Chapter 17-18: Aversive Control

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus/event preceding an operant and setting the occasion for its reinforcement

Punishment

Basically behavioural principle occurring when a behaviour is followed by a consequence that results in a decrease in future probability of the behaviour

• Consequence following behaviour may involve presentation of an aversive stimulus/event (positive) OR removal of a reinforcing stimulus/event (negative)

• Behaviour is weakened

Extinction Stimulus (S delta)

A stimulus/event preceding an operant and setting the occasion for its non-reinforcement

Conditioned Aversive Stimulus (S-ave)

A stimulus/event preceding an operant and setting the occasion for avoidance

• Ex: a warning sign, buzzing of a bee

Unconditional (Primary) Aversive Stimulus

A stimulus/event that as a function of a species’ history, an organism escapes

• Important for survival → impact fitness of an organism

• Ex: dodo bird DYING

3 Types of Aversive Contingencies

DEFINED INI TERMS OF EFFECT ON BEHAVIOUR

• Spanking is only a punisher if it results in decrease of behaviour

Positive Punishment: any event/stimulus added to decrease behaviour

Negative Punishment: any event/stimulus removed to decrease behaviour

Negative Reinforcement: any event/stimulus removed to increase behaviour

Types of Positive Punishment

• Overcorrection

• Restitution

• Positive Practice

• Guidance Compliance

• Contingent Exercise

• Physical Restraint

  • Response Blocking

Guided Compliance

Form of positive punishment contingent on problem behaviour following a request; individual is physically guided to comply with request

• positively punishes non-compliance

• Negatively reinforces compliance

• Positive reinforcement of compliance easily incorporated

Overcorrection

Form of positive punishment where individual engages in effortful behaviour contingent on problem behaviour

Ex: making a mess and having to clean the entire room → requires compliance and monitoring → if not comply, have to punish non-compliance but may be met with defiance

Restitution

Contingent on problem behaviour; individual required to fix environment disrupted by problem behaviour

Positive Practice

Contingent on problem behaviour; individual engages in correct forms of relevant behaviour for a period of time

Physical Restraint

A form of positive punishment contingent on problem behaviour; body part involved in behaviour is held immobile for a specified period of time

• Used with response blocking

Response Blocking

• Physically stopping a behaviour from completing

• Prevents problems generated by behaviour

• Prevents behaviour from being reinforced

Contingent Exercise

Contingent on problem behaviour; individual engages in effortful behaviour for a specified period of time

• Effortful behaviour is unrelated to problem behaviour

Types of Negative Punishment

• Time Out from Positive Reinforcement

• Response Cost

Time Out

Loss of access to positive reinforcers for a brief period contingent on the problem behaviours

• Decreases occurrence of problem behaviours

• Ex: removing a child from the room where positive reinforcers are available

Time-Out from Positive Reinforcement**** midterm types

Loss of access of positive reinforcement is contingent on a response

• Must prevent access to reinforcer maintaining problem behaviour

• Must be given immediately (physical guidance may be necessary)

• There are no means of escaping time-out → other reinforcers should not be accessible

• Often about getting rid of the child and their behaviour - escape behaviour for adult

Non-exclusionary Timeout

Remaining in the room of positive reinforcers but not in close proximity

Likely to be used when:

• Person can be removed from reinforcing activities while remaining in the room

• Presence of the person in the room is not disruptive to others

If criteria cannot be met, exclusionary timeout used instead

Exclusionary Timeout

Being physically removed from the room where positive reinforcers are unavailable

• Removes the person from all sources of positive reinforcement

Time In Environment

Environment where problem behaviour occurs

When is Time Out Inappropriate to Use?

• With problem behaviours maintained by negative reinforcement/sensory stimulation (automatic reinforcement)

  • Time out would negatively reinforce any behaviour maintained by escape

Response Cost

Removal of a specified amount of a reinforcer contingent on the occurrence of a problem behaviour

• If reinforce loss delayed → conditioned punisher should be employed to bridge delay and provide immediate consequence

• Consider what reinforcers to remove & magnitude of removal

• Ex: removing 5 mins of recess when a behaviour occurs

Application of Aversive Activities

A method of reducing problem behaviours by the contingent application of aversive activities

• Aversive Activity: low probability behaviour the person typically does not choose to engage in

  • A behaviour that can be a punisher for another behaviour

• A form of positive punishment

Why Aversive Activities preferred over Aversive Stimulation?

