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Reading 4: Read this paragraph and then answer the next five…
Reading 4: Read this paragraph and then answer the next five questions (16-20). Suppose a mother and father want to teach their child polite table manners. They might try to do this by punishing the child’s impolite manners, but several problems might develop in this situation. First of all, punishment often produces negative emotional reactions such as anger or fear. These reactions might lead to other unwanted behaviors at the dinner table or even elsewhere. Secondly, according to the theory of classical conditioning, anything present during the punishment might tend to produce the negative reaction. The parents certainly would not want themselves to become a stimulus for negative emotions. Another problem would be that the parents’ use of punishment might inadvertently teach the child to use punishment to control the behavior of other people. Children certainly learn by observing their parents, so this would be a real danger. Finally, even if the punishment was effective, the child might simply avoid the bad manners that were punished, but might not develop good manners. Thus, Skinner and some other psychologists recommended rewarding good behavior at the dinner table, instead of punishing bad behavior. In their view, kind words of praise would encourage the development of good manners that would eventually push out the bad manners
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