Chapter 10

Modified Behavior Modification:

Strengthening Desirable Behaviors

 

The following are the objectives of this chapter:

  1. Define reinforcement.

  2. List or identify the three types of reinforcement and give examples of each.

  3. Distinguish between natural and artificial reinforcement.

  4. Identify situations in which each of the types of reinforcementwould be appropriate.

  5. Identify strategies which are likely to lead to long-term changes in behavior.

  6. Identify strategies for using reinforcement to reduce or eliminate undesirable behaviors.

  7. Employ applied behavior analysis to solve educational problems.

  8. Conduct a functional analysis of a problem behavior.

  9. Describe strategies for promoting self-management and self-regulation of behaviors.

  10. Describe strategies for using group contingencies to manage behavior.

 

Examples of the Three Types of Reinforcement

1. Three reasons why Jane Burns is interviewing for a new job as a restaurant manager.

 

2. Three reasons why Johnny is looking forward to going to the dentist tomorrow.

 

3. Three reasons why Mrs. Peterson donates generously to her church.

 

Reinforcement Review Quiz

Classify each of the following as one of these types of reinforcement.

Type I reinforcement

Type II reinforcement

Type III reinforcement

 

Raise your hand before you give an answer, because

  1. _____ I'll count you wrong unless you do.

  2. _____ you'll lose a point if you don't do so.

  3. _____ if you don't, you'll have to write a 200-word paper on your question.

  4. _____ the other students will resent your intrusion if you don't do so.

  5. _____ if you do so, I'll let you out of the detention you've already received.

  6. _____ it bothers me when you interrupt me by blurting out answers.

  7. _____ I'll be pleased if you do so.

  8. _____ the class will function effectively and you'll learn a lot if you do so.

  9. _____ you'll get a token if you do so the whole period.

  10. _____ I'll make a nasty remark to you if you don't do so.

 

Examples of Each Type of Reinforcement

Type I Reinforcement

Artificial: Marc studies long division to try to get an A on the test. His mother has promised to take him out to Pizza Hut if he gets an A.

Natural: Sam studies long division so that he can more easily calculate his batting average during the baseball season.

Type II Reinforcement

Artificial: Because she has been doing badly in math class, Jane has been told to stay in the house and study every day after school. She does well on the long division test, and now she no longer has to stay in and study after school.

Natural: Brenda has been frustrated because she thinks she and other members of her family have been routinely cheated by merchants. She has discovered that knowledge of long division enables her to stop being swindled.

Type III Reinforcement

Artificial: Arthur is seriously concerned that he may fail the long division test and consequently be grounded. He studies hard to avoid this punishment.

Natural: Alicia is seriously concerned that if she doesn't get a good education, she will be forced into a life of life of unhappiness and poverty like her older sisters. She bears down and studies mathematics because she believes that math skills will help her overcome many of the obstacles she will face in life.

 

Natural and Artificial Reinforcement Examples

Phyllis Learns to Do Her Arithmetic

Phyllis is a second grader who absolutely hates school work. She refuses to do her arithmetic. No threats or praise from her teacher can get her started on arithmetic. Finally, her teacher, Ms. Jefferson, makes a deal with her. If Phyllis does one arithmetic problem, she can have a piece of candy. Phyllis does the problem and receives the candy. As she gives Phyllis the candy, the teacher says, "That was very good work Phyllis" and smiles happily. Phyllis suggests that she would like another piece of candy, and the teacher negotiates more deals, each time praising Phyllis and smiling as she presents the candy. Eventually Ms. Jefferson gives candy only at the completion of a page or a unit, but she continues to smile and praise good work a great deal in between.

Phyllis has started out working only for an artificial reinforcer, candy. Eventually, she learns that praise and smiles from the teacher can also be reinforcing. These are still artificial reinforcers, but not as artificial as the candy. Ms. Jefferson hopes that Phyllis will soon work for praise alone, with only an occasional piece of candy. Eventually Phyllis may even finish a task, look at it, and say to herself, "That's really a good job." If this happens, Phyllis will have made the entire transfer to natural reinforcement. If this transfer does not happen automatically, Ms. Jefferson can help by saying such things as, "What do I usually say to you when you do a job like that?" as she delivers the more artificial reinforcers.

