Question

Jerome is a student in your classroom for whom the only effective reinforcer is something to eat, such as candy. You would like Jerome to find your praise reinforcing as well. From a behaviorist perspective, your best strategy would be which one of the following?

Answer 1

Answer:

Give him candy every time you praise him.

Explanation:

The behavioral perspective says that we should make the person associate conducts with each other using things the person actually likes.

In this case, we already know that the only effective reinforcer for him is something to eat, such as candy. If you'd like that he finds your praise reinforcing too, you'd have to make him associate these two things. (the candy and the praising).

Therefore, from a behavioral perspective, the best strategy would be to pair these conducts by giving him candy every time you praise him. This way he will have a good feeling about it and eventually he will only need the praising to act as reinforcement.