Chapter 15

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior

Differential Reinforcement: use reinforcement and

extinction to increase occurrence of a desirable target

behavior or decrease occurrence of undesirable

behavior.

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior

(DRA): used to increase frequency of a desirable

behavior and decrease frequency of undesirable

behavior. The desirable behavior is reinforced each time

it occurs, while undesired ones are not reinforced to

decrease them.

When to use DRA:

You need to want to increase the desirable behavior

The behavior needs to be already occurring

occasionally. If not, use shaping or prompting to evoke

it, and then use DRA.

You need to have a reinforcer that can be used each

time the desirable behavior occurs. If you have no

control on reinforcer/have no reinforcer, then you

can’t use DRA

Steps:

1. Define desirable and undesirable behaviors. It

helps to determine whether treatment is successful

2. Identify reinforcer. You must be able to determine

it because they may vary across people. Ways:

Reinforcer can be what reinforces the undesirable

behavior.

Observing/asking the person (Premack principle:

use high-frequency behavior as a reinforcer for a

low-frequency behavior)

Preference Assessment: try a variety of stimuli

and see which ones are reinforces to the person,

and then use reinforcer assessment (to

determine that item is the reinforcer, deliver it

contingent on behavior and show that the

behavior increased). Ways to conduct:

o Single Stimulus assessment: each potential

reinforcer is presented, one at a time to see

which one will be reached. The number of

times the reinforcer has been approached is

recorded, and the one with most is it.

o Paired Stimulus assessment (aka forced

choice): 2 potential reinforcers are presented

and the one that’s reached is recorded.

o Multiple Stimulus Assessment (aka multiple

stimuli without replacement MSWO): several

potential reinforcers presented and the

researcher records which one is approached

first, then second, then third…

Assess reinforcer by making each potential one

contingent on an operant response. If frequency

or duration increases when stimulus is contingent

on response, the stimulus is a reinforcer (e.g.

pressing a button to hear music more than

pressing button to turn fan on, shows that music

is a reinforcer)

3. Reinforce desired behavior immediately and

consistently.

4. Eliminate reinforcement for desirable behavior

5. Use intermittent reinforcement to maintain the

target behavior (continuous is only early on). This

makes the behavior more resistant to extinction.

6. Program for Generalization. It should be reinforced

in as many relevant situations as possible.

Different variations:

Differential Reinforcement of incompatible behavior

(DRI): alternative behavior is physically incompatible

with problem behavior, so the 2 can’t happen

together. E.G: to prevent the problem behavior of

head-slapping, the researchers can reinforce any other

behavior that needs the hands

Differential Reinforcement of Communication (aka

functional communication training): individual with

problem behavior learns to make communication

responses that are functionally equivalent to problem

behavior. E.G: when a person engages in problem

behavior to get attention, he can instead ask for

attention without engaging in that bad behavior, since

both will produce the same end result.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

Differential Reinforcement of other behavior (DRO):

reinforcer is contingent on the absence of the problem

behavior. Although the name suggests that you will

reinforce another behavior, you are actually just

reinforcing the absence of the problem behavior.

Steps:

1. Identify reinforcer for the problem behavior; you

need to use functional assessments. Like DRA, if

you can’t use extinction for the problem behavior,

you shouldn’t use DRO (exception: if reinforcer for

absence is more powerful than reinforcer for

existence of problem behavior).

2. Identify reinforcer to use in DRO procedure.

3. Choose the initial DRO time interval. As the

frequency of problem behavior decreases, DRO

intervals get lengthened gradually.

4. Eliminate reinforcer for problem behavior and

deliver reinforcer for absence of the problem

behavior.

5. Reset the interval if the problem behavior occurs.

6. Gradually increase the interval length.

Two types of DRO: whole-interval (whole-behavior

must be absent for the whole interval for the reinforcer

to be delivered; more effective) and momentary

(problem behavior must be absent at the end of the

interval; not effective alone, needs to act with whole-

interval to maintain the behavior).

Differential Reinforcement of Low Responding Rates

Differential reinforcement of low rates of responding

(DRL): reinforcer is delivered contingent on a lower rate

of responding during a period of time.