 

Mr. Dixon Misuses Artificial Reinforcement

Mr. Dixon teaches high school English. His students show no inclination to learn. The students see everything he teaches as irrelevant to real life. They are extremely disruptive. To keep the students quiet, Mr. Dixon makes the following agreement with them. If the students work quietly and pay attention during the first fifty minutes of each class hour, they can have the last ten minutes free to study other subjects or to talk quietly. The students like this idea and stop being rowdy. The classroom becomes remarkably quiet during the first fifty minutes, and Mr. Dixon is able to teach in peace. However, even after the students calm down and pay attention to Mr. Dixon, they are unimpressed by the value of studying English.

 

Mr. Green Uses Artificial Reinforcement Correctly

Mr. Green teaches high school English in the classroom next door to Mr. Dixon. His students are also disruptive and show no inclination to learn. However, Mr. Green teaches English in such a way that it is in fact directly applicable to real life - the problem is that none of the students have ever paid enough attention to find out that the class is meaningful. Mr. Green makes the same deal that Mr. Dixon made with his students, and the results are the same. Mr. Green is then permitted to present his information in a quiet atmosphere. Once the students calm down and begin to pay attention, they discover that English is actually worth learning.

Mr. Dixon is relying entirely on artificial reinforcement. He is bribing the students to be quiet. If the bribe is ever removed, the students are very likely to return to their previous disruptive behavior. Mr. Green, on the other hand, is using an artificial reinforcer as a starter stimulus to make the more natural reinforcer (his useful English class) available to the students. If Mr. Green has to withdraw his artificial reinforcer, it is likely that at least some of the students will still be naturally motivated to learn English. Mr. Green is using an effective behavior modification program: he has built in a plan to make the transfer from an artificial reinforcer to natural motivation. Tactics such as those applied by Mr. Dixon are sometimes perhaps necessary, but Mr. Green's course of action is preferable.

 

Accidental Type I Reinforcement

 

In the first two examples, the mother and the counselor were providing reinforcement without realizing that they were doing so. The mother was engaging in friendly conversations on the phone, without realizing that she was simultaneously praising her son. The counselor was trying to do a good job, without realizing that the only way a child could benefit from her talents was by first misbehaving. In the third example, the speech therapist was trying to reinforce one behavior (attention), but was in fact reinforcing a more complex behavior (first paying no attention in order to cause the therapist to issue her command, and then paying attention for a long enough period of time to collect the reinforcer). In each case, the person providing the reinforcers could benefit from analyzing the situation, determining what was being reinforced, and providing the reinforcers for desirable rather than undesirable behaviors.

 

Examples of "Other-Way-Out" Behaviors That Occur with Nearly All Examples of Type III Reinforcement.

Johnny and his friends play very noisily at Johnny's house. His mother likes to have the children play there, but she wants the noise to subside. She frequently nags the children, which annoys them and embarrasses Johnny.

Desired behavior to escape nagging: Play quietly at Johnny's house.

Alternate behavior to escape nagging: Play at somebody else's house where there is less supervision.

Stephanie is a competent student, but she blurts out answers in class without thinking. The teacher wants Stephanie to think carefully before answering, and so she makes sarcastic comments whenever Stephanie blurts out an indiscriminate answer.

Desired behavior to avoid sarcastic comments: Stephanie will think carefully and give a reflective answer.

Alternate behavior to avoid sarcastic comments: Stephanie will look down to avoid eye contact with the teacher. If called on, she will say, "I don't know."

Pat has a tendency to drive very fast on interstate highways. To stop people like Pat, the state police rely on a system of radar in patrol cars and heavy fines.

Desired behavior to avoid fines: Pat will drive within the posted speed limit.

