II. REINFORCEMENT
(as of 1/31/18)

A. THE ISSUE AND DAILY LIFE ILLUSTRATIONS

1. If one were to look at the data of human behavior, a strong case could be presented that the single most important factor causing human behavior is the consequences of behavior.

2. Whenever considering consequences of behavior, because of our cultural background or the way we are brought up, many people connect consequences with punishment. For example, when people are asked how they would prevent a child from taking an object off the coffee table, most suggested the use of some form of punishment, to control the behavior. Punishment and other uses of aversives, which will be described later, are behavioral principles, but it is important to note that there are many other behavioral principles available to change behavior.

3. Knowing that what follows a certain behavior or response is important is nothing new. It has been observed in psychology laboratory studies, in schools, in hospital wards, and in many other forms of daily living. Consequences that follow the sought-after behavior are crucial. If favorable consequences are continued, the behavior will be continued.

4. A response, or that which the individual does, may be followed by changes in the environment. These changes subsequently determine whether the response will recur.

Our past reinforcement histories sometimes make it hard for us to consider alternative consequences, such as police giving tickets for good behavior or judges giving favorable consequences, not fines and jail sentences. Perhaps our own learning histories will not prevent us from taking an intensive look at alternatives to punishment.

Our everyday use of language is filled with references to the importance of consequences. The following are a few examples of what some people will do (or not do) for consequences:

– certain behaviors quickly get the attention of another person.
– turn on fans and air conditioners and get cool air blowing.
– touch the insulated wire on an electrical appliance to avoid getting a shock.
– read to get control over the environment, e.g. vending machine products.
– wear a coat when going outside in the winter to prevent becoming cold.
– come in out of bad weather for protection, e.g. warm, cool, dry, etc.
– certain body movements may reduce discomfort or pain, e.g. taking hands off a hot object.
– move away from a speeding train to prevent being hit by the train.
– swimming movements to prevent sinking/drowning.
– talk only in the presence of another person. Chairs don’t listen well.
– walk, not crawl, which permits reinforcement to be more accessible.

5. A Quick Reflection on Some Very Relevance Citations to the Importance of Consequences to Human Behavior:

a. Some linguists have contended that all of the world speaks the same language at the start of life. Phonetic sounds (wind/air against speech mechanisms of the body) would follow basic sound physics. Consequences for changes in behavior serve to give us the very large variations in language, accents, etc.

b.John Ciariti (Former long-time poetry editor for the Saturday Review) defined a child as, “A glob of protoplasm who needs news from the human race to become human.”

c. Father Flanagan (founder of the famous delinquent treatment center Boys Town): “There is no such thing as a bad boy.” It is the world’s influence (he environment) working on the youth that teaches the youth.

d. B.F. Skinner: “An organism (person) is never wrong.” People’s behaviors are generated by their environments.

B. DEFINITION OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

When a certain stimulus immediately follows a response and increases the rate of responding, we define it as a positive reinforcer. To say it in other words, when a stimulus is used as a consequence and it increases the rate of behavior, we call it a positive reinforcer. There is a difference between this definition of positive reinforcers and the general use of the term “reward.” You do not proclaim something to be a reinforcer; it is determined by the increase in the rate of responding. Some would contend that the difference between reward and positive reinforcement is a trivial jargon exercise. As a result, people have for a long time proclaimed many things as rewards. If a proclaimed reward is not effective, there will be no built-in outcome to ensure detection. The term “positive reinforcement,” on the other hand, simply by definition requires that the stimulus follows a behavior immediately and increases that behavior. What is one person’s reinforcer may be another person’s poison. We can no longer offer something and assume that someone will work for what we offer. When working in the framework of positive reinforcement the name of the game becomes trying to find out what things an individual will work for. This concept, “I have something, and it is so good that it must be the consequence everyone will work for,” is a mistaken concept that we have learned very well, and is hard to change. For example, consider the many problems in foreign affairs resulting from this position; also the “generation gap” can be analyzed in a response-consequence relationship. As a matter of fact, even the Golden Rule is written in such terms, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It was George Bernard Shaw who said, “Do not do unto others as they do unto you, they may have different tastes.” It is important to look and see what the person will work for, i.e. what his/her individual tastes are.

Let’s look at this same situation in another way. Some say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Similarly, reinforcement can only be viewed from the receiver point of view, not the giver. No matter what the giver’s “intention” is, the effect that the consequences provided for behavior depends upon the receiver as the “beholder.” A psychologist being critical of certain therapy colleagues stated, “There is more benefit in a pint of ice cream than in the whole American Psychological Association.” What the speaker was suggesting was that any person consequating with a pint of ice cream could do more good than a psychologist not using effective tested techniques.