Variations: full-session DRL (reinforcement is delivered

if fewer than a specified number of responses occurs in

a period of time), spaced-responding DRL (specified

amount of time between responses for the reinforcer to

be delivered), and interval DRL (dividing a session into

intervals and providing the reinforcer if not more than

one response occurred in each interval; similar to

spaced).

Steps:

1. Determine whether DRL is appropriate procedure.

Use it if you want to decrease but not eliminate.

2. Determine acceptable level of behavior (how many

responses per session, interval of time between

each behavior…)

3. Decide whether to use full-session or spaced (this is

more appropriate if time matters vs. just

decreasing overall rate).

4. Inform client about procedure so that she knows

about schedules

5. Implement DRL procedure and give instructions as

well as feedback.

Stereotypic behavior (aka self-stimulatory behavior):

repetitive behavior that does not serve any social

function for the person.

Interresponse Time (IRT): time between responses.

Chapter 16

Defining Antecedent Control Procedures

Antecedent control procedures: antecedent stimuli are

manipulated to evoke desirable behaviors so that they

can be differentially reinforced, and to decrease

undesirable behaviors that interfere with the desirable

behaviors. They involve manipulating some aspect of

the physical/social world. Competing behaviors are

concurrent operants reinforced on concurrent

schedules of reinforcement (i.e. doing bad in school

because you’d rather party than study). There are 6

different antecedent manipulation procedures, but they

should always be used with differential reinforcement:

Present the SD or cues for the desired behavior (e.g. SD

for eating healthily is having healthy food present).

Arranging Establishing Operations for the Desirable

Behavior. By increasing the reinforcing value of the

consequence of a behavior, you make it more likely to

occur (e.g. buying a healthy cookbook would make it

more likely to eat healthily because your food would

be tastier).

Decreasing Response Effort for the Desirable Behavior.

So, arrange antecedent conditions that require less

effort to engage in the behavior to make it more likely

for that behavior to occur (people are inherently lazy).

Remove discriminative Stimulus for undesirable

behavior (e.g. presence of unhealthy food is a stimulus

for eating unhealthy foods)

Presenting abolishing operations for undesirable

behaviors. This isn’t always possible. For example,

when grocery shopping, you’re more likely to buy junk

foods when you’re hungry than when you’re not. So to

eat healthily, eat before grocery shopping, so your

desire to buy junk food is eliminated.

Increase response effort for undesirable behaviors. If

competing behaviors take more effort, they’re less

likely to interfere with desirable behavior. First you’d

have to remove undesirable behavior then make it

harder to get to again.

Research on Antecedent Control Strategies

Antecedent control strategies can be conducted by

manipulating discriminative stimuli (social or physical

environment), response effort, and manipulating

motivating operations (i.e. eliminating escape by

making tasks less aversive so escape would no longer be

reinforcing).

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Using Antecedent Control Strategies

Differential reinforcement and extinction are used in

conjunction with these strategies.

1. Identify and define desirable/undesirable behavior

that you want to change (can response effort be

manipulated?)

2. Analyze antecedent situations related to the

desirable/undesirable behavior.

3. Identify reinforcer for desirable/undesirable behavior

These control strategies, alongside differential

reinforcement and extinction are known as functional

interventions (they’re functional because they decrease

problem behaviors and increase desirable ones by

modifying the A and C). These are non-aversive (since

they don’t depend on punishment). They’re always the

1st step to treatments because the address function of

behavior (consequences) and the antecedents (what

evokes it)

Chapter 17

Punishment is implemented only after functional

interventions (differential reinforcement, extinction or

antecedent control) have been tried.

Time-Out

Time-out (from positive reinforcement): being removed

from a reinforcing activity for a few minutes contingent

on the instance of the problem behavior. Types:

Nonexclusionary time-out: can stay in room, but has

to sit across from where the other people who are

participating in the positively reinforcing behavior are;

used when the person can be removed from the

activity without the need of leaving the room, and if

his presence isn’t disruptive.

Exclusionary time-out: taken out of the room, so that

reinforcer is not available.

Time-out should always be used with differential

reinforcement; otherwise the behavior will re-emerge

after the treatment session.

