involves extinction, because locking her up for life means she won't get the chance to kill her other child.

1. Another target behavior is Sharon going to prison.
2. The consequence of this is that she will never live a normal life again.
3. This consequnce will decrease the frequency of the behavior.
4. The consequence involes the removal of freedom in living an every day life.
5. The antecedent is her killing her children.

A) Sharon kills her kids
B) Sharon receives life sentence in prison
C) Sharon will never live a free life again

I believe this emits an example of positive punishment. Mothers reading this article will see the aversive consequences of Sharon's actions and will hopefully reinforce a loving behavior instead of despiteful.

TERMS: elicit, aversive, emit, behavior, target behavior, consequence, antecedent, positive punishment, extinction and reinforce.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/01/sharon-hinojosa-sentenced-to-life_n_1122762.html?ref=crime&ir=Crime

The article I read is about a 12 year old boy who has been put through many foster homes throughout his life, while being misdiagnosed on several medications. The target behavior of this article is misdiagnosing the child for ADHD and being bipolar. The consequence of this behavior is that the boy felt irritable, had stomachaches, lost his appetite, and would act up in school and at home. The consequence of the boy acting up and feeling irritable will decrease the behavior of the doctors misdiagnosing him again. This consequence adds the addition of the boy’s uncomfortable symptoms. The antecedent is the boy having tantrums as a child, so he was put on medications. However, these medications were not suitable for him.
A= tantrums as a child
B= put on medication (misdiagnosing)
C= boy feels irritable and acts up more
This is an example of positive punishment because it involves the addition of the boy feeling uncomfortable and upset. This will involve the extinction of doctors misdiagnosing patients (hopefully).

The next target behavior is the child being taken off the wrong medications and being put on the right ones. The consequence of this is that the boy was able to think clearer and improved his behavior and performance in school and at home. The consequence of this will increase the likelihood of this behavior happening. This consequence adds the addition of the child’s positive behavior and emotional stableness. The antecedent is the child being misdiagnosed for having ADHD and being bipolar.
A= misdiagnosed
B= child is taken off wrong medications, put on right ones
C= child is much happier, improved behavior
This is an example of positive reinforcement because the child is better able to focus and function by adding the right medication to his system. This will involve the extinction of the child’s previous aversive symptoms and behaviors. He is now less likely to act up, and also be less likely to feel uncomfortable.

The article I read was about animals whose behaviors are thought to predict earthquakes. This happens because the animals sense a change in the chemicals found in the groundwater in their habitats. The animals this article focuses on are reptiles and amphibians. The most successful of these animals were L'Aquila toads.
1) The target behavior emitted by the toads was fleeing their habitat when they sensed the chemical change in the groundwater
2) The consequence of the behavior was the toads surviving.
3) The consequence of surviving will increase the the behavior of fleeing in the presence of the chemical change stimuli.
4) The consequence involves the addition of survival and a longer lifespan.
5) The antecedent is the chemical changes in the groundwater.
A = Chemical changes in the groundwater
B = Toads flee their habitat
C = Toads survive the oncoming earthquake
This is an example of positive reinforcement because it involves the addition of something pleasurable, in this case the addition of more time to their lifespan and in biological terms, more chances to successfully reproduce and pass on genes. I would say that survival would probably be the most important primary reinforcer. The neutral stimuli of a chemical is negatively associated with an oncoming earthquake. Therefore, the chemical change becomes as discriminative stimuli, warning of an aversive event, in this case an earthquake. This stimuli elicits a fleeing response in the toads in order to survive.

The second behavior I decided to speak about was the behavior of the scientist studying these toads.
1) The target behavior is studying L'Aquila toads.
2) The consequence of the behavior is finding results that could be beneficial in the future for predicting earthquakes or just being successful in short.
3) The consequence of having initial success will increase the behavior of researching.
4) The consequence includes the addition of success and additional data.
5) The antecedent is studying earthquake predictors.

A = Studying earthquake predictors
B = Research L'Aquila toads
C = Successfully collect data
This is an example of positive reinforcement because the addition of something pleasurable, in this case success and data, would cause the target behavior of doing research to increase.

