Behaviour Modification 1 an Introduction
Define stimulus generalization, and give an example.
- Stimulus generalization refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation and - the effect of the response becoming more probable in the presence of another stimulus or situation. Example: An infant learns to say "doggie" to a large, hairy, four-legged creature with floppy ears and a friendly bark. Later, the infant sees a different kind of large dog and says "doggie."
Chapter 1
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Chapter 2
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Chapter 4
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Chapter 5
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Chapter 6
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Chapter 7
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Chapter 8
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Chapter 9
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Explain the difference, in terms of procedure and results, between the loss of value of a conditioned reinforcer (see Chapter 4) and the extinction of a positively reinforced behavior.
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List four myths or misconceptions about behavior modification.
1) The use of rewards behaviour modifiers use to change behavior is bribery. 2) Behavior Modification changes only the symptoms and does not get to the underlying problem. 3) Behaviour Modifiers are cold and unfeeling and do not develop empathy with their clients. 4) Behaviour modification is out dated
Describe five areas of application within health psychology.
1) direct treatment of medical problems 2) establishing treatment compliance 3)promotion of healthy living 4)Management of caregivers 5)stress management
state the two effects of stimulus discrimination training.
1) good stimulus control: a strong correlation between the particular stimulus and the stimulus response. 2)stimulus discrimination: a response occurs in the presence of an SD but not in the presence of an SΔ
Describe four advantages of intermittent over continuous reinforcement for maintaining behavior.
1) reinforcer remains effective longer because satiation takes longer to occur 2) behavior reinforced intermittently takes longer to extinguish 3) individuals tend to work more consistently when being reinforced intermitently 4) behavior reinforced intermittently is more likely to persist after being transferred to reinforcement in the natural environment.
What are three possible reasons for the failure of an extinction program?
1) the attention the user is withholding following the undesirable behavior, is not the reinforcer that was maintaining the behavior 2)undesirable behavior is still receiving intermittent reinforcement from another source 3)the desired alternative behavior is not being strengthened sufficiently.
) List four behaviors in persons with intellectual disabilities that have been modified by behavior modification.
1) toileting 2) social skills 3)communication skills 4)vocational skills
List 5 areas in which Behavior modification is being applied
1)education 2)social work 3) rehabillitation 4) business 5) sports
Describe a behavior of yours that was shaped by the consequences in the natural environment, and state several of the initial approximations (NOTE: Example not from book, example the book gave was: sometimes shaping occurs from consequences in the natural environment as when a cook gradually perfects the method for flipping pancakes).
A behavior that is shaped by the consequences in the natural environment is learning to walk when you are a baby. Several of the initial approximations were learning to roll over, then crawl, then trying to stand, then trying to walk by holding on to static or firm objects (like furniture or people). The final desired behavior of these initial approximations is walking with no help or without falling because of the gravity from the natural environment
From a behavioral perspective, what is a rule?
A rule describes a situation in which a behavior will lead to a consequence
Describe an example of a stimulus that is an SD for one behavior and an SΔ for a different behavior.
A sign saying Out of Order on a payphone is an SD to seek out a different machine, and an (SΔ)s delta for for inserting money.
What is the difference between a stimulus and a discriminative stimulus?
A stimulus is described as the people, animals, objects and events present in an individuals immediate surroundings that can affect one's sense receptors and can affect behavior. a discriminative stimulus is defined as: a stimulus in the presence of which a response will be reinforced. It is a cue that a response will pay off.
What do we mean by final desired stimulus? Give an example
A stimulus likely to elicit and maintain a response in the natural environment, more over, a stimulus that has an aspect to it that the individual will frequently encounter in their day to day life. For example, in the case of Peter and learning to answer what his name is to the question "what is your name?", the teacher in training towards the last step would ask loudly "what is your name" and then mouth the word "Peter". In Peter's natural environment, when people ask him his name they will not mouth Peter, therefore, the teacher conducted the last step of the program and Peter correctly responded to the question "what's your name?"
Describe a stimulus you would like to establish as an SD for a behavior of yourself or a friend, and describe the behavior. Then, for that stimulus, answer the four questions that you asked yourself in Question 18.