Considerations: (1) what’s the function of the problem

behavior (time-in environment: where the problem

behavior occurs)? It’s not appropriate to use time-out

for negative reinforcement (sensory stimulation or

automatic reinforcement). (2) Is time-out practical

here? So, the change agent may needs to be able to

control the person, and there must be a room (for

exclusionary time-out) without positive reinforcers to

take the people to. The time-out room must be barren

(except from one chair), well-lit, and without locks. (3) Is

the room safe? (4) Is the time-out period brief? Time-

out should be brief, but if the problem behavior

persists, continue with contingent delay (extend the

time period by 10 sec to 1 min). (5) Can escape from

time-out be prevented? If refraining the escape would

not be successful, don’t use time-out, because then it

would be pointless since the escape will negatively

reinforce the aggressive/escaping behavior. (6) Can

interactions be avoided during time-out? Time-out

should be implemented without emotions from the

change agent. (7) Is time-out acceptable here?

Contingent Observation: contingent on the occurrence

of the problem behavior, the child has to sit and watch

the other children play appropriately.

Response Cost

Response Cost: removal of a specified amount of a

reinforcer (usually money or a privilege) contingent on

the occurrence of a problem behavior. It’s a negative

punishment procedure. Differential reinforcement

should also be used in conjunction.

The processes used to decrease problem behaviors are:

extinction, time-out and response cost. With extinction,

problem behavior is not followed by a reinforcing event

that had maintained the behavior before. With time-

out, the person is removed from access to sources of

reinforcement when problem behavior occurs. With

response cost, a reinforcer is removed (by quantity)

after problem behavior.

Considerations: (1) Which reinforcer will be removed?

(2) Is the reinforcer loss immediate or delayed?

Reinforcers can be delayed and would still be effective

only if you present a verbal statement that they will lose

the reinforcer soon. Delays are usually not appropriate

for people with intellectual disabilities. (3) Is the loss of

reinforcers ethical? (4) Is response cost practical and

acceptable?

Chapter 18

Application of Aversive Activities

Punishment through application of aversive activities:

contingent on the problem behavior, a person will be

made to engage in an aversive activity)low-probability

behavior the person would not choose to engage in).

This follows the Premack principle that when high-

probability behavior is followed by low-probability ones,

the high-probability behavior decrease in occurrence.

Aversive activities are punishers in the form of

behaviors. The change agent is usually required to use

physical guidance to keep the person working on the

aversive activity, but eventually, the person will engage

in the activity on command to avoid physical guidance.

Types of Aversive Activities:

Overcorrection: developed to decrease aggressive and

disruptive behavior for people with intellectual

disabilities. Here, the client is required to engage in an

effortful behavior for an extended period contingent

on each instance of the problem behavior. 2 types:

o Positive Practice: client has to engage in correct

forms of relevant behavior contingent on an

instance of problem behavior (the student who

spells a word incorrectly is required to spell it out

10 times).

o Restitution: procedure in which, contingent on

each instance of the problem behavior, the client

must correct the environmental effects of problem

behavior and restore environment to a condition

better than that which existed before (when a girl

scribbles on one house wall, restitution would be

to make her clean that wall, plus an extra one).

Contingent Exercise: client is made to engage in some

form of physical exercise contingent on an instance of

problem behavior. It’s different than overcorrection

because in overcorrection, the aversive activity is

based on what the problem behavior is (you have to

restore/perform the correction of behavior). For

contingent exercise, you perform an unrelated

exercise that the client is capable of (e.g. to stop a

child from swearing in front of family, each time he

swore, his father would make him clean windows for

10 minutes).

Guided Compliance: person is guided physically

through the requested activity contingent on the

occurrence of the problem behavior. To use this,

physical guidance must be a punisher for the client;

otherwise, it shouldn’t be used. It serves 2 functions:

(1) it’s a positive punishment of problem behavior

(aversive situation happens) and (2) negative

reinforcer for compliance (when you comply, aversive

situation is removed). It’s equally effective as time-out

in children.

Physical Restraint: contingent on problem behavior,

change agent holds immobile the part of the client’s

body that’s involved in the behavior, such that agent is

physically restrained from doing problem behavior.

