Operant Conditioning Project: Due 12/14

The Scenario: United States of North America Flag: The year is 2051. You are now a prominent behavioral psychologist. The United States of North America (Yes, we took over Mexico and Canada) is in the sixth year of our war with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, we are losing and troop morale is at an all-time low. You have just been contacted by President Trump (now a cyborg with Trump’s brain) and he has asked you to create a new training/discipline program using operant conditioning to improve training results and improve morale. United States of North America Flag:

The Job: Since you will be creating a plan that involves tens of thousands of people, instead of individuals like you are used to, you must use a wide variety of operants, punishments, and reinforcement schedules to accomplish your goal. This will be the most difficult task of your lifetime. Remember, these are soldiers, they require incredible amounts of discipline. They are also people, so they will also respond to many types of stimuli.

Step 1: Goals What will be your goals for this training routine??? Remember that you are trying to get soldiers to be more successful in warfare, but you are not focusing on soldiering, you are focusing on behaviorism You must list and explain (in detail) at least 5 goals that you are trying to accomplish with this program.

Step 2: Positive Reinforcers What will you use to reinforce the behaviors that you wish to see in the troops. Obviously, you will not be able to know or evaluate all of the tens of thousands of soldiers that will go through your program, so you will need to pick solid positive reinforcers. List 5 positive reinforcers you will use and explain (in detail) why each might motivate a soldier to exhibit the behaviors you are looking for.

Step 3: Negative Reinforcers What will you use to reinforce the behaviors that you wish to see in the troops. Obviously, you will not be able to know or evaluate all of the tens of thousands of soldiers that will go through your program, so you will need to pick solid negative reinforcers. List 5 negative reinforcers you will use and explain (in detail) why each might motivate a soldier to exhibit the behaviors you are looking for.

Step 4: Positive Punishments Not all soldiers will meet the goals that you have for them If they fail the program, will this lead to their death in battle? Some will die for sure, but shouldn’t we keep that number as small as possible? List 5 positive punishments you will use with the soldiers and for each, explain (in depth) what you will do to punish soldiers who fail to live up to expectations

Step 5: Negative Punishments Not all soldiers will meet the goals that you have for them If they fail the program, will this lead to their death in battle? Some will die for sure, but shouldn’t we keep that number as small as possible? List 5 negative punishments you will use with the soldiers and for each, explain (in depth) what you will do to punish soldiers who fail to live up to expectations

Step 6: Reinforcement Schedules The troops must be prepared To do this, you must have some sort of reinforcement schedule. Describe (in depth) what kind of schedule you will use to help the troops learn their best.