Positive Reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement

• Behavior followed by reinforcement leads to increased future frequency of that behavior.
• Qualifications:
  • Timing between response end and stimulus onset.
  • Relationship between stimulus conditions present during response.
  • The role of motivation.
• Occurs when a response is immediately followed by a stimulus change that increases future occurrence of similar responses.
• Most widely used principle of behavior.
• A reinforcer does not affect the response it follows but changes the future probability of responses in the same class.
• Reinforcement can alter: Rate, Duration, Latency, Interresponse time, Magnitude, and Topography of behavior.
• The behavior temporally closest to the presentation of the reinforcer will be strengthened.
• A response-to-reinforcement delay of as little as 1 second will be less effective than a reinforcer delivered immediately.
• Delayed consequences do not reinforce behavior directly but can influence future behavior when combined with language, through instructional control, and rule following.
• A rule is a verbal description of a behavioral contingency.

Rule-Governed Behavior

• Behavior controlled by a verbal statement of an antecedent-behavior-consequence contingency.
• Allows human behavior to be under indirect control of temporally remote or improbable consequences.
• Indicators:
  • No apparent immediate consequence.
  • Response-consequence delay is greater than 30 seconds.
  • Behavior changes without reinforcement.
  • A large behavior increase occurs after one reinforcement.
  • Consequences do not exist, but the rule does.
• Examples: Wearing a seatbelt, stopping at a red light, getting oil changed in car

Reinforcement as a Concept

• Circular reasoning is faulty logic where the observed effect's name is mistaken as the cause of the effect.
• Reinforcement is not circular because response-consequence components can be separated.
• A consequence can be manipulated to see if it increases the behavior occurrence.
• Reinforcement is an empirically functional relation between a stimulus change following a response and the increased future occurrence of similar responses.
• Examples of circular reasoning: A person is anxious because they have anxiety disorder & A youth is angry because he has oppositional defiance disorder.

Relationship Between Reinforcement and Antecedent Stimulus Conditions

• Reinforcement changes the function of stimuli that precede the reinforced behavior.
• Antecedent events gain the ability to evoke instances of the reinforced response class.
• Responding in the presence of the discriminative stimulus produces reinforcement.
• Responding in the presence of the stimulus delta does not produce reinforcement.
• The two-term contingency for reinforcement becomes a three-term contingency with the addition of the discriminative stimulus: Antecedent - Behavior - Consequence

Role of Motivation

• Motivating operations alter the current effectiveness of stimulus changes as reinforcement.
• A learner must want a stimulus change for it to "work" as reinforcement.
• Two forms of motivating operations:
  • Establishing Operation: Increases current effectiveness of a reinforcer.
  • Abolishing Operation: Decreases current effectiveness of a reinforcer.
• Adding the motivating operation to a discriminated operation results in a four-term contingency:
  • Antecedent – Motivating Operation – Behavior - Consequence

Automaticity & Arbitrariness of Reinforcement

• A person does not have to understand or verbalize the relation between actions and consequences for reinforcement to occur.
• Reinforcement happens independent of a logical or adaptive connection between behavior and consequence.
• Reinforcement strengthens what immediately precedes it.
• All other relations must compete with the temporal relation between behavior and consequence.

Automatic Reinforcement

• The behavior-stimulus change relation that occurs without consequences presented by others.
• When a behavior persists without any known reinforcer.

Types of Reinforcers

• Two basic types of reinforcers:
  • Unconditioned reinforcer which functions as reinforcement even without learning.
  • Conditioned reinforcer is stimulus change that functions as a reinforcer through pairing with unconditioned or conditioned reinforcers.
• Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer:
  • Conditioned reinforcer paired with unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers.
  • It does not depend on current EO for its effectiveness and includes money, tokens, points, and verbal praise.

Formal Properties of Reinforcers

• Edible reinforcers: Bites of preferred foods, snacks, candy, and sips of drinks.
• Sensory reinforcers: Vibration, tactile stimulation, flashing or sparkling lights, and music.
• Tangible reinforcers: Items such as stickers, trinkets, school materials, and trading cards.
• Activity reinforcers: Everyday activities, privileges, or special events.
• Social reinforcers: Physical contact, proximity, attention, and praise.

