Differential Reinforcement

Increase DRO Intervals

-As the DRO is effective, you will need to increase the length of the DRO intervals. Begin small and increase by constant time; later increase by proportion -You can change the DRO intervals session by session as needed by the situation

Differentiating Reinforcement from Differential Reinforcement

-Clearly they are related -Reinforcement typically refers to just one response that is increasing -Differential reinforcement involves 2 responses and typically 1 increases and 1 decreases -Really depends on what the target behaviors are and how you define your responses

Keys to Effective Differential Reinforcement

-Define your target behaviors-know which behaviors you will reinforce and which you will withhold reinforcement from -Evaluate the best type of differential reinforcement to use to get the best long-term effects

Steps of DRO

-Establish the time interval to be used -Any appropriate behavior occurring at the end of the interval is reinforced as long as the negative behavior was not exhibited during the interval -Occurrence of the negative target behavior is causes the interval to be reset

DRL Implementations

-Full Session DRL -Interval DRL -Spaced DRL

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)

-Reinforce occurrence of target behavior that is an alternative to the behavior you are not reinforcing or extinguishing (target behavior you wish to decrease) -Alternative behavior can be one that would occupy the same time period as the negative/target behavior but does not have to be topographically different from the target behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Responding (DRL)

-Reinforcement for each response following the preceding response by at least some specified interval -Used to decrease the rate of behavior -Reinforces behaviors only when they are exhibited at a slower rate than baseline-in increments -Establish the IRT time from baseline; establish a rate of behavior you will reinforce that is only slightly lower than the average IRT; reinforce responses that occur with more time between the last response than that interval.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

-Reinforcement occurs when a specific behavior is not exhibited during a specified interval of time -ANY appropriate behavior exhibited in that interval OTHER than the behavior targeted for reduction will be reinforced

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors (DRI)

-Remember last week we talked about different types of concurrent contingencies of reinforcement. DRI is an example of concurrent contingencies. -Reinforcing a behavior that is physically incompatible with the negative behavior that we are extinguishing or not reinforcing

Considerations in DRO

-Schedule interval time that is consistent with the baseline data such that the individual will receive reinforcement frequently (i.e., don't schedule a longer interval than you have ever observed the individual NOT engaging in the behavior) -Choose a time interval (IRT) that is less than the mean of your baseline data

Shaping

-Shaping uses differential reinforcement -Shaping consists of reinforcing successive approximations of behavior -You define your target behavior, you define the steps to get to your target behavior (e.g., task analysis) then you reinforce approximations of the behaviors you have defined. -You are conducting a series of differential reinforcement paradigms

Guidelines for DRL

-Similar to DRO -Use the mean IRT from baseline to set your time intervals -Increase the time intervals over time as the behavior occurs at a slower rate consistently -Start varying your time intervals over time so that it will more naturally maintain

Using Differential Reinforcement

-We use differential reinforcement purposely to both increase and decrease behaviors -We use it to increase behaviors we want to see and decrease behaviors -we want to get rid of -We use it often in an attempt to replace negative behaviors with positive behaviors -We use it without realizing it everyday in our social interactions

Interval DRL

Reinforcement is delivered after each interval in which responding occurred at or less than a set criteria

Differential Reinforcement

Reinforcing one response class or set of responses while withholding reinforcement for another set of responses -Some definitions say extinguishing the second set of responses; others say withholding

Inter-Response Time (IRT)

Total the length of all the baseline sessions divide by the number of responses exhibited during all of your baseline sessions

Spaced DRL

each behavior emitted is reinforced if it followed the last behavior by more than the criterion time

Full Session DRL

reinforcement is delivered at the end of the instructional session if all responding within the session is equal or below a criterion limit