The Basics
You give a student a sticker every single time they raise their hand quietly. As a result, the student raises their hand more often in the future.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Reinforcing every single occurrence of a target behavior; best used when teaching a brand new skill.
What is Continuous Reinforcement?
A student completes 2 demands for a small piece of cracker, versus working through a 10-trial program for an entire whole cookie. This dimension of reinforcement explains the difference?
What is Magnitude?
A child cries during a difficult puzzle, and the RBT immediately removes the puzzle board. The child stops crying. The crying behavior is maintained by this function.
What is Escape/Avoidance? (Social Negative Reinforcement)
A student receives a token after every 5 correct responses on average (sometimes after 3, sometimes after 7).
What is a Variable Ratio (VR) schedule?
The loud kitchen timer buzzes continuously until you turn it off. Since turning it off stops the annoying noise, you are more likely to turn it off quickly next time.
What is Negative Reinforcement?
Reinforcement is delivered after only SOME of the desired responses occur.
What is an Intermittent Reinforcement Schedule?
This term refers to the length of time between the occurrence of the target behavior and the presentation of the reinforcer.
What is immediacy?
A child screams in the grocery store, and the parent immediately buys them a candy bar to get them to stop. The screaming increases over time.
What is Access to Tangibles/Activities? (Social Positive Reinforcement)
A student is reinforced for the first correct response after a set, unchanging amount of time has passed (e.g. every 3 minutes)?
What is a Fixed Interval (FI) schedule?
A behavior is followed by the presentation of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of that behavior.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Reinforcement is provided after an unpredictable number of responses.
What is variable ratio reinforcement schedule?
This dimension refers to the active state of the learner, often driven by motivating operations like deprivation or satiation, which determines how effective a reinforcer is at that moment.
What is motivation?
A student makes silly noises in class, and the teacher sighs and says, "Please stop that!" Every time the teacher looks at them, the noises increase.
What is Attention? (Social Positive Reinforcement)
This schedule of reinforcement is the most resistant to extinction.
What is variable ratio reinforcement schedule?
A behavior is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus that increases the future frequency of that behavior.
What is Negative Reinforcement?
When a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has elapsed.
What is variable interval reinforcement schedule?
This dimension dictates that a reinforcer must be delivered only if the target behavior occurs, establishing an "if-then" relationship.
What is contingency?
A student bites their own hand because the deep pressure sensation it produces feels internally relieving to them, without any help from another person.
What is Automatic Reinforcement?
A student begins working much faster and harder immediately after the RBT delivers verbal praise. How do you know reinforcement occurred?
What is the future rate/frequency of the behavior increased?
Negative reinforcement ___________ the behavior.
Strengthens
The first correct response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed.
What is fixed interval reinforcement schedule?
During a manding session, Sarah says "juice" clearly for the first time. Her RBT immediately hands her the juice cup within one second, which strengthens the future frequency of her verbal requests. This core dimension of reinforcement was successfully executed.
What is immediacy?
In the past, Mike's spitting resulted in escaping work. The BCBA places spitting on extinction and only reinforces Mike for raising his hand to ask for a break.
What is DRA (Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior)?
Shifting too quickly from a continuous schedule (FR1) to a very thin schedule (FR10) causes a sudden drop in a student's responding. What is this phenomenon called?
What is ratio strain?