Premack Principle

• The opportunity Contingent access to a higher-rate behavior will function as reinforcement for a lower-rate behavior.
• Example: Teacher tells class you can play outside after you finish your math problems.

Response-Deprivation Hypothesis

• Model predicting whether access to one behavior will function as reinforcement for another behavior.
• Based on relative baseline rates at which behavior occurs and restriction compared to baseline engagement.
• Baseline: A child plays video games for 2 hours, but if time is limited to 30 minutes unless they do homework, they may do homework to get more time.

Identifying Potential Reinforcers

• Stimulus preference assessment identifies likely preferred stimuli that can serve as reinforcers.
• A three-step process is generally used:
  • Gather a pool of potential reinforcers.
  • Present stimuli systematically to determine preference.
  • Experimentally "test" high- and low-preference items to see when they reinforce.
  • Stimulus preference assessments are conducted using: Single-stimulus (SS), Paired-stimulus (PS), Free operant (FO), Multiple-stimulus with item replacement (MSW), and Multiple-stimulus without item replacement (MSWO).

Stimulus Preference Assessment Factors

• MSWO is likely to identify multiple reinforcers in minimal time, but is positional biased and limited to smaller tabletop items.
• PS is likely to identify multiple reinforcers accommodations larger tabletop items, but is positional biased requires more time assessment.
• SS is likely to identify multiple reinforcers accommodates larger items and activities, but false positives are the result.
• FO is less likely to evoke problem behavior accommodates larger items and activities, but is less to identify multiple reinforcers except when assessment is repeated.

Guidelines for Preference Assessments

• Monitor learner activities before assessment to be aware of EOs.
• Balance cost-benefit of brief vs. prolonged assessments.
• Balance ranking preferred stimuli vs. occurring without ranking.
• Conduct brief assessments with fewer items when time is limited.
• Combine data from multiple assessment methods and sources.
• Verify identified stimuli serve as reinforcers.
• Recognize preference shifts and may require further assessments.
• Facilitate assessment with respect to time, consider stimulus categories.

Reinforcer Assessment

• A variety of direct, data-based methods used to present stimuli contingent on a target response and measuring later effects on the rate of responding.
• "The only way to tell whether or not a given event is reinforcing to a given organism under given conditions is to make a direct test."

Difference Between Preference and Reinforcer Assessments

• Preference assessments gather what the individual likes/prefers for items, activites, and stimuli.
• Reinforcer assessments assesses whether preferred itmes function as reinforcers for specific behaviors.

Types of Reinforcer Assessment:

• In-the-Moment Reinforcer Analysis: Learner's response is followed immediately with a stimuli presentation, then the effect is noted on further increases of similar responses.
• Concurrent Schedule of Reinforcement: Operate independantly and simultaneously for two or more behaviors.
• Multiple Schedule of Reinforcement: Two or more component schedules of reinforcement for a single repsonse. Only one component schedule is in effect at any given time. A discrimintive stimulus signals which component schedule is in effect.
• Progressive-Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement: The response requirements for reinforcement are increased systematically over time, indepdent of the participant's behvaior. The practitioner requaires more repsonses per presentation of the preferred stimulus until a breaking point is reached and the response rate declines.

Control Procedures for Positive Reinforcement

• Used to manipulate the contingent presentation of a potential reinforcer.
• Effects are observed on the future frequency of behavior.
• Control requires experimental demonstration showing presentation of the stimulus contingent on the target response.
• Control is demonstrated by:
  • Comparing response rates without a contingency.
  • Showing that with the absence and presence of a contingency, behavior can be turned on/off.
• Noncontingent Reinforcement is presenting a potential reinforcer on a fixed-time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedule independent of the occurrence of the target behavior. Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) delivers as a potential reinforcer whenever the target behavior has not occurred during a time interval. Differential reinforcement of alterative behavior (DRA) is when the potential reinforced is presented contingent on occurances of a desirable alterantive to the target behavior.