If an event (call it x) happens only because something else happens (call it y), the occurrence of (x) is said to be contingent on (y). Since reinforcement follows a behavioral response, the reinforcement is contingent on the performance of the response.

Handling a cup correctly will result in receiving a drink of water in the most effective manner. The consequence of obtaining a drink will increase the response of handling the cup correctly in the future. Handling the cup correctly is a response that is reinforced by receiving a drink of water. Receiving a drink of water is contingent on handling the cup correctly.

The fact that an event is reinforcing is shown by the continuation of a certain response which came before the reinforcement, and not by using criteria of how a child “felt.” If we say that the child “liked” it, was “satisfied,” or found it “pleasant,” we still have the task of finding a precise definition for those states or conditions, and this no one has been able to do.
Goldiamond has suggested three steps to modify disturbing behavior using this concept of contingency.
1. Look at the disturbing behavior and identify the critical reinforcer.
2. Present the critical reinforcer, if at all possible.
3. But make it contingent on sought-after behavior. It is not so much what you give, but when it is given.

Not only is it important that the reinforcement follow the behavior, but it will not be very effective unless it follows the behavior immediately.

An important fact about the meaning of a reinforcer is that the reinforcing characteristics do not lie in the stimulus, but in its effect on behavior. Behavior that is controlled by its consequences is termed “operant behavior.”

Primary and Secondary Reinforcer:

There are a number of ways to classify reinforcers. One classification uses two categories – primary and secondary reinforcers. Many of the examples cited thus far have been using consequences which need no previous learning history. Such reinforcers are referred to as primary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers need no previous learning history in order to increase the rate of response. Primary reinforcers are generally materials or conditions which the body must have in order to survive. Water and heat are usually positive (primary) reinforcers. If making food available increases the rate of behavior, it follows that food is called a primary reinforcer. If water is presented to a rat after bar pressing, and this increases the speed of bar pressing, we call water a primary reinforcer. If the stimulus follows a behavior and increases the behavior without the stimulus being a learned reinforcer, it is a primary reinforcer.

The second class of reinforcers includes those that require pairing with a primary reinforcer before they become effective. These reinforcers are called secondary reinforcers. If a trainer presents a verbal stimulus, such as “good dog,” at the same time that he/she presents a biscuit, the dog could learn to respond to the verbal stimulus. In this case, a verbal stimulus is paired with a primary reinforcer.

Most neutral forms of a stimulus when presented with a primary reinforcer receive the characteristics of that reinforcer and are called secondary reinforcers. Thus “good dog” becomes a secondary reinforcer.
Certain advantages do exist for secondary reinforcers. Among them are

a. Secondary reinforcers “bridge” the delay between the response and the delivery of the primary or backup reinforcement.

c. Secondary reinforcers allow the response to be reinforced in many more situations, whereas primary reinforcers typically are more restricted as to where they can be given.

3. Secondary reinforcers allow sequences of responses to be reinforced without as pronounced an interruption due to the delivery of the reinforcer.

d. Some people who object to control by primary reinforcers do not have the same objections to the use of secondary reinforcers.

e. Secondary reinforcers may lead to a variety of backup reinforcers.

In human applied studies, a wide variety of materials have been used for secondary reinforcers.

A special form of secondary reinforcer is called a generalized learned reinforcer. This type of reinforcer is defined as a reinforcer which has been presented with many other reinforcers in many situations. We don’t have to specifically deprive the organism of something we are going to use as a reinforcer. Money, for example, has in the history of the person been paired constantly with getting many different kinds of reinforcement for the person.

Another special form of reinforcement is the Premack Principle. As a form of consequence one need not use only material things, for activities can be used very effectively. Behaviors which the child does quite often, things we would say he/she “enjoys,” can be used as reinforcement for behaviors which do not occur often. For example, watching TV could be used as a consequence for doing homework. Reading a favorite book could be made a consequence for reading a less sought-after book.

Some of those who use the Premack Principle refer to it as “Grandma’s Rule.” Grandma used to state that first you must do what you don’t really want to do before you do something you like to do. Grandma’s Rule more technically stated is called the Premack Principle. A teacher found that verbal demands had little effect on some students’ behavior, such as running around the room. Such behaviors were labeled as “more likely to happen” behaviors and were then used as reinforcers. These “more likely to happen” behaviors were then made contingent on the behaviors that the children were to achieve, such as sitting in their seats.

