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The Identify the behaviours that are of concern in the chosen case study
Behavior plan
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Identify the behaviours that are of concern in the chosen case study
Daniels case while quite severe is not an isolated one. As a young boy, there are quite a number of behaviours that are bound to raise a lot of concern from parents and teachers or other concerned parties. Aged thirteen years old, Daniel can be disruptive in the classroom shouting out as the lessons are ongoing. Daniel is also said to be rude even to those older than him or adults not to mention his disobedience as far as getting on with his work is concerned. Consequently, Daniel is not in good terms with some teachers. Daniel’s aggressive behaviour is exhibited by his action of throwing a chair in the classroom during an English lesson possibly due to his dislike for the English teacher with whom he is particularly not in good terms.
Daniel is also unable to accept his mistakes and therefore when he is punished he takes to self-harm where he hits the wall with his fist in anger consequently creating a hole in the wall. He has also been involved in bullying other boys in the same year as him not to mention his involvement in a number of fights in this year. Daniel has also engaged in truancy and has been brushing with the law after being caught hanging out late into the night.
Behaviorist theory
Daniel’s behaviour can be explained using the behaviourist theory. This theory was established in the early 20th century by an American psychologist called John B Watson who is credited with coming up with the word behaviourism (Abbott, 2003). His view was influenced by a research of a Russian psychologist called Ivan P. Pavlov earlier on while B. F. Skinner introduced a more popular version of the theory in 1959. All these behaviourists have recognised conditioning as the general learning process. Essentially, there are two types of conditioning with each of them coming with a varied behavioural pattern. These are the classical conditioning and the operant or instrumental conditioning (Elizabeth, 2000).
Ivan Pavlov initially described the classical conditioning in 1903 where he used dogs and foods in order to look at the dogs’ salivary response. Prior to serving the food, he would ring a bell. Initially, he dogs only salivated when the food was served. With time however, they had identified the ringing of the bell with food and therefore they would salivate even when they had not been served with food as long as the bell was rang. In this case, the classical conditioning paired bell (conditioned stimulus) with food (unconditioned stimulus) (Elizabeth, 2000). In this case, after occurring in pair repeatedly, conditioned stimulus would acquire the ability to produce salivation (conditioned response) even when used alone.
John B Watson customised this theory to the human behaviour believing that they a few inborn reflexes as well as emotional reactions involving rage and love. Any other behaviour would be established via stimulus-response relations through conditioning (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2011). In this case he used a young boy named Albert and white rat. Initially, the young boy was not afraid of the white rat. However, Watson would create a loud noise abruptly every time the boy touched the white rat. Consequently, Albert became afraid of the rat, he would actually avoid it. The same case applied to other minute animals. Later on, Watson eliminated this fear by bringing the rat devoid of loud noise.
Operant or instrumental conditioning builds on the fundamental stimulus-response model by Watson. In this conditioning type, Skinner came up with a more all-inclusive view based on the fact that a valuable language behaviour is made up of situations or correct stimuli producing a particular response or behaviour. He insinuates that when responses are followed by reinforcers in terms of rewards, then such behaviours would be occurring again. In this case, Skinner used operant conditioning to outline how consequences of particular behaviours influence occurrence of that behaviour in the future. The basic ideas of instrumental conditioning are punishment and reinforcement.
Skinner outlined that behaviour can be explained in relation to its consequences. He insinuates that behaviour would be consistent in varied situations since it would be maintained by the same consequences in those situations. The behaviour would only change when its consequences are altered or modified. Operant as a term underlines the fact that the organisms would learn by how they respond to the particular environment. Skinner pointed out that positive and negative reinforcement would affect an individual’s behaviour in relation to its being avoided or repeated. Outcomes of particular operant or response patterns determine the likelihood that the individual will perform a similar response in the future. When positively reinforced, an individual would be likely to do it again. Operant conditioning relates to learning to undertaking similar responses over and over again to favourable consequences and stimulus.
Outline of the plan to support the child’s behaviour
While Daniel has mostly been depicted as a largely undisciplined child, it would be important to acknowledge that he has some positive attributes. He is described as a quiet pupil who has always done well in school. This is irrespective of the fact that his older brother and father who should be role models are not positive influences on him.
While it is apparent that his negative behaviour has been punished in many ways, there has been no indication that at one time he has been rewarded for doing well in school. His liking for drama and being good in Information technology and maths have therefore gone more or less unrewarded. According to the Behaviourist theory, lack of reinforcement would in one way or shape behaviour. When an individual is not acknowledged for his or her behaviour, he or she would be likely to substitute that behaviour with another one up to such a time when reinforcement is availed.