Terms - target behavior, consequence, antecedent, emit, elicit, stimuli, discriminative stimulus, pleasurable, aversive, primary reinforcer

The first article I examined is one that looked at the US military handing over one of the largest military camp in Iraq over to Iraqi forces. This highlights another sign that the US is serious about pulling out of Iraq and allowing them to govern themselves.
The target behavior is phasing control over to Iraqis, namely handing over Camp Victory.
The consequence of this behavior is that the US has less control in Iraq and the Iraqis have more self-determined control in their country and everyday lives.
This will increase the amount of responsibility that Iraq has over its own future.
This target behavior involves the addition of control of Camp Victory to the Iraqis.
The antecedent of this behavior was the mandate that the United States has made. They will continue to draw down troops and to continually hand over control to the Iraqi people.
A=U.S. mandate handing over more and more control to Iraqis
B=Iraqi forces are given control of Camp Victory
C=Iraqis are now more self-determined
This is an example of positive reinforcement. The United States government continually rewards the new Iraqi government with additional responsibilities and freedoms as they become more stable. However, at the same time the popular opinion here in the US is that we need to be out of Iraq, therefore, we have set a time table that forces us to emit certain behaviors at certain times to show progress of getting out of there. The Iraqis are given more and more ability to be self-determined and a sovereign country. This behavior will continually increase because the government has to stick to its deadline and because the Iraqis are becoming more and more stable.
The second article I examined spoke of Syria and the anti-government protests and the backlash of the government. The government has killed hundreds if not thousands of protestors since the Arab Spring revolutions began. This went largely unnoticed because of strict censorship in the country. However, several components of Syria’s army have defected to the rebel’s side because they refuse to fight against civilians. Thus, a civil war may result as a consequence of these actions.
The target behavior here is parts of the army defecting to fight with the rebels against the oppressive government.
The possible consequences would be they could be executed for treason. However, with the government in shambles there is unlikely to be any MP to dish out punishments. Therefore, the more possible consequence is that they can now help protect the protestors. Their reward is a clean conscious because they do not have to kill innocents.
This is likely to increase the behavior with which this happens, i.e. more and more soldiers will defect. Once this trend starts it will be difficult to reverse.
The reinforcer involves removing any guilt they may feel fighting civilians. This would be an example of negative reinforcement.
The antecedent for this event is that soldiers were ordered to hold off, kill, and attack civilians.
A=Being ordered to attack civilians
B= Defecting from the army to assist the civilians
C=A clean conscience
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16000087
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9647000/9647572.stm

For my news article, I chose a piece about the new Coca-Cola cans. Every holiday Coca-Cola changes the look of their cans. This year they are partnering with the World Wildlife Fund to highlight the threat to polar bears’ Arctic habitat by global warming. In order to do this, they changed the regular Coca-Cola cans to white with polar bears on it. The Diet Coke cans are still silver with snowflakes on them; however, people are having many problems because the cans look so similar. Some people are upset, some are confused, some think that messing with the red cans borders on sacrilege, and some even think that regular Coke tastes different in the white cans versus in the regular red cans. Because of the change, people who drink Diet Coke regularly have been accidentally drinking regular Coke at places that sell it by the can. In stores, the packages of Coke are still in red boxes, so that is not as much of a problem. The company now says they will be distributing the traditional red cans with polar bears on them and expects that there will be no white cans in circulation by February, the end of the campaign.

1. The target behavior emitted is Coca-Cola changing the color of regular Coke cans to white instead of red.
2. The consequence is that people are upset, confused, and angry.
3. Responding negatively will decrease the frequency of Coca-Cola changing the regular Coke cans to white instead of red. Since people are emitting anger, Coca-Cola will learn from it and decrease the likelihood that next holiday they will alter the color of the regular Coke cans.
4. The consequence of people emitting anger is the addition of an aversive feeling.
5. The antecedent is the holiday season.

