Aim of the Assignment:

The aim of this assignment is to apply the information covered in lectures 1 and 2 about the role of incentives and disincentives to explain at least some of the motivation for a specific behavior you have observed in any area of your life.

Task

• Provide a brief introduction and overview of the behavior that you are focusing on, including the context.
• Outline the pertinent theory behind incentive motivation. For this assignment, the pertinent theory to be used is operant conditioning, where incentives and disincentives are viewed as anticipated reinforcers or anticipated punishers, respectively. Specifically, define positive and negative reinforcement as well as positive and negative punishment by paraphrasing material from Murphy & Lupfer.
• Apply the theory to the behavior and context you outlined in part 1. That is, explain the role that incentives and disincentives have had on initiating, maintaining, and perpetuating the behavior and context outlined in part 1.