Final answer:
The best strategy for a child to maintain room-cleaning habits is to utilize intermittent reinforcement, rewarding some but not all instances of cleaning to create a strong, lasting behavior. This method aligns with the principles of operant conditioning, especially the variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best way to ensure that your son will continue to clean his room once he has started doing it is to reward him some, but not all, times he cleans the room. This approach is backed by the concept of operant conditioning, which was pioneered by B.F. Skinner. Skinner's research indicated that variable-ratio schedules of reinforcement, where behavior is rewarded after an unpredictable number of responses, are particularly effective in creating a strong and resistant response.
For example, if you reward your child every time they clean their room (a fixed-ratio schedule), they may become dependent on the reward and less likely to clean without it. However, punishing your child every time they fail to clean their room (positive punishment) can lead to negative emotions and may harm the relationship, while rewarding them with money or new video games every single time might not be practical and could lessen the intrinsic value of maintaining cleanliness.
Rewarding behavior intermittently can create a strong behavioral pattern, because the child will continue to clean in anticipation of the possible reward. This method helps in learning a behavior more permanently, as it mimics the way rewards are typically granted in real life, similar to how adults work towards uncertain bonuses at work or sales in business.