Effective Reinforcements & Guidelines

• Set an easily achieved initial criteria.
• Use high-quality reinforcers of sufficient magnitude.
• Use varied reinforcers to maintain powerful operations.
• Use direct instead of indirect reinforcement contingencies when possible.
• Combine response prompts and reinforcement.
• Initially reinforce each occurence.
• Contigent attention and descriptive praise.
• Gradually increase response delay.
• Gradually contrived natural occurences.

Negative Reinforcement

• The occurance of a response which produces the termination, reduction, postponement or avoidance of stimulus may lead to an increase of a future occurance of the response.
• Examples:
  • Avoiding a loud noise (Alarm Clock).
  • Escape from a chore (complaining to get out of it).
  • Removing a Disruptive Task (Throw Trantrum from Math).
  • Escaping a social situation (leave the Room).
  • Popup thats a virus (renew it).
• Four-term Contingency:
  • The Establishing Operator (EO) is an antecedent event which escape is used.
  • The discrimintive sitsmulus (SD) event is another antecedent event when the presence of a repsonse is more likely reinforced.
  • The repsonse that is going to produce reinforcement.
  • The reinforcer is the termination of the event the that serves at EO.

Positive vs Negative Reinforcement

• The distinction is based on the stimulus change that occurs after a response.
• Positive Reinforcement adds a good stimuli.
• Negative Reinforcement removes a bad stimuli.

Negative Reinforcement vs Positive Reinforcement

• Negative reinforcement: a stimulus that was present is terminated by response -> increase in responding
• Postive reinforcement: a stimulus that was absent is presented following by response -> decrease in responding

Escape & Avoidance Contingencies

• Negaitve Reinforcement involves escape contigency.
• When the response is Terminating the on going stimulus.
• Behavior maintained by negative repsonse of avoidance.
• Prevention of response or postphone of presentation to stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement - Envornmental Arrangements

• Discriminated Avoidance: Responging in the persents of the signal prevent a onset stimulus that escape is reinforecment.
• Free operant Avoidanc Reponsing in the asbence of the precent of escapee simutals that is reinforme.
• The Enviorment and Behaviory realisitop i escape contingency:
  • The evocative and maintaininng invoiecne involving avoidnaces less lessss Clear

Negative Reinforcers

• Any repsonse that successully turninates stimualtions that success and strenghten others.

Events that serve an effect and a History

• Efficents that describe is removal.
• Negativereinforcers involve shock noise, and naggeting and inncompole descirption.
• The simulus serves at EO when present porior to the behaviora and unlishemtn when presenteing

Learning History

• Negative Reinforcers

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• Unconditioned Negative Reinforcers

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  • Are trypcially noxoios events such shock and noise, intesne, light, and extrmemply pain and pressure against the body

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Source and Identifying contetx

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Negative Reinforcement - Ethical Considerations

• Arise from the severity of the antecedent event (EO) that occasions the target behavior.
• Extremely noxious events, when presented as antecedent stimuli, cannot be justified as part of typical behavior change.
• The presence of aversive stimuli can generate behaviors competing with desired ones.
• Undesirable side effects associated with punishment may also be observed when using negative reinforcement programs.

Negative Reinforcement - Task Analysis

• Breaking a complex task into smaller, teachable units.
• The product is a series of sequentially ordered steps or tasks that should be individualized.
• Considerations for individualization: Age, Skill Level, and Prior Experience of the Learner.
• Various methods for linking specific sequences of stimuli and responses to form new performances:
• Various methods for linking specific sequences of stimuli and responses to form new performances. Teach people new behavior chains:
  • Increase independence.
  • Add to behaviours existing.
  • Build behaviours more intercate and adaptive.

Behavior Chain Methods:

• Four chaining options:
• Forward chaining.
• Total-task chaining.
• Backward chaining.
• Backward chaining with leap aheads.