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Running head: FINAL ASSIGNMENT 1

Psychology Applied to Learning Final Assignment

Jonathan Greco: School Probation Officer


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Jonathan Greco has been a juvenile probation officer for five years. He initially got into the field

because he wanted to help children. Each year, however, it got harder to identify any successes,

and he felt like he was failing the children. For the most part, Jonathan believes that

his perceived lack of success was due to a number of factors such as an extremely high case load,

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. His boss tried to help, but he seemed to believe 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. Jonathan starting 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,

started assigning cases to himself that were more likely to be successful. Eventually, this

bothered him because he was often assigning the toughest cases to the least experienced officers.

He knew something had to change so when the new school-based probation program began, he

volunteered. It was a good move for him. Since taking on this job, he has found renewed

excitement and enthusiasm. His clients are more likely to see him as trying to help them, and he

is surprised at how much he enjoys going onto classrooms to talk to students as part of the

prevention effort in this program.

Patricia Ramirez: School Counselor


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Patricia Ramirez is the school counselor at Roosevelt High School who is assigned to the in-

school probation program. Like so many school counselors, this is just one of several roles she

serves. For example, in addition to this program, she is the counselor assigned to the 300

sophomores in the school and she coordinates a mentoring program that connects at risk students

in the school with college student mentors who are graduates of Roosevelt High School. One of

the requirements of the in-school probation program is that the students must be enrolled in

school and attending regularly. However, many of these students have been in and

out of school, and when they were in school long enough to earn grades, they tended to earn Ds

and Fs. Historically, even though school attendance is often mandated as a condition of

probation, the students on probation were not given much support. Many of them just quit

coming to school. Patricia has made it her responsibility to try to reverse this trend by providing

these support services for the students.

1. She has assigned mentors to the students in the program. These mentors come from the same

neighborhoods as the students and have faced many of the same challenges, including legal

difficulties. The hope is that they can show the students in the program that this type of success

is possible and what they did in order to succeed. These mentors meet with students individually

and in groups to just talk, and the mentors are also available to provide some tutoring.

2. Roosevelt High School is a member of a consortium that provides an on-line system for credit

recovery. The on-line credit recovery system offers course work in a self-paced, individualized

manner. The lessons are organized around specific objectives that are presented in a highly

sequential manner, with frequent opportunities for students to respond and get feedback.
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Students are allowed to work through lessons, and when they feel prepared, they can take exams.

If they pass a lesson exam, they go not the next

lesson. If they do not pass the exam, there is on-line tutoring for the students. When the feel

ready, they can be retested with an alternative form of the test.

3. Patricia has closely monitored students progress in this credit recovery system and she has

found that it does not work if students do not read at the sixth grade level or higher. Because so

many of these students read below the sixth grade level, Patricia has helped create an on-site

adult literacy component for the credit recovery process. The literacy program uses trained

volunteers and is supported by grant money and donations. The program targets reading fluency

and comprehension strategies for the most part. So many of the students struggle so much with

decoding, that they have difficulty understanding what they read. To help with this, the adult

literacy program works with the students to make decoding less of a conscious and labor

intensive activity. In terms of comprehension strategies, the adult literacy program puts emphasis

on teaching students

how to monitor their comprehension and what to do to fix it if their comprehension fails. the goal

is to make them more independent, self-regulated readers.

4. These students have so many personal and social issues that Patricia wishes she had time to do

more individual counseling. However, it is just not possible with everything she does. She has

been able to start a group or two each semester. She has focused so far on students who are

getting close to graduation. She wants to work with them on being reasonable about what they

want to accomplish in the short-term. She also wants to teach the students how to make better

choices, and how to be their own support system. Others may try to bring them down or take
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little notice of their efforts to do well. The students need to encourage and praise themselves for

their efforts.

5.

Fred Monroe: Student Fred Monroe was put on probation for drinking and driving under age and

flight to avoid arrest. Part of the conditions of his probation is that he attend school regularly at

Roosevelt High School. Fred had dropped out initially after his sophomore year. He has been in

the in-school probation program for one semester. 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. He

particularly liked his mentor Gus and his counselor Ms. Ramirez. Gus had made this bet with

him that he could improve his grades on the tests in his on-line algebra class. At first, if he

improved his score just four points each week, Gus would take him out to eat that week. He was

now getting close to 100 on these tests and he should be able to finish algebra this semester.

