Patricia Nicole Tio

Handling Dennis the menace

Every Sunday, it has been our family custom to go to church
together. And the church is the place where I chose to conduct my
research. By relation to our topics, I have used the research
method of direct observation specifically, in Filipino
psychology, pagmamasid and pakapa-kapa. Now, you would be
assuming that I didnt listen to the priests sermon because I
was so preoccupied with my probing. I was multitasking. So far,
this is how my observation went.
The family that piqued my interest was sitting three benches
in front of us. It was composed only of a mother and a little boy
and after some time they were joined by a father. The little boy
was the one that had captured my attention. He was about 8 years
old. He was fat and wore a naughty smirk on his face. He actually
reminded me of Dennis the Menace that I actually nicknamed him
that. Anyway as I stared at him longer, I could see that he was
bored and he was moving around a lot that it was actually
bothering the lady sitting beside them because the lady kept
glancing his way. His mom seemed to be oblivious of his
behaviors. It was as if she could not see her sons annoying
rackets. Here, somehow her mom tried to use extinction towards
his behavior by ignoring it.
The boy seemed to notice that her mom was ignoring him so he
shifted into another activity. There was also a little boy
sitting across their bench. The boy behaved well and pleasant but
he kept glancing at Dennis. After a while, Dennis noticed the boy
looking at him too. Dennis looked at the boy and raised his fist
into a fighting stance. He was then antagonizing the boy. He
would make silly faces at him and even stuck his tongue out while
the religious ceremonies were being held. The boy would just
stare at as if amused and not annoyed or angry. This made Dennis
more aggressive. He started to really get the attention of the
people around him because he was now making loud noises that her
mother finally paid him some attention. Her mother used operant
conditioning to control her sons behavior. Now, the use of
reinforcers is what differs. She used negative and positive
reinforcers.

But At first, I also detected a little of classical

conditioning too because the boy showed a stimulus
generalization. Every time her mother would look at him pointedly
or poke his arm or even kick his shoes lightly just to get his
attention, he would produce the same response. He would wince and
stay still for awhile. Eventually when his mothers attention
would shift again to the mass, Dennis would again start his
naughty rackets.
This time his mother used another method which the operant
conditioning. Her mother wanted him to behave well as a response
so she gave him candies which are positive reinforcements. This
actually worked because for some time Dennis was behaving quite
well so he can get more candies. Eventually though he got tired
of them and started to get all hyperactive again. This time his
mother didnt use any reinforce anymore instead she used
punishment to decrease Dennis naughty behaviors. She actually
pinched him hard in the arm that his face distorted painfully.
This seemed to be the most effective solution because Dennis
didnt do anything mischievous for a long time. Even if he tried
again to act rude, his mother would again pinch him hard. After
that his father came shortly. This actually put the boy in more
agony as if another parent means another punishment.
It was amazing when I recognized their behaviors and relate
it with psychology. It was as if I was a shrink. I dont actually
agree with punishments because it could cause more aggressive
behaviors but in the boys case it was what was most effective.
He actually shut up and put his head down. I guess, in their case
that is how you handle a Dennis the Menace.