The Premack Principles states if behavior B is more likely to happen than behavior A, then behavior A can be made more likely to happen by making behavior B contingent upon it. The Premack Principle allows one to use the reinforcement principle without using “things.” One manipulates rates of behavior, high rates of behavior follow lower rates.

Other examples include
a. The student must do math before playing baseball. (If playing baseball is a more probable behavior).
c. The student must do class assignments before doing hobbies on his/her own. (If doing hobbies is a more probable behavior).
c. The high school shop student cleans his bench before leaving. (If that student leaving is a more probable behavior).

Ayllon used this principle by selling rocking time in a favorite chair when he found a patient who, under usual conditions, frequently rocked in a given chair. Any behavior emitted at a high rate might be viewed as a reinforcing agent for sought-after behaviors of a lower frequency.

C. APPLICATIONS OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:

Illustrative Example:
a. Sample of Possible Positive Reinforcers (Only the data tell you if they actually are): In considering applications of reinforcement let us first look at events that have been used as reinforcers. These lists, of course, are not all inclusive. As we have pointed out, finding out what is effective as a reinforcer for an individual is the way one approaches the problem. An event is not labeled a reinforcer until it has been demonstrated that it functions as one. These possible reinforcers are for illustrative purposes, divided into categories by age, social activities, and material.

Pre-School Possible Positive Reinforcers — holding, play activities, riding tricycles,toys, trinkets, smiling, drawing, coloring, candy

Elementary Age Possible Positive Reinforcers– calling on student, field trips, toys, smiling, teacher’s aid, sweets, patting on back, playing with toys, hobby items, display work, feeding animals, certificates, praise, paper tickets

Junior High Possible Positive Reinforcers– Verbal approval, athletic team membership, certificates, dances, television, movies, athletic awards, music, tutor another student, chewing gum, pat on the back, project leader, plaques, peer approval, erase the board, classroom animals, take class role, growth chart, put up bulletin boards

High School Possible Positive Reinforcer– grades, athletics, clubs, class ring, dances, use of cars, parties, hobbies, money, athletic letters, pins, medals, public recognition, amusement parks, certificates

b. Delinquency: Cohen, while working with youth offenders at the National Training School for Boys, developed a program based on reinforcement principles. When a youth offender was assigned to Cohen’s program he frequently stated, “Man, what’s in it for me?” “If I go and learn all this crap, I’m going to go on being considered a XXX anyway and the world out there is going to shit all over me.” Cohen immediately said, “You’re probably right, but do you like Coca Cola?” And he said, “Yeah” and Cohen said, “Well, if you give the right answers you get ten points; you can take these ten points and buy yourself a Coke.” Cohen needed effective reinforcers to make other parts of his program work.

c. Variety of Uses of a Single Reinforcing Stimulus: At times certain reinforcers are looked upon as a single item, and the full range of their use is not considered, for example

One: Food as a Consequence in An Institution Setting: Food need not be considered a single consequence. Below are listed a number of ways in which food could be used in ward programs:

(1) Deprivation: Ayllon and Haughton (1962) demonstrated that psychotics would not “ruin their health” by deprivation when receiving food was made contingent upon performing certain behavior. Despite Ayllon and Haughton’s findings, some people are reluctant to apply what at first may appear to be “inhumane” treatment. At times patients are deprived of nothing and as a consequence virtually “rot” away instead of learning socially productive ways of living. Perhaps being prevented from learning daily life behavior is a greater deprivation than having food withheld temporarily.

(2) Delay of Meal: Another program using food as a reinforcer has
been used by Ayllon (1964). It consists of “time out” from meals, that is, meals are delayed if the individual has not earned enough tokens. In Ayllon’s program with psychotics, the patient may have to wait until others have eaten if he/she does not have the sufficient number of tokens (Hartman, 1964).

(3) Eating Environment: The quality of the environment in which the patient eats is another possible use of food-related events as reinforcing agents. This was used by Gericke (1965).

(4) Food: Food extras (e.g. evening treats, snacks, coffee) can serve as reinforcements. Mertens and Fuller (1963) demonstrated how “extras” (candy, cookies, gum) are used on what is commonly referred to as a back ward. A chronic patient’s behavior could be modified if he/she is immediately presented food as a consequence of behavior.

(5) A person can buy his/her way into the cafeteria early.

(6) A person can take food items back to the ward.

(7) A person can go for a night-time snack.

(8) Coins to operate a vending machine with food items.

Two: TV, like food, may be used as a consequence in an institution in a variety of ways:
1. Coin operated TV
2. Take portable TV to room
3. Altruistic Design – “buy for the house,” all who are around can watch.
4. Part of a “package deal” you earn the “TV privilege”
5. Buy time to watch TV, time to stay up longer, and time off from school or work.

