02/04/2020
As parents negative behaviors become (and often demand!) the focus of our attention...while it is important to provide consequences and discipline for disruptive behaviors, we often miss opportunities for attending to the positive, smaller, less disruptive behaviors. A lot of my work involves behavioral shaping, helping parents and kids shift away from negative to more adaptive behaviors. And behavior (good or bad!) feeds on attention. The more we attend, the more a behavior is reinforced and the more likely it is to occur again in the future. This is a great study illustrating how shifting focus toward positive behaviors (even for the small stuff!) can help shape more productive, successful and happy kids. 😀
The number of times a teacher compliments or recognizes a student’s good behavior, compared to how often the teacher reprimands the student, the more likely that student is going to stay focused on the task at hand.