Some people have physical restraint as a punisher,

others as a reinforcer, so it`s important to know which

(physical restraint will only work for those that see it

as a punisher). This can be used with pica behavior

(ingesting non-food items).

o Response Blocking: change agent prevents

occurrence of a problem behavior by physically

blocking the response.

Application of Aversive Stimulation

Bruxism: behavior in which a person grinds upper and

lower teeth together.

Aversive Stimulation: delivering aversive stimuli after

problem behavior to make it less likely to occur. Types

of aversive stimulation: Electric shocks, aromatic

ammonia (used for self-injurious behavior by breaking

an ammonia capsule and waving it under client`s nose –

like TV show Dexter), spray mist of water on face, facial

screening (touch the face), alarm sounds, and

reprimands (these decreased problem behaviors in

those who received them and those who didn’t).

Positive Punishment (Last Resort)

Positive punishment procedures are used only as a last

resort, after functional interventions have been used.

Negative punishment (time-out and response cost)

procedures are more accepted and common than the

positive ones.

Considerations in Using Positive Punishment

Use functional interventions first.

Implement differential reinforcement w/ punishment

Consider function of problem behavior (for example,

positive punishment through applications of aversive

activities would not work if the problem behavior’s

occurs to get attention, unless change agent doesn’t

display any emotions).

Choose aversive stimulus with care.

Collect data to make treatment decisions (punishment

procedure should produce a rapid decrease in

problem behavior.

Address ethical considerations in use of punishment.

Ethics of Punishment

The client/parents must fully understand punishment

procedure, rationale, how/when it’ll be used, intended

effects or side effects, and possible alternatives.

Informed consent must be given by adult in charge of

client (client himself, parent, or legal representative).

Punishment should never result in harm, and should be

reserved for more severe problems. There must be

written guidelines to eliminate ambiguity. The

punishment procedure must be peer-reviewed (before

or after implementation). Also, everybody involved in

implementing the procedure must be held accountable

for its success.

Chapter 19

Programming for generalization increases likelihood

that behavior change will occur in all relevant situations

Defining Generalization

Generalization: occurrence of behavior in presence of

stimuli that is similar in some way to the SD that was

present during training, or occurrence of behavior in

presence of all relevant stimuli outside training situation

Strategies: Promoting Behavior Change Generalization

Reinforcing Occurrences of Generalization: reinforce

the behavior when it occurs outside of training

situations in presence of relevant stimuli. One

drawback is that it isn’t always possible to provide

reinforcement for the behavior. If you can’t reinforce,

use a different strategy.

Training Skills that Contact Natural Contingencies of

Reinforcement: if you can’t provide reinforcement

when behavior occurs, you should make sure there’s a

natural reinforcer present (e.g. teach students to

‘recruit’ attention from teachers by asking “how’s my

work?” The reinforcement will come from teacher’s

response, and the good academic behavior would

have generalized). Sometimes skills are not natural

reinforcers (skill of assertiveness will not produce a

reinforcer from others, since you just denied them a

request), in that case, other strategies should be used

Modifying contingencies of Reinforcement and

Punishment in Natural Environment: if trainer will not

be able to reinforce behavior in natural environment,

trainer should teach others in the natural environment

to reinforce it.

Incorporating a Variety of Relevant Stimulus

Situations in Training: train clients to respond to a

sufficient number of stimulus exemplars (types of

relevant situations) until behavior generalizes. The bad

thing is, you can’t know in advance how many

stimulus exemplars it will take to generalize the

behavior. One strategy is with general case

programming (using multiple training examples that

sample the range of relevant stimulus situations and

response variations).

Incorporating Common Stimuli: put stimuli from

generalization environment (target situation) into the

training. So, use physical stimuli in the training

alongside the stimulus exemplar/situation.

Teaching a Range of Functionally Equivalent

Responses: teaching client a variety of responses that

all achieve the same outcome (functionally equivalent

responses are the responses that produce the same

outcome).