A stimulus that could be established as an SD for my friend's excessive talking behavior might be touching my hand to her shoulder for about a 5 second duration. When she starts to talk too much in a situation where we are pressed for time or the person seems uninterested or angry I could place my hand on her shoulder to signal the behavior to stop. a) This stimulus would be different than normal because I would be in contact with her for a longer period of time than normal. I would also be touching her in a location that I would normally not touch her. b) It is a stimulus that could be presented on many occasions because it would be unique to the behavior, as opposed to light taps on the arm when friends joke with each other. c) I believe that my friends would attend to this stimulus because having someone touching her shoulder when she's talking probably doesn't occur in many other situations.
Define behavior modification.
A systematic application of learning principles and techniques to assess and improve individuals overt and covert behaviors to enhance daily functioning
What is adventitious reinforcement? What is a superstitious behavior? Give an example of each.
Adventitious reinforcement is behavior accidently followed by a reinforcer may be strengthened even if it did not actually produce the reinforcer. Example: unbeknown to a parent, little Jonny is in his bedroom drawing on the walls with a crayon when the parent calls out, "Jonny, let's go get some ice cream." This accidental contingency might strengthen Jonny's tendency to draw on his walls. Superstitious behavior is behavior that is strengthened and maintained by adventitious reinforcement. Example: Suppose a man playing a slow machine tends to cross his fingers because, in the past, doing so was accidentally followed by winning a jackpot. Such behavior would be considered superstitious.
Promotion of Healthy Living:
An important area of behavior modification involves the application of techniques to help people manage their own behaviors to stay healthy.
Stress Management:
An important area of health psychology concerns the study of stressors, their effects on behavior, and the development of behavioral strategies for coping with stressors.
What do behavior modifiers mean by the term starting behavior in a shaping program? Give an example.
Because the final desired or target behavior does not occur initially and because it is necessary to reinforce some behavior that approximates it, you must identify a starting behavior. This (starting behavior) should be a behavior that occurs often enough to be reinforced within the session time, and it should approximate the final desired behavior. For example, Frank's behavior of walking around the house once is something that he did periodically. This was the closest approximation that he regularly made with respect to the goal of jogging a quarter of a mile.
Define organizational behavior management.
Behavior modification has also been applied to improve the performance of individuals in a wide variety of organizational settings. This general area has been referred to as Organizational behavior management.
What is operant behavior? Describe an example, and indicate how the example fits the definition of operant behavior.
Behaviours that operate on the environment to generate consequences and are in turn influenced by those consequences are called operant behaviours. Ex: mother is busy ironing in the kitchen. 3year old daughter goes and plays with her little brother. when mother done ironing she sits down and plays with her children. positive reinforcement (attention from mom) makes it likely for the daughter to play with her brother more frequently.
Describe an example of Pitfall Type 1 that involves a person unknowingly applying positive reinforcement to strengthen an undesirable behavior.
Children who exhibit extreme social withdrawal. One behavioral characteristic of such children is that they avoid looking at someone who is talking to them. Frequently, they move away from adults. We might conclude that they don't want our attention. Actually, the withdrawn child's behavior probably evokes more social attention than would have been obtained by looking at the adult. In such cases, it is only natural for adults to persist in attempting to get a child to look at them when they speak. Unfortunately, this behavior is likely to reinforce the child's withdrawal behavior. The tendency to shower attention is sometimes maintained by the theory that social interaction is needed to bring a child out of the withdrawn state. In reality, an appropriate treatment might involve withholding social attention for withdrawal behavior and presenting it only when they child engages in some sort of social-interaction behavior - such as looking in the direction of the adult who is attempting the interaction.
What is the difference between DRI and DRA?
DRI: Withholding reinforcers for a particular response and reinforcing an incompatible response. DRA: Extinction of a problem behaviour combined with reinforcing a behaviour that is topographically dissimilar to but not necessarily incompatible with the problem. The difference is that with DRI you are decreasing the target behaviour by increasing an incompatible behaviour. For example target behaviour to decrease is biting fingernails and the incompatible behaviour to increase is keeping your hands below your shoulders. With DRA you are eliminating an undesirable behaviour by combining it with positive reinforcement for some desirable alternative behaviour
Describe in some detail two examples of how DRO might be useful in treating behavior problems.