Aversive/punishing stimulation is RARELY used in behaviour modification → more unethical

Ex: spanking, shouting/loud noise, ice

Premack Principle for Reinforcement

High probability behaviour reinforces low probability behaviour

Escape Learning

When an operant changes the environment from a situation where an unconditional negative reinforcer is present → to one where the unconditional negative reinforcer is absent

• Escape responses learned faster than avoidance responses

• Compatibility with reflexive unconditioned responses determines how quickly response occurs

Conditioning escape is easiest when…

Operant response is similar to reflexive unconditional response elicited by aversive stimulus

• Rat escaping a shock by holding down a lever

Avoidance Learning

Response occurs before stimulus appears; when an operant prevents occurrence of an aversive stimulus

Discriminated Avoidance

A type of avoidance learning

When presence of S-ave controls probability of making avoidance response

• Establishing S-ave is typically slower than establishing SD or S-delta because S-ave may become a CS eliciting other respondent behaviour that MAY interfere with operant behaviour

Ex: a warning signal

Nondiscriminated Avoidanced

A type of avoidance learning

Avoidance responding with NO S-ave to produce discrimination

• Avoidance must be negatively reinforced occasionally to be maintained → poorly maintained when responses don’t reliably reduce frequency of aversive event

Operant-Respondent Interactions

Discriminated Avoidance: S-ave can function as CS for respondent behaviour which interrupts operant response

Respondent Extinction: avoidance behaviour maintained by operant conditioned can hinder respondent extinction

Ex: avoiding phobic stimuli is negatively reinforcing

Learned Helplessness

• Seligman and Maier (1967)

• Dogs exposed to predictable (signaled) but inescapable shock did not try to escape when allowed to → endured the pain

• Actions have no effect on aversive outcome

• Model for depression & anxiety

Experiment on Learned Helplessness

Master: received contingent shocks for leg extension

Yoked: received non-contingent shocks

Unshocked: received no shocks during pre-exposure

• Following pre-exposure, extinction was implemented (shocks not administered)

• In testing, task was re-learned except all groups were administered contingent shocks

Treating Learned Helplessness

• Create a situation where failure to escape is not possible

• Prevent learned helplessness in first place - pre-exposure to escape and avoidance contingencies can block learned helplessness brought on by inescapable aversive events

Overcorrection

Procedure use to decrease aggressive and disruptive behaviours exhibited by people with intellectual disabilities in institutional settings

• Client required to engage in an effortful behaviour contingent on each instance of problem behaviour

• 2 forms:

  • Positive Practice

  • Restitution

Overcorrection: Positive Practice

Client must engage in correct forms of relevant behaviour contingent on an instance of the problem behaviour

• Client does correct behaviour with guidance if necessary - done for a period of time

• Must engage in correct behaviour many times in positive practice

Overcorrection: Restitution

Client must correct the environmental effects of problem behaviour and restore environment to a condition better than what existed before the problem behaviour; contingent on each instance of problem behaviour

• Physical guidance used as needed

• Client overcorrects the environmental effects of problem behaviour

• Going beyond simply correcting the effect their behaviour had on the environment

Contingent Exercise

Client is instructed to engage in some form of physical exercise contingent on an instance of the problem behaviour → results in decrease in future probability of problem behaviour

• A positive punishment procedure involving application of aversive activities

• Aversive activity involves physical exercise unrelated to problem behaviour

Guided Compliance

Person is guided physically through the requested activity - contingent on occurrence of problem behaviour

• Positive punishment of the problem behaviour because aversive stimulus (physical guidance) applied after problem behaviour, and it negatively reinforces compliance with the requested activity because aversive stimulus is removed after compliance begins

Physical Restraint

Punishment procedure where the change agent holds immobile the part of the client’s body involved in the behaviour - contingent on problem behaviour

Physical Restraint: Response Blocking

The change agent prevents the occurrence of a problem behaviour by physically blocking the response

• Can also be used with brief restraint

Considerations before Using Positive Punishment

• Use functional interventions first

• Implement differential reinforcement with punishment

• Consider the function of the problem behaviour

• Choose the aversive stimulus with care

• Collect data to make treatment decisions

• Address the ethical considerations in the use of punishment

Ethics of Punishment

• Informed consent

• Alternative treatments

• Recipient safety

• Problem severity

• Implementation guidelines

• Training and supervision

• Peer review

• Accountability: preventing misuse and overuse