Exam 1 for Learning

Reinforcement

a basic principle of behavior

Who established reinforcement?

B.F Skinner using laboratory research and over 50 years of human research

A major component of most ABA procedures

reinforcement

Define reinforcement

the occurrence of a behavior, resulting in an immediate consequence, which strengthens a behavior, making it more likely to occur

What are the effects of reinforcement on behavior?

increases in frequency, duration, intensity, and quickness

What is operant behavior?

Behavior that is strengthened through the process of reinforcement-behavior that is controlled by its consequences.

What is a reinforcer?

The consequence (stimulus or event) that follows operant behavior and that strengthens operant behavior

You reinfroce behavior, not…

people

Reinforcement is a ….

process

What are the two types of reinforcement?

Positive and negative reinforcement

Both positive and negative reinforcement…

strengthen behavior and make it more likely to occur in the future

What is positive reinforcement?

Behavior is followed by the presentation of a stimulus or the addition of a reinforcer and the behavior is strengthened

What is a negative reinforcement?

Behavior is followed by the removal of a stimulus or an aversive stimulus is removed and the behavior is strengthened

Praise for doing a good job or pushing the button on the remote and having the TV turn on are examples of…

positive reinforcement

Turning off a loud alarm or opening an umbrella to avoid rain are examples of…

negative reinforcement

Escape and avoidance behaviots are both involved in…

negative reinforcement

What is escape?

The behavior results in termination of or escape from the aversive stimulus, and it is strengthened.

What is avoidance?

The behavior results in the prevention or avoidance of the aversive stimulus, and the behavior is strengthened

What are unconditioned reinforcers?

Biologically determined reinforcers that have survival value for the individual

What are examples of unconditioned reinforcers?

food, water, human contact, warmth, oxygen, sexual contact, escape from the cold, pain, extreme levels of stimulation

What are conditioned reinforcers?

A previously neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with an established reinforcer, an unconditioned or conditioned reinforcer, will function as a reinforcer

What are examples of conditioned reinforcers?

Sight, sound, scent of parents, types of toys, tv shows, music, grades, accomplishments, and money

Factors that influence reinforcement

Immediacy, consistency (contingency), motivation operations, individual differences, intensity of the stimulus, concurrent schedule of reinforcement or punishment

What are different types of motivation operations?

Establishing operation (EO) and aboloshing operation (AO)

Establishing operation (EO) is an antecedent event that…

Makes a reinforcer more potent and makes a behavior that produces that reinforcer more likely to occur at that time

Abolishing operation (AO) is an antecedent event that…

Makes a reinforcer less potent and makes a behavior that produces that reinforcer less likely to occur at that time

Schedules of reinforcement

Specifices which res[onses will be followed by the reinforcer

Each response is follower by the reinforcer

continuous reinforcement

Not every response is follower by a reinforcer

intermittent reinforcement

Fixed ratio schedule

reinforcer after a set number of responses

What schedule of reinforcement produces high rate/post reinforcment pause?

fixed ratio schedules

Examples of fixed ratio scedules

classroom uses, piece rate pay

Reinforcer after an average number of responses

variable ratio schedules

What reinforcement schedules produce a high rate and no post-reinforcement pause?

variable ratio schedules

Examples of variable ratios schedules

work and classroom uses, slot machine, phone solicitors

Reinforcer for the first response after a set amount of time, the time interval does not change

fixed interval schedules

What reinforcement schedule produces a low rate of responding that increases at the end of the interval

fixed interval schedules

Examples of fixed interval schedules

mail delivery every hour and hourly checks on a worker

Reinforcement for the first response after an average amount of time

variable interval schedules

What reinforcement schedule produces a low but steady rate of behavior?

variable interval schedules

Examples of variable interval schedules

unpredictable supervisor checks, checking for phone or email messages

What two reinfrocement schedules are rarely used in ABA therapy?

variable interval schedules and fixed interval schedules

When does extinction occur?

a behavior that has been previously reinforced, but no longer results in the reinforcing consequences, and therefore, the behavior stops occuring the the future.

What is extinction?

when a behavior stops occuring because it is no longer reinforced.

Who demonstrated the principle of extinction with laboratory animals?

Skinner (1938, Ferster, and Skinner (1957)

How did Skinner (1938, Ferster, and Skinner (1957) demonstrate the principle of extinction with laboratory animals?

They stopped giving the pigeons in the experimental chamber food as a reinforcer when they pecked the key, so the pigeons stopped pecking the key.

When talking about extinction, what is the correct way to say it?

It is correct to say a behavior has been extinguished

In the extinction process, once a behavior is no longer reinforced, it often increases briefly in…

frequency, duration, or intensity before it decreases and ultimately stops.

Increases in frequency, duration, or intensity of the unreinforced behavior during the extinction process is called…

an extinction burst

What are novel behaviors?

Behaviors that do not typically occur in a particular situation

During an extinction burst ____ may occur for a brief period when a behavior is no longer reinforced

novel behaviors

Emotional responses such as aggressive behavior may occur during…

extinction bursts

What does the extinction burst involve?

increase in unreinforced behavior, the occurrence of novel behavior, and the occurrence of emotional behavior for a brief period

What is spontaneous recovery?

Spontaneous recovery is the natural tendency for the behavior to occur again in situations that are similar to those in which it occurred and was reinforced before extinction

If spontaneous recovery occurs and the behavior is reinforced…

the effect of extinction is lost

Extinction burst is more likely to occur after the extinction of

negatively reinforced behavior

In positive reinforcement, when the behavior occurs….

