Week 5: Increasing Behavior Reinforcement: Part 1 Week 5: Increasing Behavior

Positive Reinforcement Delivered Immediately after a behavior Delivered contingent upon a behavior Increases probability of future behavior

Potential Rule Governed Behavior When no immediate consequence Behavior changes without reinforcement Large increase in behavior follows one instance of reinforcement Rule exists

Some important Points We do not reinforce people Practice is not reinforcement Feedback is not always reinforcement Artificial Reinforcement does not mean “fake”

Motivating Operations Establishing Operations: Increases temporarily the immediate effectiveness of a reinforcer. Deprivation Abolishing Operations: Decreases temporarily the immediate effectiveness of a reinforcer Satiation

4 term Contingency EO A B C No water Drinking Drink Fluid intake Fountain

Reinforcement Classification Unconditioned Unlearned Primary Conditioned Secondary Learned

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcement Neutral Stimulus that is paired with many other reinforcers The more reinforcers are paired with a neutral stimulus the more likely the neutral stimulus becomes a GCR E.g. money

Premack Principle LPR Before access to HPR Response-Deprivation Hypothesis (Timberlake & Allison, 1974). This is an important consideration when developing treatments. Don’t just make HPR contingent. It must be contingent and be deprived relative to free operant levels!

Identifying Potential Reinforcers Stimulus Preference Assessment Ask People Open ended questions Choice Format Rank-ordering Observe Contrived Naturalistic Experiment Single Stimulus Paired Stimuli Multiple Stimuli

Identifying Potential Reinforcers Continued Reinforcer Assessment Concurrent Schedule of Reinforcement May cause premature rejection (preference does not mean ineffective reinforcer). Multiple Schedule Reinforcer Assessment Progressive-Ratio Schedule Reinforcer Assessment Increase response effort (schedule) and see how behavior changes.

Other Methods of Identifying Reinforcers ABAB Non-contingent Reinforcement Differential Reinforcement

Non-Contingent Reinforcement? What is wrong with this term? Presenting Reinforcement on a time schedule

Tips for Using Reinforcement Easily Achieved Initial Criterion Sufficient Magnitude of Reinforcer Vary Reinforcer Direct contingencies when possible Use prompts with reinforcement Reinforce each occurrence initially Use praise/attention with other reinforcers Gradually increase response-to-reinforcement delay (some call this fading – it is not – Thinning)

Negative Reinforcement Removal of aversive stimulus Immediately after a behavior Increases probability of behavior in future

Escape Versus Avoidance Escape – Termination Avoidance – Prevention

Examples?

Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed Ratio Reinforcement delivered after a specific number of target responses are emitted. Post Reinforcement Pause Larger the ratio longer the PRP DeLuca & Holborn (1990) Provided FR schedule to pedaling behavior of fat people. Fat people started pedaling more

Variable Ratio Reinforcement provided contingent upon a variable number of responses. Strong Consistent Performance Group Contingencies makes use of VR Schedules

Fixed Interval Reinforcement provided after first response after specified period of time. PRP and Scallop Effect Slow rates of responding

Variable Interval Reinforcement provided after first response after variable duration of time elapsed. Constant stable rate of responding Limited Hold: amount of time R+ is available once interval elapses.

Differential Reinforcement DR-Other DR-Alternate DR-Icompatiable DR-Lower Rates DR-Higher Rates

Compound Schedules of Reinforcement Can be: Successive or simultaneously With or without discriminative stimuli Reinforcement for each element or for the combination of all.

Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement 2 contingencies of reinforcement operating independently and simultaneously E.g. you can study or go out for the night Behaviors are Matched to maximize rates of reinforcement

Discriminative Schedules Multiple Schedule (Stimulus discrimination) Alternating two or more schedules Uses an S+ to signal each schedule (e.g. 1 behavior class but two different situations for two different reinforcement schedules) Chained Schedule Specific order of presentation Behavior may be different for each schedule All schedules must be complete for final outcome

Nondiscriminative Schedules Mixed Schedules Same as Mult. But no discriminative stimulus FR15/FI1 sometimes after FR15 and sometimes after FI1 Tandem Schedules Same as chained but no discriminative stimulus FR 15/FI2 means first instance will be 15 response and second will be in 2 minutes

Combined Schedules Alternative Schedules Conjunctive Schedules Either or Schedule (whichever comes first) Conjunctive Schedules Both Schedules being met before reinforcement is provided

Matching Law Myerson Article