Part Two: Behavior Therapy

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Part Two Behavior Therapy

• Chapter Six
• Reinforcement Therapy

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What if you could quit smoking lose weight or
save your autistic child, and do it simply,
painlessly, and without great expense? What if
the only price to pay was abandonment of your
belief in your freedom and dignity? B.F.
Skinner Human Behavior
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B.F. Skinner the most influential psychologist
since Freud

• A failed novelist, he wrote a book depicting a
  utopian society, Walden Two. From that Skinner
  went on to become the best known behaviorist in
  psychology. He developed the behavioral
  principles that became the blueprints for
  Behavior Modification.

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Major characteristics

• Direct focus on observable behavior not viewed
  as altering symptoms, since that would imply an
  underlying cause
• Assessment of the behavior to be altered I.e
  target behavior. Focus on behavior not the
  underlying personality.

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• Evaluation of the effect of the program emphasis
  is on demonstrating empirical support.
• Final characteristic, is the concern for
  effecting behavior change that is socially
  significant. That is to say, a change that
  aligns the behavior with normative standards.

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Advantages of Behavior Modification

• Motivates the person to learn
• Techniques for eliminating undesirable behavior
• Doesnt require language skills
• It moves at the individuals own pace

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Misconceptions about Behavior Modification

• Most of the objections and misconceptions stem
  from the use of positive reinforcers. Objections
  related to the use of averse events such as
  punishment, are based on ethical issues

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Reinforcementa definition

• Behaviors that operate on the environment to
  provide the person with rewards or reinforcement.
  Thus, any kind of behavior can be defined as
  operant in this sense.

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Reinforcement always increases the frequency of a
behavior

• PositiveWhen an event or object is presented as
  a consequence of the persons behavior.

• Negative When an event or object is removed or
  avoided as a consequence of the persons behavior.

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• Reinforcement is the single most important
  principle of behavior modification.
• Reinforcers are what behavior modifiers try to
  manipulate in the environment to change a
  persons behavior.
• Just about anything can serve as a reinforcer

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Categories of reinforcers

• Tangible material objects that have personal
  value. For example, food, clothes toys, music
  CDs, books, etc..

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• Social reinforcers consist of attention, praise,
  approval and acknowledgement from other people.
  Can be given verbally, Great Job! or
  non-verbally, a smile.

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Advantages of social reinforcers

• Easy to administer
• Limitless supply to give
• Can be delivered immediately
• Natural reinforcers, receive as a regular part of
  their everyday lives
• Dont get satiated!

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• Token reinforcers symbolic items that have value
  because of what they can be exchanged for

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• Reinforcing activities Engaging in activities
  that the person finds rewarding. For example,
  listening to music, shopping, watching TV, etc.

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Premack Principle

• Higher probability behaviors whether they are
  considered enjoyable or not can serve as
  reinforcers for lower-probability behaviors.
  Often referred to as Grandmas Rule

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Types of Reinforcement/Punishment
Present Stimulus
Remove Stimulus
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Factors determining the strength of the
reinforcer

• The item being used person must like it a lot
• How quickly it is given Law of Contiguity use
  a bridging signal if needed
• Size of reinforcer dont satiate!
• How long since they last received the reinforcer

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The concept of contingency

• This is defined as the thing the person has to do
  to get the reinforcer. That is to say, what the
  rule is what one has to do to get what they
  want!
• Therefore, to use reinforcement to strengthen
  behavior, the reinforcement must be contingent
  upon performance.

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Identifying Reinforcers

• Reinforcement Event Menu List choices for the
  person to pick from. This allows the person to
  be part of the development of the program as well
  as assuring the right reinforcer.
• Questioning Asking the client about potential
  reinforcers is the easiest and most frequently
  used procedure.
• Observation Observe client in natural setting.

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Administering Reinforcers

• Sources of Reinforcers
• Reinforcing agents Other people
• provide the reinforcement.
• Self-reinforcement Client reinforces
  their own behavior.
• This is an area where Skinner
• believed that humans failed.

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Reinforcement Schedules

• A schedule of reinforcement is a rule that
  specifies which occurrences of a given behavior,
  if any, will be reinforced.

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Types of reinforcement schedules
Continuous
Intermittent
Interval
Ratio
Variable Interval
Fixed Interval
Fixed Ratio
Variable Ratio
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Two Basic Schedules

• Continuous Each occurrence of a response is
  reinforced. Start with this when attempting to
  add a new behavior to the persons repertoire.

• Intermittent By contrast, each occurrence of the
  behavior is not reinforced. Rather, responses
  are occasionally or intermittently reinforced.

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Interval Schedules

• Fixed A response is reinforced only after an
  interval of time has passed. Often coupled with a
  limited hold. For example, nightly news program

• Variable Each time interval is of a different
  length. That is, each interval varies around an
  average time. For example, your mailman.

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Ratio Schedules

• Fixed Delivered after a fixed number of
  responses. Piece work in a factory would be an
  example.

• VariableNumber of responses for required for
  reinforcement varies each time, around an average
  number. A slot machine would illustrate this
  point.

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Guidelines for administering reinforcers

• Reinforcers should be contingent on the behavior
• Reinforcers should be delivered immediately after
  the behavior occurs
• Make client aware as to why they are getting the
  reinforcer
• Continuous reinforcement first, then intermittent
• Reinforcers should be reinforcing
• Natural reinforcers should be emphasized
• Reinforcers should be given consistently

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Initiating Behaviors Prompting and Shaping

• Prompting Provides the client with cues that
  remind or instruct them to perform a behavior.
  Can be verbal, environmental, physical, or
  behavioral.

• Shaping a procedure in which the components of a
  target behavior are reinforced rather than the
  complete target behavior.

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Nothing more than bribery!

• This is a frequent concern voiced by many
  individuals, especially when using tangibles.
  Bribes are given before the behavior is
  performed, reinforcers are given after. Bribes
  encourage people to do something illegal or
  dishonest. Reinforcement is used to reward
  people for socially appropriate behavior.

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Behavior modification is coercive

• This objection is often aimed at the means
  employed to modify the behavior.
• That the person may be compelled to perform a
  behavior against their wishes. This refers to
  informed consent rather than techniques used.
• Finally, that influencing behaviors of other
  should be avoided, however, benign.

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Human Rights Review Board

• This board must approve any behavioral program,
  research project, etc. before it can be
  implemented. Ensures that client is not put in
  danger physically, psychologically, financially,
  or academically.

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Available precautions to ensure that the
individuals rights are not violated

• Have the individual participate in the
  development of the program
• Dont make demands that the person cant meet
• Allow for the person to leave the program when
  they wish
• Reliance on positive reinforcement rather than on
  punishment

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All things considered

• Reinforcement therapy has been proven to be
  effective in the acquisition of many target
  behaviors for a wide variety of clients if used
  consistently.