Alternate behavior to avoid fines: Pat will purchase an electronic device that spots police radar and enables her to slow down whenever she approaches a radar patrol car.

George's teacher has a stern policy of giving an F to any student who does not turn in homework assignments on time.

Desired behavior to avoid and F: George will do the homework promptly and turn it in.

Alternate behavior to avoid an F: George will copy his homework from Frank.

 

Examples from the Published Literature

Token Reinforcement

Source
Subjects
Outcome
Procedure

Harris & Sherman, 1973 )

Polloway & Polloway, 1979

Robinson, Newby, & Ganzell, 1981

Swiezy, Matson, & Box, 1992.

 

Self-Regulation

Source
Subjects
Outcome
Procedure

Reid & Harris (1993)

Elementary students with learning disabilities

Improved attention to task and improved spelling performance

Students were taught to monitor either the degree to which they were attending to their task of studying spelling words or the degree to which they were succeeding at that task. Both groups performed better than a control group; but self-monitoring of performance was viewed as the overall more effective strategy.

O'Brien, Riner, & Budd (1983)

Kindergarten-aged boy

Compliance with parental instructions

The child rated the appropriateness of his own behavior at 5-minute intervals and received tokens for positive self-evaluations. The strategy worked best when it followed a period during which the parents did the evaluating.

 

Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior

Source
Subjects
Outcome
Procedure

Allyon & Roberts (1974)

Out-of-seat behavior, talking, and hitting declined.

Students received tokens for giving correct answers.

DRA and DRI

Source
Subjects
Outcome
Procedure

Deitz, D.E.D. & Repp, A.C. (1983). Reducing behavior through reinforcement. Exceptional Education Quarterly, 3, 34-46.

Forehand, R. & Baumeister, A.A. (1976). Deceleration of aber-rant behavior among retarded individuals. Progress in Behavior Modification, 2, 223-278.

 

Review Exercise: Types of Reinforcement (Exercise 2)

  1. Type I reinforcement is the contingent presentation of a pleasant stimulus. This reinforcement causes a behavior to

    a. increase
    b. decrease

  2. The effect of Type I reinforcement is the same as that of
    a. punishment
    b. Type II or III reinforcement
    c. both
    d. neither

  3. When we reinforce (strengthen) one behavior, we may cause a behavior which is incompatible with that behavior to

    a. increase
    b. decrease

     
  4. Henry never does his homework. Neglect of his homework appears to occur because Henry always forgets to take his books home. Mrs. Williams decides to give Henry one token every time he lines up to go home with his books in his hands. He can later turn in the tokens for any of a large number of rewards. If this system works, what behavior will increase?

    What behavior is likely to decrease for Henry?

  5. Jolene, a fifth grader, likes to climb trees during recess. Jolene's tree climbing behavior is dangerous since she climbs quite high and the branches are not very strong. Mrs. Williams puts her in charge of refereeing the third graders' dodge-ball games during recess. A referee is a prestigious position, and Jolene really enjoys it.

    Which of Jolene's behaviors is likely to decrease?

  6. Mr. and Mrs. Hume have two sons, 8 and 15, and one daughter, 12 years old. What bothers the parents is that the children are so rude to each other. Often their rude remarks are punctuated with profanity. Since the parents know the children would really like to spend a weekend at Uncle Jim's cottage in Minnesota, they make a deal with the children. The parents will observe the children at times only they themselves will know. If one of the children is doing something nice for one of the others, the children will receive one point. In addition, the parents will make an overall rating on the children each day and give each of them from 5 to -5 points for "politeness performance." If at any time during the day either parent hears profanity directed at one of the other children, this will result in the loss of five points. As soon as the children accumulate 200 points, the family will spend the next weekend at Uncle Jim's cottage.

    What behaviors are likely to increase (provided the reinforcers work)?