Incorporating Self-Generated Mediators of

Generalization: mediator of generalization is a

stimulus that’s maintained and transported by client

as part of the treatment (e.g. parents can go to a

lecture on parenting skills and take notes. These notes

are self-generated mediators because they can use

them in a home setting, thus making the lecture

generalizable to the home too). These can also be

physical mediators (‘good luck charms’ can be used in

the training situation; then when taken to the target

situation, will help facilitate generalization). Also, self-

recording can be used (when you have a chart for you

to mark when you perform the target behavior, it will

make it more likely for you to perform the behavior).

Also, self-instruction is a mediator.

Implementing Strategies to Promote Generalization

Guidelines:

Identify target stimulus situations for behavior

Identify natural contingencies of reinforcement for

behavior.

Implement appropriate strategies to promote

generalization.

Measure generalization of behavior change.

Promote Generalized Reductions in Problem Behavior

When you implement behavior modification, your goal

is to reduce/eliminate problem behaviors, AND replace

them with more appropriate behaviors, as well as make

these new skills generalizable.

Chapter 20

Defining Self-Management

Self-Management: person uses behavior modification

to change his own behavior. For behavioral deficits, the

behavior is a good one that isn’t happening because the

positive outcome results in the future and other

behaviors that replace it happen instead because they

have immediate contingencies. For behavioral excesses,

the behavior has a negative impact on the person’s life,

but the person does it because the negativity is delayed

(it’ll happen in the future).

Self-management involves a controlling behavior

(implement self-management strategies to make the

controlled behavior more likely such as manipulating

antecedents and consequences) and controlled

behavior (target behavior).

Types of Self-Management Strategies

Goal-Setting and Self-Monitoring: goal-setting: writing

down the criterion level of target behavior and time

frame for occurrence of the behavior; it’s most

effective when implemented with self-monitoring and

other strategies. Goals should be achievable because it

reinforces your behavior and that you’ll persevere in

the program. Self-monitoring is where you record the

times at which target behavior occurs.

Antecedent manipulations: you manipulate the

environment to make it more likely to act in a certain

way. There are 6 types you can use:

o Present SD or cues for desirable behavior

o Remove SD for competing behaviors

o Arrange establishing operations for desirable

behavior

o Present abolishing operations for competing

behavior

o Decrease response effort for target behavior

o Increase response effort for competing behavior

Behavioral Contracting: write a document in which

you identify target behavior and arrange

consequences contingent on a specified level of the

target behavior in a specific time period. One type of

this is to make the contract without the assistance of a

contract manager (the person who oversees your

program). A problem with this is short-circuiting the

contingency (when person arranges reinforcer for a

target behavior but then takes the reinforcer without

engaging in the target behavior, or when you arrange

for a punisher but don’t give it to yourself when you

deserve it).

Arranging reinforcers and punishers: you could

mentally decide on the consequences. The

disadvantage is that short-circuiting is more likely to

occur, but the advantage is that you don’t need to rely

on another person for assistance. Problems that may

arise if you ask other people with help: (1) you might

not have people that are willing to get involved and (2)

you might get angry with people who withhold

reinforcers. Otherwise, the program is likely to be

more successful. The most common punishment is a

response cost.

Social Support: significant others provide a natural

context or cues for occurrence of target behavior or

when they naturally provide reinforcing consequences

for occurrence of target behavior. This also helps

prevent short-circuiting.

Self-instructions: tell yourself what to do or how to do

something in situations that call for a specific target

behavior. Immediately then, recite self-praise

(statements in which you provide positive evaluations

of your own behavior. These are behaviors too, so

they must be learned before they will occur.

Steps in a Self-Management Plan

1. Make the decision to engage in self-management.

2. Define Target Behavior and competing behaviors.

3. Set goals

4. Self-monitor. Use a data sheet or a recording device.

If behavior is maintained at this step, you don`t need

to implement more strategies. If not, use more

strategies.

5. Conduct a functional assessment. This is to

understand the variables that contribute to

occurrence of target behavior and antecedents.

6. Choose appropriate self-management strategies.

First, choose those that alter antecedents, then

those that alter consequences (to decrease, do this:

eliminate reinforcer for target behavior, arrange

punishers, provide reinforcers for alternatives, or use

BST to teach alternative ones).

7. Evaluate change. If you’ve reached your goal, find a

way to maintain it. If not, find a new procedure.

