Applying Behavioral Principles to Social Situations

Look at the following social problems as a behaviorist would. Suggest behavioral solutions for each.

1.Traffic!

The problem of traffic gridlock in American cities continues to increase. Campaigns to encourage people to share a ride or take the bus have not been very successful. In one large city, commuters entering the city must cross one of several bridges to get to the area where office buildings and factories are concentrated. How could behavior modification be used to reduce the traffic congestion in the city? It is teaching people different behaviors and changes by making them take the transit bus or the subway or carpool in the hov lane to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

Some people see it as a form of control trying to force people to ride these transportations instead of their own vehicles to try and reduce the traffice congestion in the city.

2.The Homework Puzzle.

An article published in The New York Times reported the results of a large-scale study on the benefits of homework for elementary school children.

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The study showed that the lowest-achieving children spent more time with homework than children with better grades. How can the longer time spent by the low-achieving children be explained? Why aren’t the children who spent more time with homework the ones who are making better grades? The children that are spending more time on their homework is the ones that are struggling and have to work twice as hard as the other children that the work comes easy for them.

The children that are spending hours on homework usually are the kids that have an IEP or in specialized classes. They are not making better grades than the other kids because they struggle in school and its sad to me to see them work harder and longer because its almost like a punishment to them because they struggle all day in school anyways. I think a solution for these children should be indiviualized assignments for these children and less homework or maybe not so hard homework for these children so as not to overwhelm them so they dont want to give up or stress them out.