According to Fred, Gus also knows some neat ways to make learning easier. For example, he

taught him to associate what he was learning with stuff he already knew, like remembering that

there is a rat in the middle of separate so that he would remember how to spell it correctly. He

likes Ms. Ramirez because she is cool and she seems to believe in him. 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 even if he tries. Ms. Ramirez tells him she believes in him, celebrates his

success like the algebra test scores, and has introduced him to other kid just like him who are

now in college. He guesses if they can do it, he can too.


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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 case load, 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 Jonathans attributions for his non-success.

A. Is Jonathan making an internal or external attribution for his non-success? Explain your

answer. The attribution theory proposes that individuals try and make inferences about the

probable causes of behavior and events; therefore, an attribution is a persons belief about

why and how a behavior or event occurred. The most basic attributions can be classified into

two groups: dispositional and situational, or internal and external attributions (Psychology

Glossary). An internal attribution are personal factors that relate to a cause of an event or

behavior. Jonathan is making an external attribution of his non-success. An external

attribution is classified as a process that designates the causes of certain behaviors to a

situation that is beyond the person's control. As an example, the School Probation Officer,

Jonathan, concluded that his nonsuccess is due to external aspects such as extremely high

case load, lack of adequate training, parents who are never interested in the progress their

children are making in the case as well as the parents not trusting Jonathan.

B. Is Jonathan making a controllable or uncontrollable attribution for his non-success? Explain

your answer. Attributions can facilitate a persons future behaviors. As a result, the
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controllability of factors can be seen as controllable or uncontrollable attributions.

Controllable factors are behaviors that we can influence and change during our everyday

interactions. Uncontrollable factors are outcomes that people cannot influence and change

(Ormrod, 2012). Jonathan seems to make uncontrollable attributions for his dismay at work

because he mentions that 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. It is then obvious that Mr. Greco does not have the ability

to influence his situation and provide the best results for his job by himself because he, also,

received input into case assignments.

C. Is Jonathans making a stable or unstable attribution for his non-success? Explain your

answer. Attributions include peoples inferences about the causes of events and behaviors.

Attributions can be also labeled as stable and unstable, or factors that are either unchanging

because they are stable or causes that are unstable because they are a fluke and temporary

(Ormrod, 2012). Jonathan has made an external stable attribution for his lack of success

because he believes that every year it was more difficult to identify any successes because of

task difficulty, and his non- success never seemed to change; therefore, Mr. Greco started

assigning himself cases that would lead him to more successful outcomes.

D. . Jonathans 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? Theories of intelligence/ ability include an incremental or entity view of ability


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(Ormrod, 2012). Some individuals believe that intelligence is a predisposed ability that

does not change regardless of peoples effort and practice while other see ability as skills that

can be improved with effort and practice. Jonathans boss seems to think that some people do

not have the skills to be good probation officers; this view of ability would align with an

entity view of ability because he does not believe in learning and improving skills or

increasing knowledge.

E. . 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)? Motivation, which is an

internal state, activates, directs and keeps people engaged in certain behaviors (Ormrod,

2012). Goal orientation is a persons disposition that helps him or her focus on their

different tasks. There are two goals: mastery goals and performance goals (Ormrod, 2012, p.

184). Learners should have mastery goals as fundamental factors in their learning because

it is a needed factor to achieve competence from learning new skills and abilities for oneself.

In performance goals, on the other hand, people desire to be competent, not for their own

sake, but they wish to be knowledgeable in front of other people such as higher ups. Since

Jonathans boss made comments about different views of ability, Jonathan starts assigning

himself cases that would make him more successful in the eyes of his colleagues and his

boss. Jonathan is implementing performance goals because he desires to impress his boss and

prove to his manager that he is competent in his field of work.


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Patricia Ramirez: School Counselor

1. Why might the mentors be seen as examples of coping models?

A. Coping models are resources that many people use in an attempt to handle stressful

situations in life (University of Ottawa. N.d); therefore, a mentor is defined as a person

who is considered to be an expert in a certain field. Peer mentoring can develop a

beneficial relationship between two people. For example, mentors are able to resonate

with their learners on a personal level and demonstrate that at one point in their past, the

mentor, also, made bad choices in their life. Mentors are visuals of coping models

because they can model positive behaviors and choices that they made in life which have

helped them overcome their situations. Since Gus, also, came from a disadvantaged

background, he was able to share stories from his past, model positive choices and

provide self disclosure as a powerful tool to help Fred correct his behavior.