  7. What behaviors are likely to decrease?

  8. Which of the following techniques are the Humes employing?

    a. Type I reinforcement
    b. Type II or III reinforcement
    c. Punishment

 

Matching Exercise: Reinforcement - Set 1

Match each term with the appropriate definition.

a. Artificial reinforcement

b. Backup reinforcer

c. Backward chaining

d. Chaining

e. Fading

f. Natural reinforcement

g. Prompt

h. Reinforcement

i. Shaping

j. Token reinforcement

k. Type I reinforcement

l. Type II reinforcement

m. Type III reinforcement

n. Vicarious learning

 

  1. ______ An added form of assistance that makes it more likely that the learner will perform a particular behavior.

  2. ______ The delivery of a pleasant situation that is logically unrelated to the task which must be performed in order to obtain it.

  3. ______ The reinforcer for which tokens are exchanged in a token reinforcement system.

  4. ______ The contingent avoidance of a future (or potential) unpleasant situation.

  5. ______ The contingent removal of something unpleasant.

  6. ______ The process by which a viewer of an activity achieves the same benefits as the participants in that activity.

  7. ______ The gradual withdrawal of prompts that have artificially supported a behavior.

  8. ______ The contingent addition of something pleasant a person's existence.

  9. ______ The strategy of teaching component skills separately and then putting them together.

  10. ______ The contingent presentation of a pleasant situation.

  11. ______ The delivery of a pleasant situation that is logically related to the task the learner had to perform to obtain it.

  12. ______ A training program in which the teacher prompts the learner by performing the earlier steps in a complex behavior and enables the learner to complete the behavior by performing the final steps.

  13. ______ The reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior.

  14. ______ The delivery of a temporary reinforcer (which has no inherent value) that can later be exchanged for a backup reinforcer (which does have either intrinsic or extrinsic value).

 

Matching Exercise: Reinforcement - Set 2

Match each term with the appropriate definition.

a. Baseline data

b. Behavior modification

c. Consequence

d. Continuous reinforcement

e. Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)

f. Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)

g. Ecological assessment

h. Functional analysis

i. Intermittent reinforcement

 

  1. ______ The application of principles of behavioristic psychology (especially reinforcement, punishment, and extinction) to change or manage the behavior of learners.

  2. ______ The analysis of a behavior in in its natural setting to determine what factors appear to precede, accompany, or follow it.

  3. ______ A schedule of reinforcement during which the recipient is reinforced on an irregular basis - that is, sometimes the behavior receives reinforcement and sometimes it does not.

  4. ______ A reinforcement schedule during which a person receives reinforcement for each correct performance of the targeted behavior.

  5. ______ A strategy for eliminating a designated behavior by reinforcing other behaviors that could occur at the same time as the targeted behavior but are not logically incompatible with it.

  6. ______ The process of identifying the functions that undesired behaviors serve, so that it is possible to devise more adaptive strategies that will serve these functions for that person.

  7. ______ Information collected prior to an intervention in a behavior modification program in order to determine the rate at which the targeted behavior occurs and to provide a basis to determine whether the intervention has been effective.

  8. ______ A strategy for eliminating a designated behavior by reinforcing other behaviors that are incompatible with it.

  9. ______ An event that occurs as a result of a behavior and serves to either strengthen or weaken that behavior.

 

Key Ideas

This fill-in-the-blanks exercise can be a useful way to verify that you can recall and understand the main concepts covered in this chapter. When the answers you give differ from those in the answer key, think about it. If your answer is as good as mine, that's great! However, there's a good chance that in many cases my answer may be better than yours. Try to find the logic behind my answer. The more actively you think - by looking for reasons and explanations - the more valuable this exercise will be for you.

(Also note that after you have filled in the blanks, this set of Key Ideas provides a good summary of the chapter.)

 

  1. Reinforcement is defined as the _____________ presentation of a pleasant situation.

  2. The word "contingent" indicates that the person experiencing the pleasant situation sees a _____________ relationship between the pleasant situation and some behavior which he or she has performed.

  3. Because reinforcement makes a person feel good, it has the effect of strengthening (or increasing) the behavior which _____________ the reinforcement or seemed to _____________ the pleasant situation.