Three: Sleeping Quarters: In closed institutional living, various quality levels of housing could also be made available at different exchange rates. Defining characteristics of these rooms could be as follows:
Level #1: Bedside table, spreads for bed, curtains on windows, doors on their room, lockers, and/or throw rugs will be available at this level.
Level #2: No extras or comforts, simply a bed and essential bedding will be found at this level.
Level #3: A cot with minimal bedding, no extras, is at this level. Asection in Ayllon’s program similar to this was called “Skid Row” by the patients.

d. Novelty: Organisms will often prefer to put themselves in novel
situations (Millenson, 1967, p. 397). A number of studies indicate that an organism will work for exposure to novel stimuli. Teachers make use of this when they say something like, “As soon as you finish your assignment, I have a surprise for you.”

e. The Library or Other Aspects Of An Institution As A Reinforcer: Access to the institution’s library could be used as a reinforcer for some individuals. Use of the library illustrates how various institutional functions could be incorporated into a consequence program.

f. Treatment As A Consequence Itself: All of the existing forms of therapy available to the treatment program could be offered as reinforcers.

1. The first three minutes of conference time with the chaplain, M.D., and the nurse could be free. One may get more time by paying for it with earnings from work on their ward. Three minutes should be a sufficient interval for the patient to present any essential information.

2. Sessions with the psychologist, social worker, conferences, group therapy, A.A., recreational and occupational therapy could be made available as a consequence for behavior.

g. Duration In An Institution As A Consequence: Length of stay in an institution, or granting requests to leave, can be made contingent upon sought after behavior. Sending a patient to an institution for a fixed period, using “time off for good behavior,” is not a feasible consequence in some situations. In these settings, using other “length of stay” measures as reinforcers is possible. Narrol, (1964), states, “Two of the three patients who failed to remain in the project had no previous history about the project to go on. One of the things that we found eventually worked distinctly in our favor is that the patient came to believe fanatically in our little pamphlet stating what the contingencies of our project were. This became a Bible. There were no ifs or buts about it. There was no hemming and hawing if he/she had worked his/her way up to weekend pass time, no matter what ordinarily might have been a criterion for saying to him/her, ‘Well, your social behavior hasn’t advanced to the point where I think you should leave the hospital.’ None of this existed. If he/she had fulfilled his/her part of the bargain, he/she got what we promised and this seems to be an exceptionally satisfying deal for the project member.”

h. Promotions: Exercise leaders, head waiters, etc., from within the patient group may be used. These promotions could have economical as well as social advantages.

i. Placebo: If a person is highly reinforced by the placebo effect of pills, one might develop a repertoire of behaviors aimed at eliminating this behavior from the repertoire of the patient. Elimination of this “hypochondriasis”, making statements of an illness not confirmed, could be accomplished by building up a repertoire of behavior that is highly reinforced and incompatible with the expressed strong verbal statements for pills. The purchases of placebos, a known reinforcer in these patients, could be used as a reinforcer for behavior that is incompatible with hypochondria.

j. A Known Problem Behavior Used As A Reinforcer: Alcohol could be used as a reinforcer to develop behaviors incompatible with alcoholism.

k. Payment Reduction: Reduction in cost of treatment when behavior being sought is produced.

l. Ticket of Admissions: The person does a certain behavior as homework and it serves as a ticket of admission to the next therapy or training session. The therapy itself needs to work as a reinforcer.

m. Bonus for Saving: Points are given for getting a job and if you put points in the bank a bonus is given.

n. Incidental Activity As Reinforcer: Filling a pipe at a therapy session could increase the chance that a person might come back. Using female nurse/male patient or vice versa combinations in mental hospital wards might help patients “keep neat for the nurse.”

o. Snack or Films in the Evening: This may have many benefits. More attention to patients may keep patients awake after the evening meal and may generate more interaction among those in the institution.

p. Vending Machine Purchases: Token operated vending machines can be used to purchase such varied materials as newspapers, magazines, gum balls, meals, various toilet articles, cigarettes, photo machines, pool games, pin ball, shooting gallery, bowling games, jukebox, etc.

q. Buy Out of Program: The person can buy his/her way out of the system for a certain amount of tokens.

r. Activity with Pay-Off: It costs to get into an activity but completing the activity pays off. For example, the individual might have to pay for the right to work in the hospital repair shop, but he/she likewise could earn high payments there. Similarly, the individual might pay for a programmed learning course, but in turn he/she could get a high payoff when he/she completed frames of the programmed material.