Daniel’s behaviour would be explained in relation to its consequences. It would be consistent in different situations since similar consequences are maintained in those situations. Given that an individual’s behaviour is a response to the environment, it would be important to look at Daniel’s father and brother as influences.
In this case, dealing with the delinquent behaviour demands that the teachers and the child’s mother adopt a comprehensive strategy to reward Daniel every time he has done well in class. In addition, his participation in drama where he is particularly good in expressing feelings should be rewarded. This conditions Daniel to respond to class work positively while also engaging in the creative arts thereby limiting his urge to engage in truancy or even staying out late into the night. In addition, given his talent in expressing feelings in drama, the reinforcement of such behaviour would shape his ability to express his feelings positively rather than by engaging in behaviour that would not be reinforced.
Achievement
Negative reinforcements and punishment has been unsuccessful in influencing Daniel to change behaviour. However, rewarding his positive attributes or performances would give him an incentive to do that action again in the future.
Limitations
While these efforts are bound to initiate a particular sequence where Daniel responds in a particular manner to specific situations, it is important to acknowledge that he is of a particular personality and therefore there is no guarantee that reinforcement will conjure a sequence or trend where he responds in a specific manner. Moreover, this strategy treats Daniel as a passive human being without thought and only influenced by what happens in school and home. In any case, different people will react differently to a particular situation. However, there are other influences like the society in which he is living and therefore unless such factors are brought on board, the strategy would be ineffective.
Cognitive psychologists also understand that inner thoughts as well as hypothetical scenarios created by human beings in their consciousness and minds underline the fact that they definitely are not as a result of negative and positive reinforcement but rather free will.
References
Abbott, B. (2003). Behavioural theory explained. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Billy, T. and Bonny, M. (2001). Introductory Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Anchor.
Charles, A. E. (2004). The Uses and Limitations of Behaviorism in Sociology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Elizabeth, G. (2000). Behavioral Theory. New York: Springer.
John, J. (1999). Effective behavioural plans. Ringwood: Penguin.
Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011). Behaviorism at Learning-Theories.com. Available at: HYPERLINK “http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html” http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html (Accessed: 16 October 2011)
The Ideals of the cult of True Womanhood
The Ideals of the cult of True Womanhood
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In the 19th century, American women participated in moral reform movements. Historians through Brown and Welters articles seek to apprehend if the women who participated in the reform movements did so as a religious duty or as a vehicle into the public sphere. The moral reformists sought to identify the moral guidance of women in their daily actions. In the 19th century, many feminists came up to fight for the troubles of women in the society. While some viewed the pious role of women as a religious duty, some used it as a vehicle to the public sphere.According to Brown, God called women from the ordinary sphere of action to assume positions of high public responsibility. Piety was considered a virtue for every woman in society1. Piety defined the real meaning of womanhood in the American society. During this epoch, women’s roles were considered customarily, mainly enforced by the cultural assumptions of domesticity. Women were therefore encouraged to participate in the vast publishing of religious texts since it kept them pure. Of the reformists, Palmer, acknowledged the religious fact that God called women but was opposed to the political suffrage of women and clerical ordination for the reason that these roles pushed women outside their domestic sphere. Some individuals like Elizabeth Prentiss became moral reformists as a vehicle into the public sphere. She believed that it was not her religious obligation to write religious books since it did not define her profession. Palmer a social reformist states that many women used religion as a blanket to cover up their political and ecclesiastical ideals since they were afraid of coming out to fulfill their political reveries. The emphasis on piety as a virtue for true womanhood only acted as a tool through which women pursued their political ambitions but remained disguised in religion.
In her manuscript, the Cult of True Womanhood, Barbara Welter identifies the customary role of women in society. In this article, women were urged to remain pure in all their actions not only for the religion but also as a societal value. In the book, the Young Lady’s Book, a woman is required to possess certain characteristics such as a spirit of obedience and submission humility of mind and pliability to temper between her cradles her and grave. The cult of true womanhood dictated that true women be moral guidance to their family. They believed that they were appropriate for that role because they were spiritually pure and hence closer to God.
