Question

Martha doesn’t want her young son to touch the heating stove. The stove is too large to be moved out of his way, so he has to learn not to touch it—even when Martha isn’t looking. Based on the concept of insufficient justification, which approaches is likely to be most effective in helping the boy internalize the choice not to play with the stove?

Answer 1

Insufficient justification is when an individual utilizes internal motivation to justify a behavior.

Based on this concept (also known as insufficient punishment) the most effective approach would be to create an external motivation that overcomes that internal choice of trying to play with the stove.