Reinforcement

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Reinforcement

• Chapter 2

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Arm Chair Psychology
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This Course Preparation

• Interpretation and prediction of complex human
  behavior
• To be successful, must develop a repertoire that
  includes correct use of basic terms and
  competence in the basic principles and laws of
  behavior

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Principles Laws Outcomes

• Framework Behaviorism B.F. Skinner et al.
• Principles Reinforcement, Punishment
• Laws Matching Law, Law of Effect
• Theories Behavioral Momentum, Choice,
  Relational Framing
• Social/learning/psychological/behavioral issues
  drug effects, economics, safety, skill
  development, behavior disorders, psychopathology,
  environmental pollution and behavioral health,
  military training, consumer behavior
• Programs Direct instruction, precision
  teaching, picture exchange communication system,
  centers for assessment and treatment of self
  injurious behavior, Head Sprout, PSI, Dont Shoot
  the Dog, performance management, etc.

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Hughes et al. (2005)
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Reinforcers

• Can reinforcers be used to change behavior for
  the better (social significance)?
• Is precision in reinforcer presentation important?

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Reinforcement Principle

• A response will occur more frequently if a
  reinforcer or an increase in a reinforcer has
  immediately followed it in the past, in similar
  settings

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Reinforcement Contingency

• The immediate, response-contingent, presentation
  of a reinforcer resulting in an increased
  frequency of that response.
• What is a reinforcer?

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Frequency

• Frequency count of responses in a given time
  period
• Rate of response
• of responses
• total time spent observing

Rate
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Frequency Count
Data Sheet Date 8/25/05 Time 6 AM to 8
AM Target Behavior Physical complaints Total
instances 22
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Frequency?

• Rate of response
• 90 instances of behavior
• 60 minutes
• 1.5 instances of the behavior per minute
• The rate of the response during the observation
  period was 1.5 responses per minute.

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Increased Frequency

• Rate of response
• 90 instances of behavior
• 2 hours
• 45 instances of the behavior per hour
• The response rate during the observation period
  was 45 responses per hour.

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Response Contingent

• Produced by the response
• The receipt of the software upgrade was
  contingent up clicking the download icon
• Clicking on the download icon produced the
  software upgrade
• Getting the upgrade was dependent upon clicking
  the download icon

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Delay Gradient

• The effects of reinforcement and punishment
  contingencies decrease as the delay between the
  response and the outcome increases.

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Behavioral ContingencyThe occasion for a
response, the response, the outcome of the
response

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Occasion

• The occasion is a stimulus in the presence of
  which a particular response (behavior) will
  produce a particular outcome
• (discriminative stimulus)

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Behavioral ContingencyThe occasion for a
response, the response, the outcome of the
response

BEDROOM Lights Out
Before Rod has no attention from Dawn
Behavior Rod cries
After Rod has attention from Dawn
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Examples of Reinforcement Contingencies

• Before Behavior After
• No attention Cries Attention
• No cookie Says Cookie Cookie

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Contingent vs. Noncontingent

• Contingent event
• Depends upon
• Caused by
• Parents approval

• Noncontingent event
• Not dependent on anything
• Parents love

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Contingent Use of Reinforcers

• How do you know you have engaged in the
  contingent use of a reinforcer?
• How could you find out whether an assumed
  reinforcer really serves as a reinforcer?

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Tantrums Cooperative Behaviors
Intervention
Baseline
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Reinforcer Assessment

• Observe
• Ask
• Structured Assessment

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Environmental-QualityGeneral Rule

• You can increase the frequency of entering a
  setting by putting more reinforcers in that
  setting, but you will have to make some
  reinforcers contingent on productive behavior if
  you want to increase productivity in that setting.

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Positive Reinforcement or Not?

• A teacher wanted to improve students turning in
  assignments on time, so she began to give long
  lunch breaks every Friday to children who turned
  in all assignments for the week on time.

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Positive Reinforcement or Not?

• Joanna gave her son his allowance on Saturday and
  told him that it was payment in advance for his
  chores to be done on Sunday

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When can you say that a stimulus event or
condition is a reinforcer?

• After it has been presented in contingent
  relationship with a particular response and that
  response has increased in frequency

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Delivery of Reinforcers before the Behavior

• Reinforcer follows the behavior
• A behavior will occur more frequently in the
  future is a reinforcer or an increase in a
  reinforcer has immediately followed it in the
  past.

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The Bribe

• The bribe comes before the act
• Reinforcement NO
• Bribery? YES
• Bribery is the use of a reinforcer, often (but
  not always) given in advance, for the performance
  of an illegal or immoral act.

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Bribe or Reinforcer

• Ill give you 40 today to rake my yard next
  weekend.
• Ill give you 10,000 today for you to throw the
  big game

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They should ought to want to do it

• Dont want to give a reinforcer for something
  they think a person should do without the added
  reinforcer
• False morality
• Use of positive reinforcement
• No one gets hurt
• Makes life better

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Repertoire

• Trying to reinforce a behavior that is not in the
  repertoire?
• If pre-intervention rate is too low,
  reinforcement may have little effect

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Avoid Circular Reasoning
Why does Rudolph drink the water?
Rudolph wants the water
Rudolph drinks the water
Why do you think Rudolph wants the water?
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Avoid Circular Reasoning(read from right to left)
How do you know the temp is 120o F?
Why does Rudolph drink the water?
Because thats what the thermometer says.
Because the temp is 120o F in the box.
Rudolph drinks the water.
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Error of Reification

• To call a process or activity a thing.
• Example
• Why does he act strangely (activity)? Because he
  has a mental illness (sounds like a thing that
  can be in ones possession).
• How do you know he has a mental illness?
  Because she acts strangely.

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Medical Model Myth

• Why did he do what he did?
• Is the behavior a symptoms of an underlying
  psychological condition?

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Hits others every day

• Angry?
• Poor self-esteem?
• Insecure?
• Behavior analysts suspect that hitting others is
  a learned behavior

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Medical Model Myth

• An erroneous view of human behavior that
  behavior is always a mere symptom of an
  underlying psychological problem.

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Why does Eric tantrum?

• Insecure (underlying psych condition)
• How do you know?
• He tantrums (a symptom)
• CIRCULAR REASONING

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Problem

• Most of the medical-model applications in
  psychology are based on circular reasoning

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Arm Chair Psychology

• Harmful?
• Psychology has a tradition of multiple
  subspecialties/disciplines, each with a rich
  research tradition
• IMPORTANT FINDINGS

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Behavior Analysis

• Learn the basic principles reinforcement,
  punishment, etc.
• Be careful about assumptions
• Logical errors
• Lack of knowledge about basic principles

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Baseline

• The phase of an experiment or intervention where
  the behavior is measured in the absence of an
  intervention.

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Graph of Baseline Intervention
Tantrums
Intervention
Baseline