Example 1: A patient recovering from a rash. If scratching occurs during a 2-minute interval, the interval starts again. But if scratching did not occur a token is given to watch TV. Over several days the DRO is increased to 4 minutes then to 8 then to 15 then to 30. This is useful in changing the behaviours of patients recovering from injuries. Example 2: A child picks his nose repeatedly causing it to bleed. Her parents start her on a 5-minute interval, if picking occurs the interval starts again. But if picking doesn't occur she is given one minute of extra time to play on the ipad before bed. As the week goes by the DRO is increased to 10 minutes then to 20 then to 30 them to 40 then to one hour. This method proves to be successful in changing her nose picking behaviour to the point that she no longer does it.
Describe in some detail two examples of how DRL would be useful in treating a behaviour problem.
Example 1: A student who calls out the correct answer too often deprives classmates of the chance to respond to the teacher's questions. Naturally, we would not wish to eliminate the child's correct answer. We hope, however, to reduce the calling out behaviour. We might do this by placing the behaviour on the following DRL Schedule: Any target response that occurs after 15 minutes of the previous target response is immediately reinforced; any target response that occurs within 15 minutes if the previous target response is not reinforced. A target response before the interval has passed causes the timing of the interval to start over again. DRL 1-response/15-minute. Example 2: A child feeds the fish to many times a day causing the death of several fish. We don't want the child to not feed the fish because then they would also die. We want to teach the child that the fish only need to be feed once a day everyday. The child's parents have told him he can only feed them once a day just before bedtime. If he feeds the fish only that one time throughout the day he will be rewarded an extra bedtime story of his choice. Any target response that occurs one full day after the previous target response is reinforced; if the child feeds it multiple times a day then he doesn't get his reinforcement until he meets the single target response of feeding the fish once a day.
Describe two examples of how VI/LH might be applied in training programs.
Example 1: teacher initiates a VI30/ LH0 (if children are working quietly every time a buzzer goes off in 30 minute intervals they are rewarded wtih a treat. Example 2: telephoning a friend and recieve busy signal. cannot get reinforcement (friend answering) until she gets off the phone, and there is a limited amount of time before she leaves the house/ takes another phone call.
Explain what an FI/LH schedule is, and describe the details of an example from everyday life
FI/LH schedule is a fixed interval schedule with a finite amount of time after the reinforcer becomes available that the response will produce it. Example: Buses usually run on a regular schedule. An individual may arrive at the bus stop early, just before the bus is due, or as it is arriving- it makes no difference, this person will catch the bus regardless. However, the bus will wait only a limited time- perhaps one minute. If this individual is not at the bus stop within this limited period of time, the bus goes on and the person must wait for the next one.
Define Fading and give an example of it
Fading is the gradual change over successive trails of an antecedent stimulus that controls a response so that the response eventually occurs to a partially changed or completely new stimulus For example, Peter at first would only say his name when it was said to him, through a fading process the stimulus control over the response "Peter" was gradually transferred from the antecedent stimulus "Peter" to the antecedent stimulus "what is your name?". Another example could be a dance teacher who gradually uses less and less hand pressure to guide a student through new dance steps.
what is the difference between forgetting and extinction?
Forgetting is a weakened behavior as a function of time follows its last occurrence. extinction still weakens the behavior as a result of being emitted without having been reinforced (when previously reinforced)
Identify the three basic stages in any shaping procedure as presented at the beginning of this chapter, and describe them with an example.
Frank had been a 'coach-potato' all his life. He typically came home from work, grabbed a can of beer, and parked himself in front of his television set. Frank launched his exercise program with a promise to his wife that he would jog a quarter of a mile each day. But after a couple of attempts, he returned to his coach-potato routine. He had expected to much too soon. He then decided to try a procedure called shaping, using these steps: 1) specify the final desired behavior: job 1/4 mile each day 2) identify a response that could be used as a starting point towards the final desired behavior: walking twice around the house 3)reinforce the starting response, then reinforce closer and closer approximations until the final desired response occurs.
