Behaviourist bedtime plan and technology self-regulation
The instruction is to name the principles and link the plan to them, so a sensible parenting plan with no vocabulary scores badly — and the water pistol has already failed, which tells you something about what was being reinforced.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 15, 2026
A bedtime plan, then a literature search
The graded requirement here is explicit: name specific behavioural principles and link your action plan to them. A plan that would work in real life but never uses the vocabulary will lose marks, so write each step with its principle attached. Start by reading the scenario as a behaviourist would. The delay tactics are being maintained by something, and the obvious candidate is parental attention on an intermittent schedule — sometimes the story works, sometimes it does not, which is the schedule most resistant to extinction. The water pistol failed for a diagnosable reason: it added an engaging bedtime activity, so it functioned as reinforcement for the very behaviour it was meant to end. Saying that explicitly is one of the strongest moves available in this post, because it shows you can analyse a failed intervention rather than only propose a new one, which is a harder skill than designing a plan from scratch and is rarer on the discussion board.
Build the plan from named principles. Positive reinforcement for staying in bed, delivered on a schedule you specify. Shaping, if the child cannot manage a whole night at once, with successive approximations rewarded. Planned extinction of the delay requests, with an honest warning about the extinction burst before things improve. A bedtime pass gives the child a bounded number of requests. Stimulus control through a fixed routine is worth naming too. The second half of the assignment is separate work: find one scholarly article in the library on how technology influences the ability to self-regulate, and it must not be one of the articles already linked in the unit resources, since the restriction exists to widen the range of examples the class sees. Summarise its method and its findings, then connect it back — screen exposure before bed is itself a self-regulation problem, and in a household with a five-year-old it is usually the adults' regulation at issue too.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Analyse a maintained behaviour in terms of its reinforcement contingency and schedule.
- 02Design a behaviour-change plan in which every step is tied to a named principle.
- 03Locate and evaluate a scholarly article on technology and self-regulation independently of the supplied resources.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
Important information for writing discussion questions and participation Hi Class, Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts. Contact me if you have any questions. Important information on Writing a Discussion Question Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references) There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article. Include in-text citations in your response Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information Follow APA-7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week. Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references) Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count. Follow APA 7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points. Here are some helpful links Student paper example Citing Sources The Writing Center is a great resource Welcome to class Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to. I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you. Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations. Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements. Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week. I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A behaviour-modification plan with each step labelled by its behavioural principle.
- 02An explanation of why the water pistol attempt failed.
- 03A summary of one library-sourced scholarly article on technology and self-regulation.
- 04APA citations for the article and any text material used.
Naming principles before describing actions
Analyse the current contingency
Identify what is reinforcing the delay behaviour and on what schedule.
Explain the failed intervention
Account for why the water pistol made things worse in behavioural terms.
Build the plan from named principles
Set out each step with its principle — positive reinforcement, shaping, extinction, stimulus control, token economy.
Anticipate what will go wrong
Warn about the extinction burst and state how the caregiver should respond.
Technology and self-regulation
Summarise the library article you found and link it back to the bedtime problem.
Finding an article on technology and self-regulation
Recommended databases
- Your institution's library databases
- PsycINFO
- PubMed Central
- APA Dictionary of Psychology for principle definitions
Search sequence
- 1.Confirm the definition of each principle you name before you use it — the marks depend on using the terms correctly.
- 2.Search the library for self-regulation combined with a specific technology such as smartphones, social media or screen time before bed.
- 3.Check the article against the unit resource list before committing to it, since a listed article does not satisfy the requirement.
- 4.Prefer an empirical study over a commentary, so the summary has findings to report rather than opinions.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
APA Dictionary of Psychology
American Psychological Association · 2024
The operant conditioning entry gives the authoritative short definition for each principle you are required to name, so the vocabulary is used precisely.
- 02
Problematic Smartphone Use Leads to Behavioral and Cognitive Self-Control Deficits
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2022
An empirical example of the technology-and-self-regulation literature, showing the kind of study the second half asks you to find.
- 03
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
American Psychological Association · 2017
Relevant if your plan touches on advising other people's children; the assignment is a scenario, but the boundaries are worth knowing.
- 04
CDC's Developmental Milestones
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024
Grounds the plan in what is developmentally expected at five, which keeps the target behaviour realistic.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Writing sensible parenting advice without ever naming a principle, which is the one thing the prompt demands.
- Proposing punishment as the primary strategy when the assignment is framed around reinforcement.
- Ignoring the failed water pistol, which is the scenario's built-in analytical opportunity.
- Using an article already linked in the unit resources, which the instructions rule out.
- Treating the two halves as one paragraph rather than as two distinct requirements.
Submission checklist
- Is every step of the plan labelled with the principle it applies?
- Have you named the reinforcement schedule maintaining the current behaviour?
- Did you explain the water pistol failure?
- Is your article from the library and not from the unit resource list?
- Have you warned about the extinction burst if you are recommending extinction?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.