French involvement in the American invasion of 1775
...ties on a daily calendar. For the period of approximately two weeks the participant recorded when the desired behaviour of study occurred naturally. The participant then recorded on a daily calendar the occurrence of the desired behaviour for four weeks with the use of operant conditioning principles as an intervention to gradually increase the amount of time studied. It was expected that the participant would observe and benefit from an increase in the desired study behaviour. Method Participant(s) The participant for this study was a male, approximately 18 years of age, and was a Douglas College psychology 100 student who participated in this study for course credit. For two weeks, he participant was asked to record base line data of his study behaviour as it occurred naturally, then was asked to record his behaviour with a four week intervention, using key techniques and principles of Operant Conditioning. The participant, during the four-week Operant-conditioning 5 intervention was asked to record the number of minutes studied each day, for each week. The participant agreed and signed a consent form. (see appendix A). Materials The participant was asked to use a pencil and daily records calendar to record his daily behaviours, as they occurred naturally for two weeks. After the two-week period, he was then asked to record his daily behaviour and his study behaviour while using the principles of operant conditioning to increase his study behaviour. After each day, if the required behaviour occurred, the participant was given a token in which he could redeem for ‘free’ time. The principles of operant conditioning used were continuous, positive reinforcement by using tokens to gain personal time, tokens, a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule as every time the desired behaviour occurred the participant received a token, and shaping, the use of operant conditioning to modify and enhance the desired behaviour. The participant used Myers 6th edition psychology textbook to study from. Procedure The participant was asked to record his behaviour every day for two weeks. This would provide a controlled variable in which to compare the experimental variable. After two weeks, the participant was then introduced to principles of operant conditioning (ex: positive and potent reinforcement and a reinforcement schedule.). For four weeks, he recorded his daily behaviour and for every time the desired minutes of daily study behaviour was achieved, he received a token. Each token granted to the participant could be redeemed for one hour of personal time. Each week the number of desired study minutes increased. At the end of each week, if all desired study minutes from Monday through Sunday exclusive were achieved, the participant was Operant-Conditioning 6 allowed to purchase two new CDs. If the desired study minutes were not achieved for each week, Monday through Sunday exclusive, the participant was denied the purchase of two CDs. For two weeks the participant collected base line data. In week one of the intervention period the participant was required to study for a minimum of 45 minutes per day, per week. In the second week the participant was required to study for a minimum of 75 minutes per day, per week, then for 125 minutes per day, per week in week three. Finally, the participant was required to study for a minimum of 150 minutes per day, per week. If all of the desired minutes of study was accomplished, at the end of each day the participant received a token in which he could redeem for free minutes of personal time. At the end of each week, if all minutes of study were accomplished, the participant was allowed to purchase two new CDs as a reward. At the end of each week the participant recorded his results on a table, which he could then compare to the required results for that week. At the end of the four week intervention all six weeks of data was collected for the purpose of a compare and contrast table to show the behaviour achieved by the participant, and the predicted, desired behaviour defined by the experiment. (see appendix B) Results The effectiveness of operant conditioning principles during the four-week intervention period was assessed by comparing the experimental intervention data with the two-weeks of base line data. As anticipated, the participant’s study behaviour gradually and steadily increased during the intervention period. Operant-Conditioning 7 As the figure 1 demonstrates, the amount of time in minutes in which the participant studied was average. During the four weeks of intervention however, the participant’s behaviour steadily increased. As table one indicates, during the four weeks of intervention the participants study behaviour increased, and as shown in weeks four and five, surpassed the desired target. Discussion The results of this study demonstrate that the use of operant conditioning principles, such as...