A= The holiday season
B= Coca-Cola changing the color of the regular Coke cans white instead of red
C= Consumers becoming angry, confused, and upset

This could either be reinforcement or punishment; however, since I worded the target behavior the way I did, it is an example of positive punishment. The ADDITION of anger by the consumers will DECREASE the likelihood that Coca-Cola will change the regular Coke to white cans again. Since the company wants consumers to buy their products, when they emit anger it is received as an aversive consequence. Therefore, it is less likely that next year Coca-Cola will emit changing the regular Coke to any other color than red. They also were no longer receiving reinforcement by customers buying their product, so they experienced extinction burst. They emitted variability in their behaviors to try to elicit customers to remain with them. They emitted posting information on their website stating how the Coke and Diet Coke cans were still different, they talked to customers, and although I did not see it, they probably had some sort of announcement about the campaign to show customers why they were doing it. Since they were not being reinforced, they emitted the second target behavior I discuss.

1. The second target behavior is Coca-Cola distributing the original regular Coke red cans before the end of this year’s campaign.
2. The consequence is that consumers will no longer be angry, confused, and upset.
3. The consequence will increase the frequency of Coca-Cola distributing the traditional red Coke cans. Emitting distribution of the traditional red Coke cans will elicit consumers to no longer be angry.
4. The consequence involves the removal of anger by the consumers.
5. The antecedent is consumers emitting anger over Coke can color change.

A= Consumers angry over Coke can color change.
B= Coca-Cola distributing the regular red Coke cans this year.
C= Consumers are no longer angry.

This is an example of negative reinforcement. The REMOVAL of the aversive reaction of consumer anger serves as a reinforcer to INCREASE Coca-Cola switching the white Coke cans back to red. Since Coca-Cola wants to make their customers happy, they realized that the only way to eliminate the anger would be to emit a color change back to the original cans that everyone is familiar with.

There was an interesting component of the story that had to do with something we learned. A customer had mentioned that the regular Coke in the white cans tasted different than those in the regular red cans. This would be an example of superstitious behavior. It may have tasted different, but was most likely not even caused by the can color change. I know sometimes my Diet Coke cans taste funny, but it was just coincidence that theirs was in the white cans. They will now associate the white cans with off-tasting Coke; therefore, they will be less likely to buy Coke when it is in the white cans. All-in-all, I thought this was actually a pretty good article to exemplify different concepts from class.

Terms used: target behavior, elicit, emit, emitted, consequence, emitting, aversive, antecedent, reinforcement, punishment, positive punishment, extinction burst, reinforced, negative reinforcement, reinforcer, variability, superstitious behavior, associate

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204012004577070521211375302.html

I emitted a reading behavior of an article entitled “Black Friday or Green Monday... Holiday Shoppers Ride the Rainbow”. I find it very interesting that most retailers make most of their money in such a short time period (from October to December in most cases, depending on the industry of course).

1) Target behavior: Getting shoppers to elicit a buying behavior not only on Black Friday but also during the following week as well online.

2) The consequence of the behavior (shopping on Cyber Monday as well as the whole week following black Friday) is free shipping on goods purchased.

3) The consequence will increase the behavior. We all ready know that shopping online has increased over the past years; retailers want you to buy more during this peak time so their inventories go down and they will reward you with free shipping on your items.

4) The consequence involves the removal of shipping fees.

5) Shopping during cyber week.

A-Cyber week
B- Shopping online during cyber week
C- Free shipping if you buy products during cyber week

I believe this is an example of positive reinforcement. If you purchase items during a specific period, you are benefiting by getting free shipping. You could argue that this is a conditioning technique, retailers want shoppers to buy products way before the holidays so by the time the holidays do roll around they will have depleted inventories.

1) Target behavior: Wanting shoppers to emit a buying behavior on Black Friday.

2) The consequence of the behavior is good deals for the shopper.

3) The consequence should increase a buying behavior, but with scales of economies that is sometime hard to say. If people do not have discretionary income, they may not shop at all, and that includes Black Friday.

4) The consequence involves the increase of sale items available for the holiday season.

5) Shopping on Black Friday.

A-Black Friday
B-Shopping the sale items
C-Discounted items that could be purchased as gifts of for personal consumption.

Again, I believe this is an example of positive reinforcement. Retailers know that they will make plenty of money over the holiday season. Black Friday is the kickoff for the shopping season. The retailers are reward the consumers with specially priced merchandise to entice them to come to their stores and purchase products.

Terms: positive reinforcement, reward, elicit, emit, consequence, behavior, cost benefit, antecedent,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joah-spearman/black-friday-or-green-mon_b_1142579.html