Educational Psychology / Unit 13 EDP 1238 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Choosing a Consequence by Function
The idea
Choosing a consequence starts with the function of the misbehavior, found by an ABC analysis. If attention maintains it, withdraw the attention, which is extinction, and a time-out from classmates' attention can work. If escape from a task maintains it, removal from the task rewards the behavior, so block the escape, make the task finishable and reinforce each step. Punishment remains a last resort: loss of privileges, restitution that repairs damage, and positive practice of the correct behavior.
In practice
Worked example: one student hums to make classmates laugh; the class is asked not to respond and a brief time-out removes the audience, so the humming falls. Another tears up worksheets whenever fractions begin; being sent out rewards that, so the teacher breaks fractions into short steps, keeps the student in the room and praises each finished step.
Where people slip
Time-out is for behavior maintained by attention, never for behavior maintained by escape. Judge a consequence by what it does to the behavior, not by what it was meant to do.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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