s. Home-School Cooperative Program: In a program reported by Sturm in Minneapolis, parents served as reinforcing agents for teachers in school. The students’ performance on a certain behavior was recorded by the teacher each day. These data were then relayed to parents by phone or other means and reinforcers were tied to home life were given by the parents. This study illustrates home and school working together on common problems.

t. Sampling: An everyday application of sampling of reinforcement is the practice of giving free samples in food markets or grocery stores. The customers are induced to eat small quantities of a new food so that larger quantities will be purchased. This sampling of the reinforcer has satirically been referred to by advertisers as, “Try it, you’ll like it.”

u. Teaching Child to Count: One way to help teach a child to count is to explain to the child you gave him the wrong allowance and you will reinforce detection of errors – be it too much or too little.

v. Application Illustrating the Value of Immediacy of Reinforcement: In toilet training children, the staff at a school utilized candies for sitting on the potty and doing the appropriate behavior. Part of the staff who were not dealt with got the message that they were supposed to reinforce the behavior, but they didn’t get the notion that the immediacy of the reinforcing was important. The staff trained directly put M&M’s into the mouths of the children when they were sitting on the potty, and after they had done the correct thing, the reinforcer was delivered immediately. The other shift that had not been dealt with directly in this institution was also giving the child candy, but after the child was off the potty, he/she had to walk with the aide over to the nursing station to pick up the candy there, because the aides on that particular shift had not been instructed to carry the candy with them and pop it into the child’s mouth promptly. A very interesting phenomenon developed. The children during the day shift, the shift that was popping candy into the children’s mouth immediately after the behavior, were toilet trained very well during the day. The late afternoon shift found the same children who were toilet trained during the day shift were not trained during the late shift.

w. Reinforcement of Being A Behavioral Engineer: One can find it reinforcing to talk about complex behaviors in objective terms. As an example, one could consider the reinforcers for the individual if he could analyze behavior in such illustrated ways as in the following example: if positive reinforcers are so important to behavior, how do some people like alcoholics work constantly for punishment? Just the analysis of this type of problem might be highly reinforcing for some people. Surmising that an alcoholic may get a hangover, find him/herself arrested, be put in jail, etc., leads one to conclude, objectively, that all of these are punishers. Hidden is the fact that the positive reinforcers are immediate. Analysis of your own behavior might be as reinforcing.

x. Attention as Secondary Reinforcement: Consider how, in infant training in our culture, attention is intricately tied to feeding. For example, kind words, visual contact, touching contact, and social stimuli all take place at feeding time.

In dealing with a behavioral approach many people are concerned about making materialists out of children. A study of secondary reinforcers offers an alternative to this materialistic problem. Technically, non-tangible types of reinforcers are called secondary reinforcers. This area of research has shown that events that accompany effective primary reinforcers will in themselves become effective reinforcers. In animal research, pairing food with a tone will lead to having the tone become an effective reinforcer. In humans, verbal praise will become a reinforcer by being paired with other effective reinforcers.

y. Attention in School Situations: A grade school student getting out of his/her seat may be asked by the teacher, “Please sit down,” and also receive attention from other class members. If peer attention is a powerful reinforcer, the behavior of getting out of the seat may be maintained even in the presence of the teacher’s aversive stimulus.

z. Hearing Words as a Reinforcer: Parents generally talk to their child while giving primary reinforcers, such as food, and the sounds of voices become secondary reinforcers. Since the child’s own voice is somewhat like those the child has heard from parents, their voice becomes a secondary reinforcer.

Being able to produce words themselves, therefore, produces auditory feedback reinforcers, i.e. the words which are heard are secondary reinforcers. These words could be one’s own or words of another. Moreover, this feedback loop can account for language improvement. As one acquires better language skills, the matching to sample would require better approximations in order for the person to be “turned on,” i.e. positively reinforced for more spoken words.

aa. Anorexia: Bachrach, Erwin, and Mohr (1965) describe the use of secondary reinforcement in a dramatic case of anorexia nervosa. The client’s weight went from 120 pounds down to 47 pounds. This dramatic loss of weight, according to the authors of the article, was the largest known weight loss in the area where the client lived. With this patient, food would not increase the rate of eating responses, but it was found she would respond for certain secondary reinforcers. They found that she would eat to watch TV, to listen to the radio, to play records, to read, for social visits from different people on the ward, for extra visits with her nurses and doctors, etc. She was transferred from her pleasant hospital room to a private room in the psychiatric ward where all of these attractive encounters were not present noncontingently. The room was furnished with a bed, a night stand, and a chair. Access to the above mentioned favorite items were made contingent upon the performance of minimal eating responses.