8. Re-evaluate self-management strategies if

necessary. 2 types of problems that may have

occurred to prevent treatment`s success: may not

have implemented self-management procedures

correctly, or you may have chosen inappropriate

self0management strategies to implement.

9. Implement maintenance strategies.

Clinical Problems

Some problems may be serious (drug addiction,

alcoholism, gambling, abusive behavior), and may

require professional help.

Chapter 21

Defining Habit behaviors

Habit reversal: used to decrease frequency of

undesirable habit behaviors. The habit behaviors aren’t

usually serious; they’re just annoying. Yet, when habit

behavior occurs with high frequency/intensity, it

becomes a habit disorder. There are 3 types of habits:

Nervous habits: repetitive manipulation of objects or

body parts that is most likely to occur when a person

experiences heightened nervous tension (lip-biting.

They aren’t reinforced socially (no benefit socially),

but they relieve tension or for self-stimulation.

Motor tics: repetitive, jerking movements of a

particular muscle group in the body. These are

believed to be associated with heightened muscle

tension. Vocal tics: repetitive vocal sound that does

not serve a social function (throat clearing when it

isn’t necessary…). Tics usually result from a real

problem (a kid may have developed a cold, and so

coughs frequently), but when it continues after the

illness is gone, it’s a tic. Tourette’s disorder: tic

disorder involving multiple motor and vocal tics;

caused by an interaction of genetic, neurobiological,

and environmental factors.

Stuttering: speech dysfluency in which person repeats

words or syllables, prolongs sound of a word, or blocks

on a word (chokes on the word).

Habit Reversal Procedures

Habit reversal procedures are multicomponent. The

components: (1) awareness training (learn the habit

definition and identify when it occurs), (2) competing

response training (learn competing response – behavior

incompatible with habit, practice the competing

response in and out of the session, (3) social support

(significant others are required to encourage client to

engage in competing behaviors), and (4) motivation

strategy (therapist reviews with client all situations in

which habit occurs and affects him negatively, to

increase likelihood that client uses competing response)

Applications of Habit Reversal

The difference between procedures for different habits

is the nature of the competing response:

Nervous habits: these are procedures that client could

perform easily but are incompatible with the nervous

habits (e.g. for a person who bites nails, the

competing behavior would be to grab a pencil and

hold it for a minute).

Motor and Vocal Tics: you’d have to tense the muscles

involved such that the body part involved is held

motionless.

Stuttering: procedures involve relaxation and

uninterrupted airflow over vocal cords during speech

(regulated breathing). The first component:

diaphragmatic breathing (breathe in rhythmic pattern

using muscles of diaphragm to pull air into lungs).

Why Do Habit Reversal Procedures Work?

The most important components are awareness training

(to make the client able to discriminate each instance of

habit) and competing response training (which may

serve as a punisher – since it’s a punishment to do

something you don’t want to, like control your habits).

Self-monitoring (recording the behavior contingent on

it) may also serve as a competing response. Tics and

nervous habits, the competing response is contingent

on behavior occurring, but for stuttering, the person has

to constantly engage in the competing response.

Other Treatment Procedures for Habit Disorders

These procedures are the most preferred, but they

don’t work for everybody. People with intellectual

disabilities and children did not find these effective. For

example, a woman with intellectual disability engaged

in hair-pulling, was only able to stop with a device that

sounded an alarm each time she raised her hand

towards her hair (the device is called an awareness

enhancement device). Differential reinforcement is also

another way to treat habits in these groups of people.

Chapter 22

Defining a Token Economy

Token economy: the purpose is to strengthen clients’

desirable behaviors that occur too infrequently and to

decrease their undesirable behaviors in a structured

treatment environment or educational setting. Here,

tokens are exchanged for backup reinforcers (powerful

reinforces for the clients which makes them highly

desirable items/privileges). Sometimes, there may also

be a response cost component in the program to get rid

of undesirable behaviors.

Implementing a Token Economy

After deciding you want to use the token economy, use

these components to proceed:

1. Identify then define target behaviors. Objective

definitions ensure clients know what is expected of

them.

2. Identify items to use as tokens. These must be

tangible and delivered immediately after each

instance of behavior. They should also not be available

from any other source than the change agent.

