Chapters 8-15 Flashcards
What are the tactics in the reinforcement strategy?
- Increase desired behavior through reinforcement
- Decrease undesired behavior through extinction
- Increase a desired behavior relative to undesired behavior through differential reinforcement
- Create new behavior through shaping
- Use reinforcer effectiveness
- Increase response rate with a ratio schedule of reinforcement
- Reduce reinforcer frequency with an interval schedule
What is a reinforcer?
Any event that follows a behavior and increases the rate of that behavior.
It can follow the end of a behavior or the start of a behavior and occur concurrently (at the same time)
A proven reward
What is reinforcement?
The procedure of using a reinforcer to increase the rate of behavior
What do you reinforce?
A behavior not a person
Reinforcer is….
Reinforcement is….
….an event
…..a procedure
Behavior analysts claim that reinforcement is…
the basic building block for all human behavior
What is the best way to prove that an event is a reinforcer?
Reversal design. If the behavior goes up during baseline and back down during reversal then you can be sure it was a reinforcer
What is the second best method for proving an event is a reinforcer?
Multiple-baseline design
The book assumes that comparison design proves reinforcement. Does this work in real life?
No. Reversal is best, multiple-baseline is second best
What is a contingency?
a relationship between the behavior and the reinforcer. You won’t get the reinforcer unless you perform the behavior
What is a person’s history of reinforcement?
- Explains their current behavior by their past experience.
- Whether they have received reinforcement for that behavior
In an instruction a reinforcer?
No. It occurs before the event
What is extinction?
A procedure in which an event (reinforcer) is stopped and the rate of the behavior decreases
Extinction is a ______ method
Gentle - you don’t have to hurt, coerce pr punish. Simply remove the reinforcer
What do you call the act of applying extinction?
Extinguishing the behavior
What is the extinction condition?
The condition during a reversal design where you stop delivery of the event (treatment) - reversal to baseline
What is extinction burst?
a temporary increase in responding as soon as extinction begins.
What is differential reinforcement?
a procedure involving two or more physically different behaviors where one is reinforced and all others are extinguished (rather than one behavior in two locations)
What are the different kinds of differential reinforcement?
- Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)
- Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
- Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO)
Questions to ask to determine if it’s differential reinforcement
How many different behaviors are involved (at least two)
How can you tell if the behaviors are different or not?
If the person is moving the same muscles in the same way no matter the other circumstances then it’s the same behavior
Examples of only one behavior
- making and not making a response (behavior and absence of behavior)
- the same muscles in two locations
- the same muscles at different times
- reading different materials
- saying the same words to different people
Examples of two different behaviors
- Same muscles at different speeds
- Same muscles at different strengths
- Talking about different topics
- Pronouncing a word correctly and incorrectly
What does differential reinforcement teach?
It teaches a person what response to make not when to make a response
What is shaping?
The differential reinforcement of a series of successive approximations to a target behavior.
What is a target behavior?
The ultimate goal of shaping
What is successive approximation?
Any behavior that is similar to a target behavior for a program of shaping.
It is NOT a procedure, it is only an element in the procedure of shaping.
What are the steps of shaping?
- Pick a target behavior as specific as possible
- Select successive approximations to the target behavior
- Differentially reinforce those approximations
Guidelines of shaping
- Select a target behavior that is as specific as possible
- Select a reinforcer that is readily available, can be consumed quickly and immediately after the behavior, and won’t get tired of quickly
- Select initial behavior that occurs at least once during observation period and is as close to target behavior as possible.
- Explain goals of shaping to the person and move to next approximation when it’s correct 6 out of 10 times
What are the 4 factors that cause events to be more effective?
- Event is contingent on the behavior
- Deliver immediately after behavior has occurred
- Size of the event is worthwhile
- Ensure that the person is deprived of the event (hasn’t had too much of the reinforcer)
What is the principle of contingency on reinforcer effectiveness
The more consistently the reinforcer is delivered only for the desired behavior, the more effective the reinforcer
“Was the event given ONLY for a desired behavior?”
What is the principle of immediacy on reinforcer effectiveness
The more immediate the delivery of the reinforcer aster the behavior, the more effective
“Was the event delivered within a MINUTE of the behavior?”
What is the principle of size on reinforcer effectiveness
The more worthwhile the AMOUNT of the reinforcer, the more effective the reinforcer.
“Was the amount of the event used WORTHWHILE?”
What is the principle of deprivation in reinforcer effectiveness?
The more deprived a person is of a reinforcer, the more effective the reinforcer
“Has the reinforcer RARELY been delivered?”
Define deprivation
The frequency with which the person has received a particular reinforcer in the recent past. They are more deprived the less often they have received the event.
What is establishing operations?
To label a broad range of events that increase reinforcer effectiveness. Any operation that establishes or increases the effectiveness of an event as a reinforcer.
What is a Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement?
The delivery of a reinforcer is scheduled for every occurrence of the behavior
(FR-1)
What is Extinction Schedule
The delivery of a reinforcer is scheduled to be withheld after occurrences of the behavior
What is an intermittent schedule of reinforcement
When the delivery of a reinforcer is scheduled to follow only some occurrences of the behavior
What is a fixed ratio schedule?
Reinforcing the first response after a fixed number of responses (abbreviate FR-#of responses -2 or more)
- rapid responding prior to reinforcement then people tend to pause
- higher rate of responding than intermittent schedules
- respond faster when you increase the ratio (until reach upper limit)
What is a variable ratio schedule?
Reinforcing the first response after a variable number of responses.
- highest response rate since there is no pausing
- greater resistance to extinction
What are the advantages of ratio schedules?
- Resistance to extinction - you’ll keep going longer if you think you may still get a reinforcer. Not if you are used to getting one after each response
- Decreased satiation - fewer reinforcers produce the same amount of behavior.
What are the disadvantages of ratio schedules?
- Continuous schedule needed for shaping - you have to reinforce every approximation
- Ratio strain - requiring so many responses for a reinforcer that the behavior slows or stops
What is a fixed-interval schedule?
reinforcing the first response after a fixed period of time since the prior reinforcement
-creates a scallop pattern of responding, lower than fixed-ratio
What is a variable-interval schedule?
reinforcing the first response after a varying period of time from the prior reinforcement
-produces work at a uniform rate, lower than variable-ratio
Advantages of Interval schedules
- Reduce the problem of satiation
2. Resistance to Extinction
Disadvantages of Interval Schedules
- Cannot use to shape a new behavior
2. Ratio strain - may deliver too little reinforcement to maintain responding
Laws of behavior
The patterns produced by ratio and interval schedules are basic laws of behavior
Superstitious reinforcement
If a person is reinforced after a fixed period of time no matter what they are doing at the time, they make up behaviors and act as if their behavior caused the reinforcement
What is behavioral momentum?
People generate a high rate of responding if they have recently been reinforced frequently.