bb. “Eat Your Supper, Johnny”: Johnny pushes his plate further away. This parent has to ask five or six times before the child will even start to eat. He also has to be asked to hang up his coat five or six times before he responds. By not hanging up his coat, he can control his mother’s attention for about five minutes.

cc. Use of Primary or Secondary Reinforcers: Should approval, praise, etc., or more tangible, extrinsic primary reinforcers be used? If social or secondary reinforcers work, it is not necessary to find other reinforcers. If secondary or social reinforcers do not work, trying some forms of primary reinforcers is necessary.

dd. The notion that people should display good behavior for its own sake. This type of behavior is maintained by reinforcers in the person’s environment.

D. IMPLICATIONS

Pinpoint, Record, Consequate, and Try, Try Again:
One major advantage of a behavioral approach is that it can be applied easily and rapidly, thus leading to behavior change. With the background you now have from this material you can start applying behavioral principles in order to change behavior, either your own or others. Following this unit, the remainder of this set of materials will add more sophistication to your techniques to change behavior. The biggest “selling point” in a behavior change technique is the results it gets. Clearly, identifiable change of behavior can be accomplished using the principles described here.

Ogden Lindsley has developed an easy-to-learn format for modifying behavior. Lindsley outlines his technique with the following key points:
One: Pinpoint the target behavior
Two: Count the responses
Three: Consequate the behavior
Four: Try, Try again

Malott has used another mnemonic device to describe a similar procedure: SOC

S: Specification
O: Observation
C: Consequation

1. Pinpoint
The first step is to pinpoint the behavior to be changed. A behavior must be specified before you can change it. The behavior you aim at developing in the patient is called the terminal behavior or the target behavior. After determining the final performance or goal, you must specify a segment of that final behavior with which you will begin. This must be defined in terms of a specific, identifiable response, described as precisely as possible. It would not be very useful, for example, to say that the teaching task is to “make John behave.” “Behave” must be defined more specifically. One might ask, “What is it that John is to do?” A vague answer to this question might be, “John is to hand in each class assignment in correct form, on time.” The latter statement is more useful than the first because
1) the behavior is described in a manner which permits observation of it.
2) it provides a statement of events that can be measured.
3) the responses can be counted to determine changes in behavior.

The above example refers to the acceleration or establishment of behavior; the same points are pertinent in decelerating or reducing how often a behavior occurs. For example, one would not base a program on getting Bobby to “stop being bad.” One might set about to extinguish or decrease the behavior of writing on the wall with a crayon.

The definition of a response, as used here, is that which an organism physically does. To be a pinpointed behavior, those observing the behavior should agree on the occurrence of the behavior.

The behavior to be pinpointed should be a response of a living organism, not the movement of the “thing,” nor should it be a non-behavior. One certainly may reduce the occurrence of a behavior, but the pinpointed actions should still be the description of the occurrence. The pinpoint is not the nonoccurrence of a behavior. Ogden Lindsley introduced a “Dead Man Test” to ensure the recognition of non-behaviors. The rule states that if a dead man could do it, it is not a pinpointed behavior.

Count (or Record): How frequently does the behavior occur before you intervene in any way? In order to be effective in changing pinpointed behavior, this question must be answered. One interesting result of this procedure is that once we count the actual number of times that a given behavior occurs, we may find that the nature of a problem is not what it was considered to be originally. It may well be that there is no problem at all.

Various methods have been suggested to count responses, e.g. scratch pads, handheld click-counters, etc. The base rate, or starting level, is very important. Using a base rate makes it possible to determine whether the conditions that immediately follow behavior (i.e. consequences) do change behavior. All one has to do is compare the baseline to the level of behavior which happens during presentation of a consequence.

Consequate: By consequate we mean follow a behavior immediately with a consequence or a reinforcer.

What are the reinforcers we can use? One can make some good guesses through observation. Once we have what is considered our best guess, we have continuous feedback as to the effectiveness of the reinforcer. If different reinforcers are required, other possible solutions occur by continuing to try different reinforcers. Remember to let the person be the “expert,” so to speak, on what s/he wants. Try to determine what consequences might influence the person’s behavior and then present it to the person contingent on his performance of the sought-after behavior. How easy it is for all of us to let the good behavior go by unnoticed. The trouble with the philosophy of “let sleeping dogs lie” is that no reinforcement is given for appropriate behavior. Remember, the immediacy factor is paramount.

Even though the teacher “merely listens,” listening is the first event after Martha’s responses and, therefore, the “immediate” condition.