3. Identify backup reinforcers. The effectiveness of the

token economy depends on the backup reinforcers.

Things to which a person has a right cannot be used as

token reinforcers (meals, safety…).

4. Decide on the appropriate schedule for reinforcement.

More difficult/important behaviors receive more

tokens. Usually, the program begins with continuous

reinforcement and then becomes an intermittent

schedule.

5. Establish token exchange rate.

6. Establish time and place for exchanging tokens. This

results in more consistent implementation of program

7. Decide whether to use response cost. It should be

included if there are undesirable behaviors that

compete with desirable behaviors. If you want to

include it, you should only introduce it after the

concept of tokens has been understood (so a few

weeks into the program, after trust has been formed).

8. Staff training and management.

Practical Considerations

Change agent should always deliver tokens immediately

to reinforce behavior better.

Change agent should praise client while delivering

tokens to reinforce the behavior even more.

Early in the program, it’s recommended to give backup

reinforcers at the same time to pair them immediately.

The token economy should always be faded out before

the client can leave the treatment group.

Advantages/Disadvantages of a Token Economy

Pros:

o Tokens can be used to reinforce target behavior

immediately

o These are highly-structured economies

o Tokens function as reinforcers regardless of any

establishing operations that may exist for client

because of their generalized condition.

o Tokens are easy to dispense and accumulate

o Tokens can be easily quantified

o Response cost is easier to implement

o Client an learn skills in planning for the future by

saving up his tokens

Cons:

o Time and effort consumption in organizing and

conducting such programs

o Cost of purchasing backup reinforcers

o Staff training and management

Chapter 23

Defining Behavioral Contract

Behavioral Contract: aka contingency/performance

contract; written agreement between 2 parties in which

one or both agree to engage in a specified level of the

target behavior. It is preferred that contracts be timed

so that they can be negotiated and rewritten frequently

Components of Behavioral Contract

1. Identify target behaviors.

2. Stating how the target behavior will be measured.

3. Stating when the behavior must be performed.

4. Identifying reinforcement or punishment contingency.

5. Identifying who will implement the contingency.

Types of Behavioral Contracts

There are 2 types of contracts:

One-party: aka unilateral contract; one person seeks

to change a target behavior and arranges

contingencies with manager, who implements them.

The manager must not stand to gain from

contingencies (this is to prevent managers from being

unfair in implementing contingencies).

Two-Party: aka bilateral contract; both parties identify

target behaviors for change and contingencies that

will be implemented. This is a form of a quid pro quo

contract (one thing is given in exchange for another).

Sometimes, the two-party contract can make it such

that when one party fails, the other would refuse to

continue. The solution is to have a parallel contract

(there`s a separate contingency for each person`s

target behaviors).

Negotiating Behavioral Contract

The contract has to be acceptable to all involved.

Why Do Behavioral Contracts Influence Behavior?

Contracts have delayed consequences so they can`t

produce behavior change by themselves, they need

other behavioral processes.

It acts as a public commitment, thus also providing

social support.

A contract might also influence a target behavior is

through rule-governed behavior (contract states a rule

that the client can use as a self-prompt).

The contract is also an establishing operation in that by

stating that rule, the client puts himself in a state of

anxiety, and the only way to relieve it is to act upon the

rule to escape from the aversive situation.

Chapter 24

Defining Fear and Anxiety Problems

Fear: both operant and respondent behaviors. People

are afraid of a particular stimulus, and when presented

with it, they experience anxiety (autonomic nervous

system is aroused) which acts as an establishing

operation to encourage escape.

Sometimes people actually have fear, but other times,

they`re doing it for attention/other motives, so they

would not be actually experiencing anxiety.

Procedures to Reduce Fear and Anxiety

Relaxation training: strategies that people use to

decrease autonomic arousal that they experience as a

component of fear/anxiety problems. These produce

decreases in muscle tension, heart rate, breathing

rate, and warming of hands. 4 Common techniques:

o Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR):

systematically tense and relax each of the major

muscle groups to leave them more relaxed than

they were in their initial stage.

o Diaphragmatic breathing: aka deep-breathing;

person breathes deeply in a slow, rhythmic fashion.

o Attention-focusing exercises: produce relaxation

by directing attention to a neutral or pleasant

stimulus to remove person’s attention from

anxiety-causing stimulus.

o Behavioral Relaxation training: person is taught to

relax each muscle group in body by assuming

relaxed postures. It’s different than PMR in that the

person doesn’t tense and relax muscles, he just

moves them around. It has 3 components: muscle

tension, correct breathing and attention focusing.

