Behavioral Approaches to Learning: Instrumental Conditioning

          Classroom management will always be the most important way a teacher maximizes instructional time, limits time spent addressing behavior problems, and creates a flow of the classroom.  Behavior management is one part of managing the entire classroom to reach these goals.  As a school, within my own classroom, and even on an individualized basis, I utilize instrumental conditioning to keep my students behavior in-check.  Instrumental conditioning is the belief that “humans and nonhuman animals alike tend to behave in ways that bring them desirable consequences or enable them to avoid unpleasant ones” (Ormrod, 48).  More specifically, the behavioral theory linked to behavior management is B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, in which “a response that is followed by a reinforcer is strengthened and therefore more likely to occur again” (Ormrod, 50).

           The school that I work in incorporates a program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).  This program clarifies expectations of behavior for multiple areas of the school and offers a reward system for positive behavior at a Tier I level.  The plan must include a tangible reward, which at my school is the YES ticket.  When a student demonstrates one of our three school rules (respect Yourself, Everyone, and the School), they get a YES ticket.  These YES tickets then lead to desirable consequences, including monthly school-wide rewards.  The purpose of the YES ticket is based on Operant Conditioning: to immediately reinforce positive behavior and cause the behavior to more likely occur again (Ormrod, 50, 52).

            Within my own classroom, I utilize instrumental conditioning as part of my classroom management.  I utilize the “Stoplight System,” in which both positive and negative reinforcers are incorporated.  If students consistently behave and remain on a “green light,” then they receive the positive reinforcers.  If a student receives one warning and they are moved to a “yellow light,” then they lose recess.  While Ormrod lists this as an ineffective punishment, I find it to be effective when used rarely and not with students who demonstrate the need for movement breaks.  Ormrod does agree that “in some situations missing recess may be a logical consequence for students who fail to complete their schoolwork during regular class time due to off-task behavior” (Ormrod, 62).  If a student is moved to a “red light,” their recess time is lost and they must complete a reflection sheet on their behavior, which must be signed by a parent and returned the next day.

            Lastly, on an individualized basis, I have implemented Token Economy behavior plans.  Students who demonstrate a need for a Tier II or Tier III behavior plan are often placed on a behavior chart, in which tokens are counted and can later be traded in for backup reinforcers.  The Token Economy for individuals includes: a set of rules, token reinforcers, backup reinforcers, and a “store” at which backup reinforcers can be “purchased” (Ormrod, 98). 

            In general, these three different scenarios of instrumental conditioning are purposeful for their given audiences.