Try, Try Again: If in counting one finds that the consequence doesn’t change the rate of the behavior, one should try some other consequence. If the base rate is not changed in the sought-after direction, try another variable.

A large number of individuals have used this method to change a tremendous number of behaviors. Some have been severe behavioral deficits, others have been what would be termed mild behavioral deficits. By pinpointing or recording, you can see what is happening. With a chart or record of your behavior, at times you can savor the sweet smell of success. The people who have pushed the hardest for Lindsley’s theory have an expression concerning the recording of behavior: “Care enough to chart.”

2. Contingency Contracting:

Let us take a look at how reinforcement procedures can be applied in an arrangement called contingency contracting. Contingency contracting is one method of involving all of the parties in the reinforcement procedures. This is different from the usual procedure of having a teacher, therapist, spouse, parent, etc. make the decisions. In a contract system the people involved decide jointly what type of reinforcers will be forthcoming, and for what specific behaviors. Some use written contracts in which they spell out both sides of the agreement; some even sign these contracts. For example, a teacher might use contracts with grades as reinforcers.

Contracts should be stated in simple language, easily defined by all. The occasion may dictate different ways of wording a particular contract, but in each case the terms of the contingency contract will fit the paradigm “If first you do X, then you may do (or will get) Y.”

This form of contingency contract has been used by parents, teachers, and others throughout history. It has been helpful in rearing children who are pleasant and who contribute to a congenial home environment.

Behavioral contracting is a formal means of scheduling the exchange of positive reinforcements among the target individuals.

Good behavioral contracts generally contain at least four parts:

1. The contract should specify in detail what happens when one fulfills his/her tasks.

2. The requisite behavioral performances must be subject to some form of monitoring.

3. The contract should provide for situations in which agreements are not kept.

4. If bonuses are to be provided for unusually good performances, this should be specified.

Here is a possible checklist for the contingency contract:

1. Does the contract state the size of the task and the criteria you have set for it?

2. Does the contract say how monitoring is to be accomplished? Does the contract specify the duration of the reinforcing event?

3. If the person meets the criteria, is he/she reinforced?

4. If the person failed to meet the criteria, does he/she correct those responses which were incorrect?

5. How are violations handled?

The exchange contract has been a very effective and efficient procedure used in modifying behavior of two people. The contracts work on the basis that each person identifies behavior they would like the other to modify and also agrees to modify their own behavior in exchange. For example, a spouse wanted his/her partner to wear particularly attractive clothes. The specific behavior he/she was trying to increase was wearing a specified type of clothes. The spouse, on the other hand, wanted his/her partner to take him/her out to dinner. The specified behavior was an increase in going out to eat together. The contract established was as follows. Alice Smith’s contract: “I agree to wear clothes my partner finds attractive if, in return, he takes me out to dinner.”

John Jones’s contract: “I agree to take my partner out to dinner, if, in return, she wears clothes that I find particularly attractive.”

Weiss and Stuart place importance on the reinforcers and punishers from the therapist, spouse, and environment. For example, if a husband agreed to go to a concert with his wife, he would be receive the following consequences:
(a) a five dollar token to reduce the therapy bill

(b) his wife helping him with his business records

(c) the option to earn points to go fishing.

However, failure to go to the concert would be penalized by the reverse of all privileges and he would be penalized by
(a) sleeping on the sofa
(b) losing the fishing option
(c) an increase of five dollars on his therapy bill.

Stuart states that it is important that an increase in positive behaviors is emphasized. Not only does the exchange contract teach reciprocal exchange and operant skills to solve present difficulties, but it also helps to teach a method of solving future difficulties.

This concept of exchange contracts assists in the elimination of undesirable behaviors by replacing them with more desirable behaviors. There is an added advantage of creating a situation where the person with a problem can make his/her own “behavioral-exchange contract” with minimal dependence on outside help.

Here is what a sample contract might look like:

I, being of “sound” behavior, do hereby enter into the following agreement. I will perform the following behaviors stated below. In return I will receive such benefits as stipulated below. If either party is held in violation of the contract then the other party may no longer be held by the terms of the contracts.

3. If the specific behaviors are performed correctly, I will receive for a violation of the provisions of the contract,…….

This kind of contracting may appear weird. However, preventing a “break-up” may make it very relevant to parties involved.

4. Token Economy:
One major application of generalized reinforcers is found in a token economy system. The following articles describe the use of a token economy in a mental hospital. The procedures, however, could be used in a variety of settings. The rules pertain not only to Token Economies but to any reinforcement system.

