QUESTIONS
Jonathan Greco: School Probation Officer
1. For the most part, Jonathan believes that his perceived lack of success was due to a number of factors such as an extremely high caseload, lack of adequate training, and the large number of parents who do not seem interested enough in their children, and who did not trust him. He felt there were limits to what he could do to help his clients because he could not affect the reasons for his limited success, and the factors in his non-success never seemed to change. Answer the following questions about Jonathan’s attributions for his non-success.
a. Is Jonathan making an internal or external attribution for his non-success? Explain your answer.
b. Is Jonathan making a controllable or uncontrollable attribution for his non-success? Explain your answer.
c. Is Jonathan’s making a stable or unstable attribution for his non-success? Explain your answer.
2. Jonathan’s boss believes that that there are just some people who have the ability to be good probation officers, and some who do not; a lot of these abilities cannot be learned. What view of ability, incremental or entity, does his Boss have for the ability to be a good probation officer?
3. Jonathan started worrying that his supervisor might start to see him as one of those who did not have it. Because of this, Jonathon became reluctant to share his concerns and non-successes with his boss. Also, because he had input into case assignments, he started assigning cases to himself that were more likely to be successful. What type of goal orientation(s) is Jonathan showing (e.g. learning or performance)?
Patricia Ramirez: School Counselor
1. Why might the mentors be seen as examples of coping models?
2. B. F. Skinner, a famous behaviorist, suggests that effective instruction should be specific about what it is trying to teach, teaches first things first is a logical sequence, and should not require students to all progress at the same rate. How are these ideas built into the on-line credit recovery system?
3. How are the information-processing ideas of automaticity and metacogntive regulation reflected in the adult literacy program?
4. How are the social cognitive ideas of self-reinforcement, self-monitoring, and goal setting incorporated into Patricia Ramirez’s groups?
Fred Monroe: Student
1. Fred said that in the beginning he attended school primarily to avoid going to jail. After a few months, things started to change a little for him. He still wanted to avoid jail, but he found there were things at the program he liked. For example, he liked that the staff seemed to care about him and paid attention to him.
a. How is Fred’s continued attendance at school being maintained by positive reinforcement?
b. How has Fred’s continued attendance at school been maintained by negative reinforcement?
2. Why would Gus’ bet with Fred be an example of the use of shaping?
3. Why is Gus’ little spelling trick an example of elaboration?
4. Fred says that he often does not think he can finish school. He wants to finish it so he can get a better job, but he is not sure he can do it. Is Fred’s concern about finishing school a result primarily of self-efficacy or his outcome expectations?
5. How is Ms. Ramirez using vicarious learning with Fred?