Problem:
Behaviorist/Social Learning: Operant conditioning and contingencies: His calm caregiving appears to be shaped and maintained by reinforcement. Positive reinforcement (kids' affection, smoother mornings, your appreciation) and negative reinforcement (staying calm quickly reduces tantrums and household stress) make "calm-then-coach" his default response. At times, delaying difficult talks is reinforced by short-term relief, which can inadvertently maintain avoidance in adult conflict. Stimulus control, generalization, and discrimination: Specific cues-morning/bedtime routines, children's bids for attention-reliably evoke playful soothing and structure. This strong stimulus control explains why his patience generalizes in predictable family routines but may discriminate out (be less likely) in novel, high-stakes disagreements lacking those cues. Observational learning and vicarious reinforcement (Bandura): He models regulated, playful problem-solving that the children imitate (roaring, laughing, settling). If he observed harmony-valuing models growing up, seeing those behaviors "work" for respected others likely built expectancies that calm responses lead to positive outcomes. Self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism: Repeated success in soothing the kids builds high parenting self-efficacy, which increases persistence in these strategies. The environment (calmer children, appreciative partner) then feeds back to strengthen the behavior-a classic person-behavior-environment. Need Assignment Help?