Nathan H. Azrin and Ted Ayllon’s work on token economies has made important contributions to the study of learning. They and the staff on Ward 4-B of Anna State Hospital attempted to apply operant conditioning principles to all phases of the patients’ lives, using tokens to produce acceptable behavior. The experiment was deliberately set up with the limited nursing staff that is usual in so-called “back” wards for long-term patients.

Visitors to the ward are turned over to a patient who gives a coherent picture of the economics and culture of Ward 4-B. If this tour is successful, the patient receives ten tokens pay. The following questions and answers are from patient-guide tours:

Question: What ways are there to spend tokens?
Answer: “You pay for everything, of course–meals, rooms, TV, extra clothes, lockers, movies. Living expenses are high. I pay 30 tokens a day for my room and two tokens at each meal. Of course, I pay that to eat in the early group, and I live in the most expensive dormitory. To me it’s worth the price– it’s nicer and the girls are quieter.” (Over one of the doorways was a pretty, red prize ribbon stating in bright gold letters, 30 Tokens. It contained neat beds, cabinets, curtains, and slipcovered chairs.)
Question: What happens if someone doesn’t have enough tokens?
Answer: “They pay or they’re moved out to a cheaper dormitory. Sometimes they move by choice. They say it’s too high for them.” She preceded me down the hall to the next doorway, where the ribbon said, 15 Tokens. “This one isn’t bad,” she said. “But they don’t have as good a class of patients here. They don’t take the interest.”

There were two dormitories for which the rent was only two tokens (no swinging door, few comforts). The last dormitory was rent-free and clean but bare of amenities. Though it was still rather early in the evening, most of the ten beds were already occupied. The guide said confidentially, “You know what they call this dormitory, naturally– Skid Row.”

“Sick” patients can develop normal independent behavior when the people who handle them expect and encourage it. In the past, unfortunately much of their handling had encouraged dependent and abnormal behavior. If, Richard X’s environment gives him everything he needs, he doesn’t have to do anything but sit and rock.

One of the most basic parts of the program is the management of meals. Each patient receives a token to be used in the turnstile at the dining room entrance. A token can be earned by each patient if they show up dressed within five minutes of the call of his/her assigned group. “Good grooming” earns an extra token (even if his/her rouge is a bright round blotch on each check). No patient is ever coaxed to eat or is helped at the table. When Ayllon first tried this system for meals at Saskatchewan Hospital in Canada there were dire warnings from the aides and the professional staff. But the patients didn’t let themselves starve, though a few of them may stop eating for the first few days. It becomes obvious that coaxing and assistance in eating are not needed.

Patients in this program had to pay for prolonged visits with a M.D. or a chaplain. The hospital chaplain, Rev. Robert Otto, defended the whole experiment in behavioral engineering. “These people must learn that there is a relationship between what they give and what they get. It seems, to me, proper to stimulate them to expend effort to meet their own needs. People outside have to support their pastor, don’t they? When patients pay their hard earned tokens, I know they really want to see me. So, I play the game. I set the timer and collect a token a minute.”

The first step is to watch the patients and see what they do. “High frequency” or “preferred” behaviors then became the reinforcers. There’s a premium on privacy in a crowded hospital. A patient will work and pay to obtain privacy. You also discover specific reinforcers for specific patients. Maybe one patient will pay to be in a dormitory that looks out on the deer. Maybe he/she will work hard for a ground pass so he/she can go out and watch the deer up close.

(1 Rewritten by Gerald C. Mertens from the articles Hartman,1964 and Azrin & Ayllon,1968.)

DEFINITIONS:

Reinforcer (positive reinforcer)
-Any stimulus, event, or condition
-whose presentation immediately follows a response
-and increases the frequency of that response.

Repertoire
-A set of skills.
-What a person can do.

Reinforcement Contingency
-the immediate,
-response-contingent
-presentation of
-a reinforcer
-resulting in an increased frequency of that response.

Reinforce behavior (a general rule)
-Reinforce behavior,
-not people.

Primary Reinforcer

-a stimulus that is a reinforcer

-though not as a result of pairing with another reinforcer

Premack Principle

-if one activity occurs more often than another,

-the opportunity to do the more frequent activity

-will reinforce the less frequent activity

Learned Reinforcer (secondary or conditioned reinforcer):

-A stimulus that is a reinforcer

–because it has been paired with another reinforcer

Generalized learned reinforcer (generalized secondary reinforcer or generalized conditioned reinforcer):

-A learned reinforcer that is a reinforcer

–because it has been paired with a variety of other reinforcers

Token economy:

-A system of generalized learned reinforcers

–in which the organism that receives those generalized reinforcers can save them

–and exchange them for a variety of backup reinforcers later