Chapter 17: Antecedent Control: Rules and Goals

From a behavioral perspective, why might realistic, challenging goals be more effective than do-your-best goals?

"Do your best" goals are ineffective because they are vague Individuals who are instructed to simply "do their best" set relatively easy goals Suggested that difficult or challenging goals may produce better performance Identifying a specific goal for a learner is more likely to consistently provide backup reinforcers for meeting the goal than when the goal for the learner is simply to "do your best" Reason for this is that the behavior modifier and the learner may disagree as to whether or not the learner did his or her best Judgment on if a goal is easy or difficult is subjective, given that our info about someone's physiological and behavioral capabilities is always incomplete

How might we explain the behavior of someone who fails to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle even though that person knows that wearing a helmet could prevent brain damage from an accident?

1) (reason that does not necessarily involve rules) Desirable safety behavior in such instances leads to fairly immediate punishers (helmet hot and uncomfortable) 2) Such rules involve low probability consequences Many bikers know that an accident that is sufficient enough to cause brain damage is unlikely

Describe two common differences between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.

1) Contingency-Shaped involves immediate consequences Rule-governed behavior often involves delayed consequences 2) Contingency-shaped is strengthened gradually through trial-and-error Rule-governed behavior leads to immediate behavior change (does not take a few trials for behavior change to occur)

Briefly describe four situations in which the addition of rules to a behavior modification program might be especially helpful. Give an example of each.

1) When rapid change is desirable Correct use of rules often produces behavior change more rapidly than shaping, chaining, and trial-and-error experiences with reinforcement and extinction Example: sport psychologist trying to help figure skater; skater essentially given a rule; rehearsing the rule might have helped the skater focus on the cues that normally enable her to land her jumps, rather than worrying about falling Rule might also have functioned as a conditioned stimulus to elicit the relaxed feelings that were typically experienced at practices (and which may be part of the contextual stimuli that control good skating) 2) When consequences are delayed Example: parents want to encourage a child to study for an hour or so each evening during the week; a suitable reinforcer might be allowing child to stay up late on weekend to watch a movie but, movie watching on Friday night is long delayed from studying for an hour on Monday By adding the rule "If you study for an hour each night this week, you can watch the late movie on Friday night" - the parent has increased the changes of the delayed reinforcer having an indirect-acting effect on the desired behavior 3) When natural reinforcers are highly intermittent Example: during post-christmas session in recessionary times at a store, sales are very low; a store manager might increase the persistence of the salespeople by encouraging them to rehearse the rule "Be Persistent! The very next customer might mean a sale!" 4) When behavior will lead to immediate and severe punishment Rules can help people learn appropriate behavior when learning "the hard way" can be extremely COSTLY Example: some students are unaware that copying parts of the text word for word on a term paper without acknowledging the source is unacceptable All students should be taught, long-before they reach college, the rule "Copying from a source without giving credit is plagiarism and can lead to serious academic penalty"

Define rule behaviorally and give an example that is not in this chapter.

A rule behaviorally describes a situation in which a behavior will lead to a consequence. An example may be "If you shovel the steps, you can watch go to the dance."

Briefly list six of the eight conditions that summarize effective versus ineffective goal setting as a behavior modification strategy.

Conditions that summarize effective versus ineffective goal setting as a behavior modification strategy are: •Specific goals are more effective than vague goals; •Goals with respect to learning specific skills should include mastery criterion; •Goals should identify the circumstances under which the desirable behavior should occur; •Realistic, challenging goals are more effective than do-your-best goals; •Public goals are more effective than private goals; •Goal setting is more effective if deadlines are included; •Goals setting plus feedback is more effective than goal setting alone; and •Goal setting is most effective when individuals are committed to the goals.

Define contingency-shaped behavior, and give an example that is not in this chapter.

Contingency-shaped behavior is behavior that develops because of its immediate consequences rather than because of a specific statement or rule.An example may be the child occupying them self quietly while mommy puts the baby down for a nap.

In a couple of sentences, distinguish between rules that are often effective versus rules that are often weak or ineffective in controlling behavior.

Effective Rules: 1) Specific descriptions of behavior 2) Specific descriptions of circumstances 3) Highly Probable consequences 4) Describe sizable consequences 5) Have Deadlines Ineffective Rules: 1) Vague descriptions of behavior 2) Vague descriptions of circumstances 3) Improbable consequences 4) Small but cumulatively significant consequences 5) No deadlines

In general, what do we mean by the word goal? GIve an example of a behavioral goal that is not in this chapter. Give an example of an outcome goal that is not in this chapter.

Goal: Describes a level of performance toward which an individual or group should work

Define rule-governed behavior, and give an example that is not in this chapter.

Rule-governed behavior is behavior controlled by the statement of a rule.An example may be "If you are quiet while mom puts the baby down for a nap, we will go outside to play."

From a behavioral perspective, why, might public goals be more effective than private goals?

Setting a public goal results in a public standard against which performance can be evaluated, and that it implies social consequences for achieving or not achieving the goals

Is goal setting different from using rules? Discuss.

Similar: Often applied to influence individuals to improve performance where reinforcers are delayed (a bonus in a work setting is received well after the work has been completed) or are immediate but highly intermittent (bball player might initially make only 1 out of every 30 foul shots) Different: Circumstances in which one might apply goal setting are often different from rules Often used to influence individuals to work toward some objective over a period of time or during a number of practice opportunities (wouldn't expect the bball player to immediately meet the goal of making 10 foul shots in a row)

What do the authors mean by commitment in the context of goal setting?

The authors in the context of goal setting use commitment to mean statements or actions by the learner indicating that the goal is important, the learner will work towards it, and the learner recognizes the benefits of doing so.