Systemic desensitization: person with a phobia

practices relaxation while imagining scenes of fear-

producing stimuli. The client first needs to develop a

hierarchy of fear-producing stimuli, using a fear-rating

scale (aka subjective units of discomfort – SUDS). It’s

from 0-100, 0 being the absence of fear.

In vivo desensitization: similar to above, except client

gradually approaches to the actual fear-producing

stimulus. When the therapist provides physical

reinforcements (like holding client’s hand or placing a

hand on client’s back), it’s called contact

desensitization.

Flooding: person is exposed to feared stimulus at full

intensity for a prolonged period. Extreme discomfort

arises during early stages

Modeling: used for children; child observes another

person approaching feared stimulus and the child is

more likely to engage in a similar behavior.

Chapter 25

Defining Cognitive Behavior Modification

Cognitive Behavior: a type of covert behavior (like

fear/anxiety reactions; are not visible). Like overt

behaviors, these have to be identified and labeled

objectively so its occurrence can be recorded. Only the

person experiencing the behavior can identify it though

because it’s covert.

Cognitive behavior modification: procedures used to

help people change behaviors that are labeled as

cognitive.

Cognitive behaviors are important in identifying

because they may be distressing to the person.

Cognitive behaviors can also be good in that they serve

as a SD for desirable behaviors. Another function is that

they may function as motivating operations that

influence the power of consequences to function as

reinforcers or punishers. Finally, they can function as

reinforcers or punishers (praise or critical statements).

Cognitive Behavior Modification Procedures

Cognitive restructuring: designed to replace

maladaptive cognitive behaviors with more adaptive

ones; usually used with excesses. Therapist helps

client get rid of distressing thoughts. Steps:

o Help client identify distressing thoughts and where

they occur. This can be done through client`s

reports or through self0monitoring.

o Help client identify emotional response, unpleasant

mood or problem behavior that follows the

distressing thought.

o Help client stop thinking the distressing thoughts

by helping him think rational/desirable thoughts

Different types of cognitive restructuring exist (rational-

emotive therapy, systematic ration restructuring and

cognitive therapy). We’ll focus on cognitive therapy:

help people change behavior, including distorted

thoughts or self-talk. It involves first getting person

to engage in more reinforcing activities, and then

use cognitive restructuring. Questions that help

clients see their cognitive distortions: (1) Where is

the evidence, (2) are there alternative explanations,

and (3) what are the implications? Examples of

cognitive distortions:

All-or-nothing thinking (if it’s not perfect, it’s bad)

Overgeneralization (one bad event means it’s all

going to be bad)

Disqualifying the positive (you only look at bad)

Jumping to conclusions

Magnification and minimization (of bad events)

Labeling and mislabelling (you put negative labels

on yourself, and this influences your self-view)

Personalization (you assume bad things happen

because of you).

Cognitive coping skills training: designed to teach new

cognitive behaviors that are then used to promote

other desirable behaviors; used with deficits. 3 types:

o Self-instructional training (we focus on this only):

Steps:

Identify problem situation and define desirable

behavior most appropriate to the situation.

Identify self-instructions that will be most helpful

in problem situation.

Use behavioral skills training to teach self-

instructions. Self-instructions must be practised in

role play.

o Stress inoculation training

o Problem-solving therapy

Cognitive restructuring and coping skills procedures are

used to help people change their thoughts, but there’s

also another way: accept your thoughts. Acceptance-

based therapies include the acceptance and

commitment therapy (ACT). And the client learns that

he or she has not been able to control troublesome

thoughts in the past. In therapy, the client learns to

accept the thoughts and that they’ll continue to occur,

but that he can still achieve meaningful behavior change

goals. It’s based on the concept that acceptance will

defeat the disruptive effect of these thoughts.