Improving Behavior

Choosing Reinforcers

  • Reinforcement is not static: it changes over time
  • Choosing Reinforcers: Reinforcer Menu, Reinforcer Sampling, Direct Questioning, Observation, Reinforcer Inventory
  • Reinforcer Menu
  • Reinforcer Sampling
  • Direct Questioning
  • Observation
  • Reinforcer Inventory

Reinforcer Assessment

  • Thinking about reinforcers: a reinforcer is anything that increases the probability that a behavior will be repeated
  • Categorizing reinforcers: tastes, auditory, visual, tactile, temperature, olfactory, vestibular, social, vibratory, letters/numbers
  • Social Reinforcers: clap, praise, smile, high five
  • Olfactory reinforcers: Cocoa, butter, perfume, lotion, fruit, lemon
  • Letters/#s reinforcers: Flashcards, puzzles, megna doodle, alphabet desk
  • Visual Reinforcers: Things that light up, things that spin, things that change visual display, visual music box, videos, bubbles
  • Vibratory Reinforcers: Bumble ball, massager, tickle Me Elmo
  • Tactile Reinforcers: Sandpaper letters, Gak/Floam/Obloo Lotion, Fuzzy/Hairy Toys, Nylon Toys
  • Types of additive reinforcers: edible, tangible, activity, social attention, exchangeable

Automatic Reinforcement

  • Automatic reinforcement occurs when: a person’s behavior creates a favorable outcome without involvement of another person
  • Any behavior that occurs without the involvement of another person and creates an internal state of pleasure or removes an internal state of displeasure (pain) can also be maintained by: automatic reinforcement
  • Two Classes of Automatic Reinforcement: Automatic Positive Reinforcement and Automatic Negative Reinforcement
  • Automatic Positive Reinforcement Examples: Brushing your hair because you want it to be neat, dressing yourself, putting salt on your own dinner to improve the taste of the food, watching a movie because you enjoy it
  • Automatic Negative Reinforcer Examples: washing your own hands to remove dirt, cutting your own fingernails to reduce their length, throwing out rubbish, rubbing your leg to soothe the pain after banging it off a table edge

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Schedules of reinforcement

  • Continuous: (every desired response)
  • Intermittent: (skip some desired responses, reinforce others) used after the response is well established
  • Noncontigent (we will not review)
  • Intermittent: variable interval, fixed interval, variable ratio, fixed ratio, variable time, fixed time
  • Fixed: even
  • FI5: 5th time results in reinforcer

Token Economies

  • Token Economy: Idea of economy linked to math. Generalized conditioned reinforcers. Behaviors are specified. Medium of exchange is used. Back up items (variety) are used
  • Effectiveness of Token Economies: Can delay direct reinforcer significantly and you don’t have to sorry about satiation and deprivation
  • Advantages of Token Economies: Immediate, unobtrusive delivery of reinforcers. Allows for delay of reinforcement. More socially acceptable. Generality (use for many behaviors, clients). Greater individuality of reinforcement. Reduces subjectivity. Allows for differential valuing of performance. Cost effective. Time effective-- decreases time lose to reinforcer

Advantages of Token Economies

  • Immediate, unobtrusive delivery of reinforcers
  • Allows for delay of reinforcement
  • More socially acceptable
  • Generality (use for many behaviors, clients)
  • Greater individuality of reinforcement
  • Reduces subjectivity
  • Allows for differential valuing of performance
  • Cost effective
  • Time effective-- decreases time lost to reinforcer

Developing a Token System

  • Safety first when developing a ___ system: token
  • Characteristics of good tokens: Easy to carry and distribute, cheap and available in large quantity, countable, durable but not distractable, difficult to counterfeit, extort or steal
  • When developing a token system establish ____: an exchange ratio (prices)
  • When developing a token system, ____ the system: field test
  • When developing a token system have ___ items: back up items (purchases)

Group Contingencies

  • Presentation or loss of reinforcers is contingent on
  • Behavior of whole group OR
  • individuals within group earn the same ay OR
  • Behavior of a group segment

Independent Group Contingency

  • Independent Group Contingency: Same response contingency for all students, criterion can vary or be the same, R+ for one member NOT dependent on the others, peers have no incentive to help others, “every man for himself”

  • Same response contingency for all students

  • Criterion can vary or be the same

  • R+ for one member NOT dependent on the others

  • Peers have no incentive to help others

  • “Every man for himself”

Interdependent Group Contingency

  • Treat the group as an individual
  • Less time consuming, as effective if everyone motivated by reqard
  • Promote more cooperation and higher achievement
  • Cooperative learning strategies
  • “All for one and one for all”

Dependent Group Contingency

  • All group members benefit from the performance of a subgroup or certain members
  • Tarhet thee low performers
  • Encourages peer support
  • Can be intermittently used (informally) to boost cooperation without penalizing other students
  • “Sometimes the goof of the one is more important than the good of the many”
  • [https://youtu.be/hYvlhHPLzCA]()
  • Spock Analogy