The Chocolate That Keeps the Tantrum Going
Rina, four years old, lives with her parents near Sambalpur. On weekly market trips she began asking for a toy; when her mother said no, she screamed, sat on the floor and cried. Her mother, embarrassed by the crowd, bought her a chocolate to quieten her. The pattern has now repeated for six weeks: Rina screams at the entrance of almost every shop, and lately at home whenever her mother puts on her dupatta to go out. Once her mother tried ignoring the screaming; after seven minutes in a crowded market she gave in and bought the chocolate. Rina stopped crying the moment the chocolate appeared. Her mother says she feels a wave of relief each time the crying stops, while her father calls Rina 'spoiled' and wants to scold her. A neighbour advises the mother to 'just be strict for one day'.
1. Using operant conditioning, identify who is being reinforced, by what, and why Rina's tantrums have become more frequent. Name the discriminative stimuli and explain why scolding is likely to fail.
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Two contingencies are running at once. For Rina, screaming is followed by chocolate. Chocolate is added after the behaviour, so this is positive reinforcement, and the tantrum is strengthened. For the mother, screaming is followed by giving chocolate, and the screaming stops. Removing an aversive event is negative reinforcement, so the mother's giving-in is strengthened too. Advice aimed only at the child misses half the contingency.
Discriminative stimuli signal when the behaviour pays: the shop entrance and, at home, the dupatta. Crying therefore starts before the market is even reached, which is stimulus control, not a mysterious change in character.
Scolding is likely to fail because it (a) supplies attention, which can itself reinforce, (b) leaves the chocolate contingency intact, and (c) raises the emotional intensity that the mother then escapes by giving in. The seven-minute delay followed by chocolate is intermittent reinforcement, which slows extinction and makes the tantrum more persistent. The behaviour is functional for both people, so any plan must change both sets of consequences.
2. The mother's single attempt at ignoring the tantrum failed. Explain why this outcome was predictable, and outline a realistic plan for the weekly market trip.
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Why it failed: extinction is not a quiet process. When reinforcement stops, behaviour typically shows an extinction burst-more intense crying, sometimes hitting-and the mother met that burst by giving in. That is worse than never trying, because it teaches Rina that a long, intense tantrum eventually works (partial reinforcement). Spontaneous recovery and inconsistency between parents have the same effect. The attempt also failed because it was done in the hardest setting, a crowded market, with no alternative behaviour taught.
A realistic plan:
- Change the antecedent first: for two weeks, shop without Rina or go at a quiet time; tell her beforehand what will happen.
- Teach and reinforce an alternative: 'If you ask with words, you may choose one small thing.' Praise the first calm request immediately.
- When a tantrum starts, use planned ignoring only if she is safe, keep it brief, and do not deliver the chocolate after the crying stops.
- Keep the father and neighbour using the same rule; inconsistency restarts the learning.
- Never ignore genuine distress or danger; the target is the tantrum, not the child's feelings.
- Expect an extinction burst and plan the response in advance.
3. How can classical conditioning account for crying at the sight of the dupatta, and what does this add to the operant account?
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Classical conditioning: the dupatta, or the mother's preparation to leave, has repeatedly been paired with departure and with the mother's own tension. Through repeated pairing, the dupatta becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned emotional response-crying, clinging, distress-before any chocolate appears. Generalisation spreads this to shop entrances and to the sound of keys.
What this adds: the operant account explains why the tantrum persists; the classical account explains why it starts so quickly and why reasoning ('we are only going to the market') does not undo it. Emotional conditioning is fast and not erased by a single lecture.
Practical implications: change the antecedent-short, predictable goodbyes, a clear return time, a calm routine, and gradual practice of brief separations-rather than relying on argument or punishment. It also explains why scolding can increase arousal and make the conditioned response stronger. Both accounts together justify a plan that alters the cue, the consequence and the mother's own reaction.