Behavior Principles in Everyday Life

This book comprehensively introduces the major psychological principles of behavior: operant conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, social learning theory, and cognitive behaviorism. It closely links these basic abstract principles to relevant, concrete examples from everyday life—showing readers how each behavior principle operates in easily understood settings, and how to apply them in complex natural situations. Chapter topics cover behavior modification; primary and secondary reinforcers and punishers; differential reinforcement and shaping; modeling and observational learning; prompts and fading; rules; schedules; positive and negative control; and thinking, the self, and self-control. For individuals making the transition from adolescence into the various phases of adulthood—seeking a better understanding of their life, and ways to make it more positive.