Good Example Of On The Folly Of Rewarding A, While Hoping For B Essay

Kerr’s main idea is that while often there are behaviors we want to change in ourselves or others, but behavior change is difficult and usually involves behavior that has gotten us something we wanted or valued in the past. Since a behavior that is positively rewarded increases this means that either a more salient reward or a negative consequence of some type would have to be used following the behavior in order to alter the behavior in the other direction. No one ever says, “Oh I’m so good at keeping my weight under control, I want to change that behavior and become a glutton.” We behave in the way we do because of the consequences that come after it. If we do something and something good happens even if it coincidental, that behavior will be more likely to occur again in the future.
If we are used to doing something and the reward that used to occur is suddenly no longer there, the most likely thing to happen is we act in a more extreme manner in an effort to gain back our reward. Sometimes the behaviors that become instilled within us are not positive ones but they are maintained by the reward that comes afterwards. Even though, the behavior is the opposite one of what we want to do or what we want others to do it is much easier to stick with what we are used to. This makes it very difficult to change behavior whether in ourselves or others.
One situation I’ve observed that fits Kerr’s main idea occurred when I went to visit my cousins. They had a six month old baby who they had kept in their bed until about a week before I went to visit, and they began putting her in a crib in her own room. This was their first child, and they were both very hesitant to let the baby cry believing that it would teach her that she couldn’t rely on others to meet her needs. During the day, her mother generally carried the baby on her hip everywhere she went no matter what she was doing. From the way they talked about it, even though I didn’t know yet what happened at night, I knew the parents were at least as upset by this new development as the child.
The first night I was awoken by a series of short, loud cries which stopped quickly, so I was able to go back to sleep. In the morning my cousin said she hoped the baby hadn’t woken me, they’d tried to get her quickly so she’d stop crying. After asking a lot of questions, it became clear that they were trying to get the baby to sleep through the night on her own without needing them to go in and pick her up every few minutes. I could tell my cousins were exhausted. They said they had been told by their pediatrician to ignore the crying until she went to sleep. They said they had tried, and some nights were better than other but they couldn’t go longer that 23 minutes – their personal best- letting her cry before both went in and cuddled and cooed to her. I asked what happened on the night they went 23 minutes. They said they were doing okay, but she just get crying harder and harder until they couldn’t take it anymore. As soon as the baby saw them she calmed down and was fine. I said they should still try to work through their plan even though I was there, and they did.
That night the short cries were followed by long cries. I went to my doorway to see what my cousins would do. Minute six – short cries turned into a continuous cry, my cousins had begun to pace. Minute twelve – continuous cry turns to wailing, my cousins are wringing their hands. Minute twenty the shrieks begin and my cousins are off to comfort their child. She calms immediately. Night after night this happens with some nights being better than others. Their new record is 28 minutes and tonight they are planning to break it. Unfortunately, the baby has other plans. After the wailing stage, she already has utilized the “cry so hard you can’t breath then stop crying suddenly only to begin again with a banshee like scream.” I can’t wait to see if she develops a new trick tonight if the make it to the 30 minute mark. They almost do until a series of bangs sounds from the babies room. Asking each other what that could be, horror suddenly dawns on them, and they rush into the nursery and the baby soothes immediately. Head banging, a definite parent grabber.
The two theories of motivation that most strongly explain this behavior are the instinct theory and the incentive theory. The instinct theory states we do so because we are programmed to do so based on their helping us survive. The baby was acting in a way to reassure herself her caregivers were still there despite her being left along at night. The parents were using the incentive theory which says we do things because of external rewards. The baby cried, and the crying got her the attention of her parents. Whenever, it seemed like they were beginning to not respond her crying got worse until she began banging her head.
The parents wanted their child to sleep through the night and not get the up frequently. However, the behavior they were reinforcing was the babies crying. Whenever they increased the amount of time, they didn’t respond the worse the babies behavior became. I think that the baby was trying to determine just how hard to cry in order to get her parents attention. If I were to suggest a solution to the problem, I would likely get them to reverse the contingency and start attending to the baby all the time when she was awake and was doing something they liked. Then at night as hard as it is I’d get them not to go in to get the baby except maybe just to check on her once or twice to let her know they were there.