Token economies

Question 1

what is a token economy?

Answer 1

A technique which reinforces appropriate behaviour by giving or withholding tokens which can be exchanged for privileges.​

Question 2

what did Ayllon & Azrin (1968) conduct

Answer 2

Used Token Economy in women’s ward in a mental institution in the US. ​

• They were rewarded with tokens for self-care​
• These could be exchanged for privileges like watching films etc.​
• ‘Desirable’ behaviours increased significantly.​
• However, these decreased significantly once the system was withdrawn.​ This is because they were only doing it for a rewards. The could be imitating the behaviour as they see it being rewarded. so possibly not internalising it when rewarded.

Question 3

what does a token economy involve ?

Answer 3

A token economy programme involves a system of rewards being set up for desired behaviour.​Can also be to give punishments to discourage behaviour which is undesirable.​

Question 4

examples of tokens

Answer 4

Rewards are usually tokens or points, and these can be periodically exchanged for something that the individual wants.​This is an important part of the programme as the rewards must genuinely reward the person.

Question 5

what reinforced the use of tokens

Answer 5

Desirable behaviour such as co-operation and compliance is reinforced with the use of tokens.​ These tokens have no intrinsic value and are called secondary reinforcers.​ They can however be exchanged for primary reinforcers which are wanted by the person. ​

Question 6

limitations of token economies

Answer 6

• Reducing symptoms – not a cure​.
• ethical issues – privileges and services etc become less available to those with severe symptoms and more available for those with mild symptoms. Becomes a cycle of them complying less to desirable behaviours. face severe discrimination as well as suffering with severe symptoms. Families have challenged the legality of this, and this has reduced the use of TEPs in psychiatric system.​

Question 7

advantages of token economies

Answer 7

Krista Growacki found evidence for the effectiveness of token economies. She identified 7 high quality studies and examined the effectiveness in patients with schizophrenia. All the studies showed a reduction in negative symptoms and decline in frequency of unwanted behaviours.

Question 8

name ways of treating schizophrenia

Answer 8

CBT
family therapy
antipsychotic medication
token economies

Question 9

what type of operant conditioning do token economies use

Answer 9

positive reinforcement

Question 10

how are token economies used to manage patient behaviour in the hospital.

Answer 10

Patients are given reward tokens to engage in positive maladaptive behaviour. Tokens can be exchanged for rewards. The patient learns to repeat positive adaptive behaviours through positive reinforcement.

Question 11

what is token economies

Answer 11

to manage patients behaviour in hospital, patients are given tokens when they engage in positive adaptive behaviour. They can then exchange these rewards

Question 12

what type of conditioning do token economies use

Answer 12

operant conditioning

Question 13

how does classical conditioning take place in token economies

Answer 13

the patient learns to associate the token with the reward

Question 14

how does the patient learn through classical conditioning

Answer 14

At first, the token is a neutral stimulus. through repeated association with the reward, the token becomes a conditioned response. The patient develops conditioned response to the token.

Question 15

what is the purpose of using token economies ?

Answer 15

to manage a patients behaviour.

Question 16

explain how classical conditioning is involved in token economies

Answer 16

Token economies use classical conditioning through the association of the token with the reward. The token is initially a neutral stimulus, however through repeated association with the reward, the token becomes a conditioned stimulus. This then elicits a conditioned response from the patient, in order to receive the reward.

Question 17

How did Dickerson et al investigate the effectiveness of token economies

Answer 17

by conducting a review of 13 studies in which token economies had been used to manage patient behaviour

Question 18

what did Dickerson et al find

Answer 18

that 11 of the studies reported improvements in patients behaviour. Token economies were especially useful in combination with other treatments.

Question 19

what were the limitations of the many studies investigating token economies?

Answer 19

they often lack a control group. this means that we cant be sure that there is a cause and effect relationship between token economies and improvements in behaviour

Question 20

limitations of token economies

Answer 20

many studies lacked a control group and so cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between token economies and improvements in behaviour.

another limitation is that outside the hospital it is harder to provide a immediate rewards for positive behaviour. this means that patients are less likely to form an association between their behaviour and the reward.

Token economies can be seen as unethical. patients are treated like children, which might be humiliating and cause distress. rewards might encourage patients it become over dependent on being rewarded for their behaviour, which could have negative effects once they leave the hospital