token economies

Token Economies

Unconditioned and Conditioned Responses

Unconditioned

  • stimuli that are reinforcing without prior learning

  • primary or unlearned reinforcers

examples

  • food when hungry

  • water when thirsty

  • warmth

  • sexual contact

Conditioned

  • stimuli that were not originally reinforcing but have become reinforcers by being paired with and/or associated with other reinforced

  • secondary or learned reinforcers

examples

  • preferred book or tv show

  • favourite snacks

  • desired clothing

Review of Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcers

  • aka unconditioned reinforcers

  • these are usually inherited

  • satisfy basic biological needs

  • examples - food, water, comfort, sleep, warmth

secondary reinforcers

  • aka conditioned reinforcers

  • usually taught

  • has value because it has been paired with a reinforcer

  • examples - tokens, money, praise, grades, awards, points on video game

Backup Reinforcers

  • used in a system like token economies and can be primary or secondary

  • items or experiences that can be earned by exchange tokens

  • examples - treats, extra playtime, rent, special privilege

Backup Reinforcers

When a stimulus becomes a conditioned reinforcer though deliberate association with other reinforcers, the other reinforces are called backup reinforcers

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer

A generalized conditioned reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that as a result of having ben paired with many unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers does not depend on a current EO for any particular from a reinforcement for its effectiveness

Token Economies

this a system where by participants earn generalized conditioned reinforcers as an immediate consequence for specific behaviours; participants accumulate tokens and exchange them for items and activities from a menu of backup reinforcers

commonly used to promote and or teach appropriate skills across a varitey of setting such as but not limited to

  • schools

  • clinics

  • organizations

  • hospitals

Token

  • has no intrinsic value

  • value is established through association with unconditioned reinforcers or conditioned reinforcers

  • association can be the result of numerous pairings

  • commonly used tokens include : points, tally marks, plastic strips, checkers, coupons, poker chips, hole punched in a card or caregivers initials

Effectiveness

  1. they bridge the gap between a behaviour and deliverly of a backup reinforcer

  2. they have the ability to be a generalized conditioned reinforcer - can be used for a variety of items

  3. the effectiveness of toke is dependent on the effectiveness of the backup reinforces ability to affect the future occurrence of behaviour

Components

  1. target behaviour

    1. what is the goal? what do they need to learn?

  2. what is the back up reinforcers

    1. what does the person want or need?

  3. what will be the tokens

  4. reinforcement schedule

    1. how frequently will they be earned?

  5. data collection

    1. how will we know if its successful?

Withdrawing

there should be a plan to gradually scale down and remove the token board

following guidelines can be used to help withdraw the token economy:

  • always be paired with social approval and verbal praise

  • the number of responses required to earn token should gradually increase

  • the duration the token economy is in effect should be gradually decreased

  • the number of activities and privileges that serve as backup items and are likely to be found in the untrained setting should be gradually increased

  • the price of more desirable items should be increased systematically while keeping a very low price on less desirable items for exchange

  • the evidence of the token should be faded over time