The women remained pure since they stayed away from the degrading political environment of the outside world, which could ruin their innocence. Moral purity could not withstand the callousness of a world dominated by unreserved competition of the free enterprise classification.In her point of view, Welter saw the cult as offering a fine illustration of the way in which a certain phenomenon can interact with its environment, reinforce itself, and redefine itself. In true womanhood, no female is too young or too old to accept instructions from the literature that glorified the True Woman. The churches and courts reinforced the women’s puniness by dwelling on moral purity though, the women claimed that moral superiority as a legitimate platform for reforms was ironical since it took them outside the home by awarding them a public influence in matters of civic virtue and public vice2.Therefore, the stance made the cult aggressive, oppressive, and less able to restrict women in their homes. Very few women lived up to the tenets of the cult of true womanhood. Only the newly forming middle class tried to keep its women at home to perform the duties of true womanhood which were so many and very venerated that many women could not put up to them. With time, most of the women went beyond their homes especially the lowly who worked in plantations.The idea of the cult of True Womanhood was just a myth. Following the events of this period, women came out as reformists and it became difficult for them to keep off the political sphere. Women wanted men to recognize that their customarily role in homes was underrated and hence used moral reform movements as a tool to accomplish their political goals2.From the readings of Barbara and Brown, full accomplishment of moral reforms was not fully accomplished since its tenet of piety could not be limited to homes. In the male dominated society, women reformists performed their religious duty of ensuring that morality prevailed at all spheres. Women had a public voice that allowed them to participate in activities beyond their homes. A naysayer would strongly object that women participated in moral reform movements as a conduit into the public political sphere.The responsibility of women earlier than and throughout the 19th century had its jurisdiction to the home. In the religious sphere, women were expected to uphold piousness since God had appointed them due to their purity. Their participation in moral reforms could be considered as their religious duty towards morality.
BibliographyBrown, Candy Gunther. “Publicizing Domestic Piety: The women Cultural Work of Religious Texts in the Woman’s construction Library.” Jstor (Libraries & Culture) 41, no. 1 (Winter2006 2006): 35-54.Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood.” American Quarterly (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 18, no. 2 (1820): 151-174.
The Ideal Person
The Ideal Person
Confucius taught several things, but one of the most fundamental thing of them all entails what constitutes an ideal person. According to the Confucius philosophies, an ideal person is a person of good moral character. This was believed as the foundation for the other beliefs of Confucius. Confucius also believed that an ideal person must also have profound respect for worship and sincere respect for his father and rulers. According to Confucius, becoming a servant first is a vital element that teaches a person how to comply and follow orders. This was the reason why he emphasized on obeying rulers and parents (Chong, 2007). Besides, an ideal person is supposed to think for himself under the guidance of distinct rules of conduct according to Confucius. Under the concept of an ideal person, there are several concepts that emerge, which entail ren, li, shu, xiao, and wen concepts.
Ren, in Confucian philosophy, describes the aspects that can be utilized in defining a being as ‘fully human’. Therefore, ren signifies the characteristics of goodness, benevolence, consideration, and empathy. These characteristics are believed to permit a person to be civilized and cultured. According to the concept of ren, individuals should posses proper behavior always. The vitality of the concept of ren is seen in the ‘Five relationships’, which act as the pivot of the Confucian ideology. The relationships include associations held amid ruler and minister, son and father, friend and friend, husband and wife, and elder and younger brothers (Chong, 2007). Ren is only cultivated when these associations are present. The concept of ren directly ties in with the belief of the Confucian.
The li concept is a Confucius virtue that constitutes the morals or etiquette with which a person can interact with aspects of the world extending from individuals and nature to material objects. Li constitutes two meanings; the first is the concrete guide to individual associations or principles of proper actions, which embody ren. On the other hand, the second meaning is the general ordering of life.
The concept of shu entails accommodating each other. According to the shu concept, individuals should be in a position to accommodate others, when they become offended. The concept can be interpreted to mean forgiveness (Chong, 2007). According to the concept, individuals should not impose on other individuals what can bring harm to them or feel difficult about; it also means that incase one is harmed by others, he should forgive. This constitutes benevolence, which is a part of ren.
In Confucianism, the xiao concept relates to the attitude of devotion, obedience, and care towards the elder family members and one’s parents, which constitutes the basis of social harmony and individual moral conduct (Chong, 2007). Xiao puts the needs of parents and elder family members over self, children, and spouse, deferring to the judgment of parents and observing towards them the recommended behavioral proprieties. It is a basis of ren that emphasizes family harmony and stability in the sociopolitical environment.
The concept of wen entails the respect for art for the sake of art and society as well. The concept emerged as Confucius observed that powerful nations extensively cultivate their arts and intellectual endeavors. Growth in knowledge leads to a growth in a country; this made Confucius to base the esteem of a country via the beauty of its art and respective intellect of philosophers.
References
Chong, K.-C. (2007). Early Confucian ethics: Concepts and arguments. Chicago, Ill. [u.a.: Open Court.