The reinforcing consequence is no longer delivered after the behavior

In negative reinforcement, when the behavior occurs…

the stimulus is no longer removed

Example of extinction using negative reinforcement

Let’s say you wear earplugs to decrease noise at your job. If the earplugs stop working and no longer decrease noise, you would stop wearing them.

What did research by Brian Iwata and his colleagues in 1994 demonstrate?

They demonstrated that, for extinction to occur, the reinforcer for the behavior must be identified, and that particular reinforcer must be withheld.

In the research by Brian Iwata and his colleagues in 1994, it was demonstrated that unless the appropriate reinforcer is identified and withheld…

the process does not function as extinction

What did Carr and his colleagues demonstrate in 1980?

Carr and his colleagues demonstrated that when children cannot escape demand situations by engaging in aggressive behavior, the aggressive behavior decreases dramatically.

Carr and his colleagues in 1980 demonstrated that preventing escape after children who used aggressive behavior in demand situations…

function as a form of extinction

what is a common misconception when using extinction?

ignoring a behavior doesn’t make it stop unless the reinforcer for the behavior is attention

What are the three important factors that influence the extinction process?

The reinforcement schedule before extinction, reinforcement of the behavior after extinction, and the presence of reinforcement for functionally equivalent alternative behaviors during extinction.

The reinforcement schedule partly determines whether…

extinction results in a rapid decrease in the behavior or a more gradual decrease

When using continuous reinforcement, the decrease in…

behavior during extinction is fairly rapid

When using intermittent reinforcement, the decrease in…

behavior happens gradually

Why is there a difference in decreasing behavior depending on whether it’s continuous or intermittent reinforcement?

There is a difference because the change from reinforcement to extinction has a larger contrast.

Intermittent reinforcement before extinction produces…

resistance to extinction

What is resistance to extinction?

Behavior that persists once extinction is implemented

Continuous reinforcement before extinction…

produces much less resistance to extinction.

Due to resistance extinction…

The reinforcement schedule before extinction has implications for the successful use of extinction in a behavior modification program.

If reinforcement occures in the course of extinction…

it takes longer for the behavior to decrease.

Why does it take longer for the behavior to decrease if reinforcement occures in the course of extinction?

Because reinforcement of behavior, once extinction has happened, amounts to intermittent reinforcement, which makes the behavior more resistant to extinction.

If behavior is reinforced furing an episode of spontaneous recovery…

The behavior may increase to the level it was occurring before extinction

Extinction is most effective when…

An alternative behavior is reinforced with the same reinforcer that was used for the problem behavior.

The alternative behavior is called functionally equivalent when…

It produces the same reinforcer that the problem behavior used to produce

If we stop reinforcing a problem behavior and reinforce an alternative behavior with the same reinforcer used with the problem behavior…

The problem behavior that is not reinforced will decrease through extinction, and the alternative behavior that is reinforced will increase and replace the problem behavior.

Extinction can be made more effective if the reinforcer that was maintaining the problem behavior before extinction…

is delivered at periodic intervals independent of the behavior.

What is resurgence?

Resurgence is when a problem behavior returns due to the alternative behavior not being reinforced or when noncontingent reinforcement is not provided

When resurgence occurs, if the behavior is reinforced again,

it will increase and the effects of extinction will be lost

However, if the behavior is not reinforced when it occurs again,

resurgence will be brief, and the behavior will once again stop occurring

What is the procedure of punishment?

A particular behavior occurs, a consequence immediately follows the behavior, and as a result, the behavior is less likely to occur again in the future. (The behavior is weakened)

What is a punisher?

A punisher is a consequence that makes a particular behavior less likely to occur in the future.

An aversive stimulus is also called…

a punisher

A stimulus or event is a punisher when it….

decreases the frequency of the behavior it follows

What is the definition of positive punishment?

The occurrence of a behavior, followed by the presentation of an aversive stimulus, and, as a result, the behavior is less likely to occur in the future.

What is the definition of negative punishment?

The occurrence of a behavior, followed by the removal of a reinforcing stimulus, and, as a result, the behavior is less likely to occur in the future.

How did Corte et al. (1971) demonstrate punishment?

In their experiment, they took an institutionalized adolescent girl with an intellectual disorder who engaged in self-injurious behavior. When she would slap herself, they would deliver a brief electrical shock from a handheld device. As a result, the number of times the girl slapped herself went from 300 to four an hour to zero.

What is contingent exercise?

Contingent exercise is a punishment procedure where a person is made to engage in something they don’t want to do in order to decrease the problem behavior

What are two common examples of negative punishment?

Time-out from positive reinforcement and response cost

What is time-out from positive reinforcement?

It is when a person loses access to positive reinforcers for a brief period after engaging in a problem behavior

What is a response cost?

It is when a specific amount of a reinforcer is removed after a person engages in a problem behavior

How did the study by Phillips et al. (1971) demonstrate response cost?

Youths with serious behavior problems in a residential treatment problems could earn points for engaging in appropriate behavior. These points could be traded for snacks, money, and privileges. Every time they were late to supper, they would lose points. As a result, fewer youths were late to supper.

Stimuli that are naturally painful or have extreme levels of stimulation are called…

unconditioned punishers

What are examples of unconditioned punishers?

extreme heat or cold, extreme levels of auditory or visual stimulation, or painful stimulus

What is a conditioned punisher?

Stimuli or events that function as punishers only after being paired with conditioned punishers or other existing conditioned punishers.