  4. Type I reinforcement occurs when something _____________ is added to a person's existence.

  5. Type II reinforcement occurs when a person discovers that something _____________ has been removed.

  6. _____________ reinforcement occurs when a person is able to avoid an unpleasant situation which was very likely to have occurred.

  7. In all three types of reinforcement, the recipient of the reinforcement feels _____________ .

  8. _____________ types of behavior are subject to reinforcement.

  9. Reinforcement will not occur unless the recipient sees a _____________ relationship between the behavior and the pleasant consequence.

  10. It is the perception of the _____________ that counts in determining whether an event is an example of reinforcement - not the perception of the person administering the reinforcement.

  11. If a recipient thinks that a situation is , then (and only then) can that person be said to be receiving reinforcement.

  12. A child's behavior,will lead to _____________ pleasant or unpleasant results even if the parents make no attempt to manage the consequences.

  13. In programs that use reinforcement to teach new behaviors, reinforcers should initially be delivered _____________ .

  14. When there is a delay in delivering a reinforcer, it is often a good idea to _____________ _____________ why the reinforcer is being delivered.

  15. As persons become more mature, they tend to _____________ their reinforcers. However, the principles of reinforcement are still applicable.

  16. A reinforcer is artificial (contrived) to the extent that the recipient sees it as logically _____________ to the task which must be performed in order to obtain it.

  17. A reinforcer is natural (logical) to the extent that the recipient perceives it as logically _____________ to the task he has to perform to obtain it.

  18. _____________ reinforcers are purely natural or artificial.

  19. _____________ types of reinforcement can be either artificial or natural.

  20. There is evidence that the unnecessary use of artificial reinforcers can actually _____________ a learner's motivation to engage in the reinforced activities.

  21. Artificial rewards may be important in enhancing interest among students who are not initially motivated, but there is _____________ data to describe ways in which extrinsic rewards can further enhance motivation among students who are already intrinsically motivated.

  22. Artificial reinforcers are _____________ when the natural reinforcer is initially not perceived as a pleasant set of circumstances available to the learner.

  23. While it may seem desirable to operate schools entirely on the basis of intrinsic motivation, this is actually not often _____________ .

  24. When artificial reinforcers are employed, they should always be used in conjunction with an eventual _____________ reinforcer.

  25. If an artificial reinforcer is used without a natural reinforcer as a back-up, the change in behavior will almost certainly be _____________ , and there is a good chance that the artificial reinforcement will backfire by _____________ the targeted behavior in the long run.

  26. It is simply _____________ that artificial, external rewards will always - or even usually - promote learning or other positive changes in behavior.

  27. Students who adopt _____________ orientations prefer easy tasks, work primarily to please the teacher and to obtain good grades, depend on others to evaluate their work, and respond negatively to evaluative feedback.

  28. It is _____________ to believe that larger rewards will almost always lead to greater productivity.

  29. In actual classroom practice, praise is _____________ used as an effective reinforcer beyond the early elementary grades.

  30. If praise is to be used as an effective form of reinforcement, it should be given relatively _____________ and for concrete activities that actually deserve praise.

  31. _____________ refers to the reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior.

  32. With shaping, we reinforce the learner for steps in the right direction, and require the learner to make continually closer _____________ of the targeted behavior in order to receive reinforcement.

  33. A _____________ is an added form of assistance that makes it more likely that the learner will perform a particular behavior.

  34. Fading refers to the gradual withdrawal of prompts that have _____________ supported a behavior.

  35. Chaining refers to the strategy of teaching _____________ skills separately and then putting them together (in a chain of behaviors).

  36. With backward chaining the teacher begins prompting the learner by giving considerable help with all but the _____________ step of a complex task, and the learner performs that part alone.

  37. If the learner takes steps in the wrong direction during a shaping program - as by refusing to pay attention or by making mistakes at a previously achieved level, it is _____________ to employ punishment.

  38. _____________ assessment consists of determining under what circumstances a behavior most often occurs.

