Token economies - psychological therapies

Question 1

What are token economies?

Answer 1

A form of behaviour theraphy where desirable behaviour is encouraged through the use of selective reinforcement

Question 2

Why are token economies used?

Answer 2

They are designed to make it more likely that the schizophrenic can live outside a hospital setting - they want the patient to engage more ofte in desirable behaviours

Question 3

How do token economies work?

Answer 3

The behaviour principles employed are based mainly on operant conditioning

• The patients are set target behaviours which will improve their engagement in daily acitivites
• The patient is given a token immidiately after engaging in a target behaviour
• Tokens are secondary reinforcers (because they only have value once the patient has learned that they can be used to obtain rewards)
• These tokens are exchanged for primary reinforcers

Question 4

What are primary reinforcers? What are secondary reinforcers?

Answer 4

Primary reinforcers = what the patient actually wants

Secondary reinforcer = what the patient associates the primary reinforcer with