B. B. F. Skinner, a famous behaviorists, suggests that effective instruction should be

specific to 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? The ideas of B.F. Skinner stem from the nature vs. the

nurture debate (Lee, 2015). Skinner advocated that humans are by products of our

environment and that we can be trained to change our behavior. Since Skinner saw that

not all people progress at the same manner because of social statues, it would not be fair

to treat and assess learners all the same; hence, the computer assisted learning or on-line
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credit recovery system would be a vital form of instruction for students who are at risk.

The computer assisted recovery system provides students with self-paced, systematically

organized individualized lessons that learners can work through. Providing students

with highly logical simple steps to complete work as well as implementing rewards and

positive feedback to students allows pupils to have a greater sense of self-efficacy.

C. How are the information-processing ideas of automaticity and metacogntive regulation

reflected in the adult literacy program? The Information Processing Theory is a

description of the cognitive nature of the human mind. It provides a framework about an

individuals mind and the processes it implements regarding obtaining, categorizing and

storing information. (Psychology Glossary). Two major occurrences that are found in

the IPT are metacognition and automaticity. According to Meichenbaum, (1985)

metacognition is a persons awareness of ones own knowledge and their ability to solve

problems using their cognitive processes. In contrast, Automaticity is an individuals

capability of performing tasks without consciously thinking about it (Ormrod, 2012).

Metacognitive regulation is thus, the ability to control a persons own thoughts, beliefs,

emotions and strategies he or she is experiencing. Reading is a receptive skill that

requires a strenuous conscious effort from the reader. Since the students in Patricia

Ramirez program do not have reader skills at the sixth grade level or higher, she

developed an adult literacy program that would aid students in grasping ideas about

literacy. For example, Patricia has trained people who focus on reading fluency and

comprehension strategies. Some of these techniques might include activating prior

knowledge by surveying the title of a work and brainstorming different theories about the
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topic, elaboration, comprehension monitoring, and transferring (Ormrod, 2012, p. 485)

knowledge students already know about the topic. Once these students have gained

proficient skills in their reading because of continued literacy practice, they will be able

to develop Automaticity and effortlessly recognize words and sentence structures in a

text.

D. How are the social cognitive ideas of self-reinforcement, self-monitoring, and goal

setting incorporated into Patricia Ramirezs groups? The social cognitive theory is a

belief that accentuates that fact that learning occurs through the observation of other

people within a society. Self-reinforcement, self-monitoring, and goal setting are vital

techniques of the SCT. Self-reinforcement is a method in which people control their

behaviors by rewarding themselves, with a consequence they enjoy, after completing a

performance to set of specific standards (Artino, Jr 2011). Since the outside world can be

harsh and the students in the groups already have a multitude of personal and societal

issues, Patricia hopes she can educate the learners to inspire and praise themselves for

their accomplishments.

Self-monitoring, according to Ormrod, (2012) is an excellent method that allows people

to control and thus improve their actions and the results. There are two groups: the adult

literacy program and the online credit recovery program; however, one program must

precede another and that would be the reading program because it will provide students

with the proper educational and psychological tools that will be required of the learners

to ensure their success during the online program.


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The adult literacy program provides a comprehensible example of how a group of adults

who struggle with reading can develop and incorporate self-monitoring during guided

instruction. An educator can provide learners with a time limit to complete a task to

ensure that they are performing on task behavior. During the reading activity, students

can check their own comprehension of the material, identify any areas of confusion, and

then ask the instructor questions for clarification. Struggling students on the other hand,

need routine and will require multiple prompts and practice opportunities to develop the

technique of self- monitoring. Other methods that mentors can use in the program include

giving task performance checklist lists, modeling the required tasks and providing people

with direct instruction.

Once learners obtain scaffolding during their literacy program, they will be able to use

self-monitoring as a personal check point that they utilize to figure out and understand

goals during their online credit recovery courses. Online learning needs copious amounts

of self-monitoring because it requires independent study and practice where the learners

work on their own and then check in and receive feedback.

Setting goals and performance standards are consequences of being a self-regulating

learner (Ormrod, 2012,p. 152). Mentors can ask their assigned students to complete a

questionnaire regarding their educational and career goals and discuss with them the

different strategies of achieving their targets. Achievement goals are milestones that

people set for themselves in which they want to aspire to. As previously mentioned, the
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educators in the reading program will most certainly have to model the desired behaviors

at first to ensure that students follow. Since the students are adults, the instructors can

explain to them the different consequences of behaviors (Ormrod, 2012,p. 153) to help

facilitate student goals and motivation. Subsequently, learners can reward their well

achieved efforts and hopefully develop a deeper intrinsic motivation.