  39. The term _____________ refers to the ability to be able to do something.

  40. The term _____________ refers to an individual's actual display of a skill.

  41. Even if learners acquire skills through cognitive processes, unless they receive either direct or vicarious _____________ for performing these skills, there is little likelihood that they will exhibit these skills when they are called for.

  42. In a program of token reinforcement, immediately after performing a targeted behavior the learner receives a _____________ reinforcer, which is called a token.

  43. In terms of effectiveness, there is actually _____________ advantage in favor of either Type I, Type II, or Type III reinforcement.

  44. Type I reinforcement becomes preferable to the other two types only when we are dealing with _____________ reinforcement.

  45. Whenever we use punishment, it is always a good idea to accompany the punishment with _____________ or _____________ reinforcement.

  46. Opportunities for _____________ reinforcement accompany all forms of punishment.

  47. While all forms of punishment arouse a _____________ to get out of the current aversiveness, not all forms are accompanied by an obvious way for the person to get this existing aversiveness to stop.

  48. Type II reinforcement is usually much _____________ powerful than Type III reinforcement.

  49. With _____________ we eliminate a designated behavior by strengthening other behaviors that are incompatible with it.

  50. DRI is more likely than DRA to lead to a _____________ elimination of the undesirable behavior.

  51. When a behavior is reinforced _____________ , the learner receives the reinforcer after every correct performance of the designated behavior.

  52. When a behavior is reinforced _____________ , the learner receives the reinforcer on an irregular basis - that is, sometimes the behavior generates the reinforcer, and sometimes it does not.

  53. Although it might seem obvious that continuous reinforcement is always superior to intermittent reinforcement, this is _____________ the case.

  54. _____________ schedules are superior for learning new behaviors quickly. _____________ schedules, on the other hand, receive the edge when it comes to causing behaviors to persist for a long time when the reinforcers are no longer offered for the behavior.

  55. A _____________ _____________ is a formal (usually written) agreement between the teacher and student that states the terms of a behavior modification program.

  56. If group members help and support others, group reinforcement is productive; but it is also possible that group contingencies will result in undesirable _____________ _____________ on some individuals.

  57. Group _____________ is more likely than group _____________ to be effective.

 

Answers to Quizzes and Exercises

Reinforcement Review Quiz

 

1. III

2. III

3. III

4. III

5. II

6. III

7. I

8. I

9. I

10. III

 

Review Exercise 2

1. a. increase

2. b

3. b. decrease

4. Henry will line up with books in his hands

5. Behaviors that are incompatible with 4 (such as walking about idly or talking at the other side of the room).

6. climbing trees - as long as she can't referee from the top of a tree.

7. To the extent that the strategy works, the children will do nice things for one another.

8. Profanity directed at the others.

9. a, b, and c

 

Matching Exercise - Set 1

1. g

2. a

3. b

4. m

5. l

6. e

7. d

8. k

9. h

10. f

11. c

12. i

13. j

 

Matching Exercise - Set 2

1. b

2. h

3. l

4. d

5. e

6. j

7. a

8. f

9. c

 

Key Ideas

1. contingent

2. cause-and-effect

3. preceded; cause

4. pleasant

5. unpleasant

6. Type III

7. good

8. All

9. cause-and-effect

10. recipient

11. pleasant

12. contingent

13. immediately

14. verbally restate

15. internalize

16. unrelated

17. related

18. Few

19. All three

20. reduce

21. no reliable

22. necessary

23. practical

24. natural

25. merely temporary; reducing

26. not true

27. extrinsic

28. inaccurate

29. rarely

30. rarely

31. Shaping

32. approximations

33. prompt

34. artificially

35. component

36. final

37. permissible

38. Ecological

39. skill

40. performance

41. reinforcement

42. temporary

43. no consistent

44. artificial

45. Type II; Type III

46. Type III

47. motivation

48. more

49. differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)

50. permanent

51. continuously

52. intermittently

53. not actually

54. Continuous; Intermittent

55. contingency contract

56. peer pressure

57. reinforcement; punishment