Basic Concepts & Principles
A single instance or occurrence of a specific class or type of behavior.
What is response?
A contingency of reinforcement in which some, but not all, occurrences of the behavior produce reinforcement.
What is an intermittent schedule?
As an example, George left a fake spider on the counter and, when seeing it, his grandmother screamed, "AHHH! SPIDER! GET IT! I HATE THEM!". The next day he hid a rubber snake in the bathroom and the day after that he put a fake rat in her car.
What is positive reinforcement?
Type 1 Punishment
What is another name for positive punishment?
A response is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus (or a decrease in the intensity of the stimulus), that decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions.
What is negative punishment?
The discontinuing of a reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior (i.e., responses no longer produce reinforcement).
What is extinction?
FR 1 schedule of reinforcement
What is continuous reinforcement?
As an example: When arriving at work, Jessie said, "Good morning!" to Audrey. She blew him a kiss. Jessie stopped greeting Audrey in the morning and looks the other way as he passes by her desk.
What is positive punishment?
A stimulus change that functions as punishment under most conditions because it is free from the control of motivating conditions for specific types of punishment.
What is a generalized conditioned punisher?
A procedure for implementing time-out in which social reinforcers - usually attention, physical contact, and verbal interaction, are withheld for a brief period contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior.
What is planned ignoring?
Refers to dependent and/or temporal relations between operant behavior and its controlling variables.
What is a contingency?
The absence of responding for a period of time following reinforcement; an effect commonly produced by fixed interval and fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement.
What is a postreinforcement pause?
As an example: Jerika typically completes 3 assignments during class. Her teacher said that for every 5 assignments completed in class, Jerika gets to remove 1 homework assignment from her workbox. She now completes 6-8 assignments in class each day.
What is negative reinforcement?
A behavior change tactic which, contingent on the problem behavior, the learner is required to repeat a correct form of the behavior, or a behavior incompatible with the problem behavior, a specified number of times.
What is positive practice overcorrection?
A procedure for implementing time-out in which, contingent on the occurrence of a target behavior, the person is removed physically from the current environment for a specified period.
What is exclusion time-out?
A stimulus-response relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus and the respondent behavior it elicits.
What is a reflex?
A schedule of reinforcement in which the response requirements of two or more basic schedules must be met in a specific sequence before reinforcement is delivered; a discriminative stimulus is correlated with each component of the schedule.
What is a chained schedule?
As an example: If I maintain eye contact for 5-7 seconds at a time with an interresponse time of less than 3 seconds, my supervisor spends twice as much time observing me and giving me feedback than she does with the other technicians. When the director asked why her supervision time was unequally dispersed she said she wasn't sure why.
What is automaticity of reinforcement?
1. Emotional and aggressive behaviors
2. Escape and avoidance
3. Behavioral contrast
4. Modeling of undesired behavior
5. Overuse
What are possible side effects and problems with the use of punishment?
A procedure for implementing response cost in which the person is provided a reservoir of reinforcers that are removed in predetermined amounts contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior.
What is bonus response cost?
A theory that all forms of life naturally and continually evolve as a result of the interaction between function and the survival value of that function.
What is selectionism?
A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement (elements) that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; no discriminative stimuli are correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time.
What is a mixed schedule?
As an example consider Martin's situation. He is a master's student in the ABA program. This week Martin has a final exam in ABA 513 worth 100 points (10% of his overall grade). He also has a final paper due in ABA 510 which is worth 200 points (20% of his final grade). He does study for the exam and write the paper but, between the two, he spends more time researching, reading, and writing for the paper.
What is a concurrent schedule of reinforcement?
1. The onset of the punisher occurs as soon as possible after the occurrence of a target response.
2. The intensity of the punisher is high.
3. Each occurrence of the behavior is followed by the punishing consequences.
4. Reinforcement for the target behavior is reduced.
5. Reinforcement is available for alternative behaviors.
What are factors that influence the effectiveness of punishment?
1. Extending the time-out period for a predetermined amount of additional time
2. Continuing the time-out period until the disruptive behavior ceases
3. Requiring the absence of misbehavior for a specified time prior to the end of the fixed time-out period
What are exit criteria options for time-out procedures?