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 Freds continued attendance at school being maintained by positive

reinforcement? Operant conditioning, a type of learning coined by B.F Skinner,

advocates that a behavior is controlled through consequences. A consequence is a result

that proceeds an action. Positive reinforcement donates a person of authority presenting a

pleasant stimulus immediately after a desired behavior (Ormrod, 2012,p. 70). The

stimulus can be either Social or Material reinforcers. Fred is a troubled young adult who

has found Social reinforcement in Ms. Ramirez program because the administration and

his mentor, Gus, listened to his concerns and paid attention to him as a human being.

His counselor, Ms. Ramirez, coaxes him by telling Fred that she believes in him and

celebrates his success such as the algebra test scores. An example of a Material
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reinforce concludes Freds mentor, Gus, presenting Fred with a reward such as going out

to eat because he achieved his on-line algebra class goals. Presenting Fred with positive

reinforcement has help him gradually alter his attitude in regards to learning at school.

B. How has Freds continued attendance at school been maintained by negative

reinforcement? While in positive reinforcement, a pleasant outcome is provided to a

person to increase a behavior, in negative reinforcement an unpleasant stimulus is

removed to heighten the occurrence of a desired behavior. Therefore, Freds continued

attendance at school is maintained by negative reinforcement because he fears and wants

to avoid going to jail.

C. Why would Gus bet with Fred be an example of the use of shaping? Shaping is a word

used in the theory of behaviorism which indicates steady and consistent training to ensure

that an human and nonhuman animal performs certain behaviors (Psychology Glossary,

n.d). The bet, in which Gus made with Fred can be considered an example of shaping

because Gus motivates Fred to improve his outlook on school and become a more

proficient learner. To make Freds success tangible, Gus bet concluded that Fred would

improve in school and if he accomplished his goal of 4 points improvement each week,

Gus would take Fred out to eat. For some reasons males seem to enjoy making and

taking bets.

D. Why is Gus little spelling trick an example of elaboration? Elaboration is a cognitive

learning process that involves developing prior knowledge by incorporating new

information and storing the embellished version of the information (Ormrod, 2012,p.
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211). Fred already knew how to spell the word rat, and so Gus little spelling trick

allowed Fred to build on information that he already had stored in his long term memory.

E. 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 Freds concern about finishing

school a result primarily of self-efficacy or his outcome expectations? Self-efficacy

consists of peoples belief and confidence in their capabilities of performing a future

tasks in a competent manner (Ormrod, 2012). According to the scenario, Fred says that

he often does not think he can finish school; therefore, his concern about completing his

education is based on his Self-efficacy. However, readers should keep in mind that

people who have low Self-efficacy and have experienced repeated negative situations can

fall into despair and believe that their outcomes neer seem to change.

F. How is Ms. Ramirez using vicarious learning with Fred? The Social Cognitive Theory

includes the concept of vicarious learning; this idea implies that people learn from others

even though they are not actively trying to learn the behavior that is being performed in

traditional and social learning situations (:Vicarious Learning). Ms. Ramirez praises Fred

for his improvements and thus she ultimately teaches him that he can succeed in life.

Another example from the scenario states that Ms. Ramirez introduced Fred to other

kids, who had been in his same situation in the past, and after some dedication they

enrolled in college. Therefore, Fred inferred that if these students, who had experienced

the same situations as he had and were able to overcame their obstacles, he, also,

assumed that he would be able to accomplish such goals as well.


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References

Artino Jr. R, A. (2011). Self-Reinforcement. Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development.

Springer Link US. Retrieved from:

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79061-9_2560

Lee, E (2015). Blank slate or full plate? EMMA LEE explores the language acquisition debate.

Language Debate. Retrieved from: https://languagedebates.wordpress.com/tag/bf-skinner/

Meichenbaum, D. (1985). Teaching thinking: A cognitive-behavioral perspective. in Thinking

and Learning Skills: Vol. 2. Research and Open Questions, Segal J. W., Chipman S.

F. and Glaser R. (eds.), Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Ormrod, J.E. (2008). Human Learning (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson.

Psychology Glossary (N.d). Shaping. Retrieved from:

https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Shaping

Psychology Glossary (N.d). Attribution Theory. Retrieved from:

https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Attribution%2520Theory

University of Ottawa. (N.d). Coping continued; additional information. Society, the individual

and medicine. Retrieved from: https://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Coping_2.htm

Vicarious Learning (N.d). LearnLab. Retrieved from:

http://www.learnlab.org/research/wiki/index.php/Vicarious_learning

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