What is behavior, generally and technically? Give three synonyms for behavior.
Generally Behavior is anything a person says or does. Technically, behavior is any muscular, glandular or electrical activity of an organism. three synonyms: activity, performance, responding
Management of Caregivers:
Health psychologists deal with the behavior of the client's family, friends, and various medical stuff concerned with the client's health. Changing the behavior of physicians, nurses, psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, and other medical personnel to improve services provided to patients is receiving increases attention.
What is health psychology?
Health psychology considers how psychological factors can influence and cause illness. It encourages individuals to practice healthy behavior to prevent health problems.
Establishing Treatment Compliance:
Many people don't take medication exactly as described by their doctors. Because it is behavior, compliance with medical regimens is a natural for behavior modification. Thus, an important part of health psychology is promoting treatment compliance.
What do we mean by natural environment? By natural reinforcers? By programmed reinforcers?
Natural environment is a setting in which an individual carries out normal, everyday functions. (i.e., not a situation explicitly designed for training) Natural reinforcers are reinforcers that follow behavior in the course of everyday living (i.e. that occur in the natural environment) Programmed reinforcers are reinforcers that are arranged systemically by psychologists, teachers, and others in behavior modification programs
After dinner, a teenager begins washing dishes and the parent stops nagging the teenager to do so. Is that an example of positive reinforcement? Explain why or why not, in terms of the definition of positive reinforcement.
No this is not an example of positive reinforcement. This is an example of negative reinforcement, where immediately following a behavior is the removal of an aversive behavior; in contract to positive reinforcement which introduces an appetitive stimuli following a behavior.
Distinguish between overt and covert behaviors. Give two examples of each that are not in this chapter.
Overt (visible) behaviors are ones that could be observed and recorded by an individual other than the one performing the behavior. Examples: Walking and talking out loud. Covert (private, internal) behaviors on the other hand are ones that cannot be readily observed by others. Examples: Thinking and feeling.
define the four major categories of teacher-behavior prompts. give an example for each.
Physical prompt: guiding the learning through touch example: holding a childs hands while teaching them to walk gestural prompt: certain motions that a tteacher makes such as pointing to the correct cue or making signals directed to the learner without touching him or her. modeling prompt: occur when the correct behavior is demonstration. example. a swimming coach models the correct arm movements for doing the breaststroke verbal promp: verbal hints or cues, for example a driving instructor telling a student to "check over your left shoulder."
Direct Treatment of Medical Problems
Sometimes problems like migraine headaches, back-aches or stomach problems have a learning component. Health psychologists are continuing the late 1960s trend of developing behavioral techniques to treat symptoms such as these directly. One such technique is called biofeedback, which consists of providing immediate information to an individual about that person's physiological processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and brain waves.
Explain what a conditioned reinforcer is. Give and explain two examples.
Stimuli that were not originally reinforcers but have become reinforcers by being paired with or associated with other reinforcers. Also called secondary or learned reinforcers. Example 1: Money can be used to reinforce behaviors because it can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, clothing, shelter and other such things. Example 2: Animal trainers sometimes use clickers as a type of conditioned reinforcer. After pairing the sound of a clicker with praise or treats, the sound of the clicker alone can eventually work as a reinforcer.
Distinguish between the direct and indirect effects of a positive reinforce.
The DIRECT effect of a positive reinforcer is the increased frequency of a response because it was immediately followed by that reinforcer. The INDIRECT effect of a positive reinforcer is the strengthening of a response that is followed by that reinforcer even if that reinforcer is delayed. see page 43 for examples.
Define behavioral assessment.
The collection and assessment of information and data in order to: 1) identify the target behaviors 2)identify the possible cause of behaviors 3) Guide the selection of a behavior treatment 4) evaluate the treatment outcomes
Define stimulus control.
The degree of correlation between the occurrence of a particular stimulus with the occurrence of a subsequent response.
Explain how the effects of DRL, DRO, DRI, and DRA differ from the effects of the intermittent-reinforcement schedules discussed in Chapter 6
The effects of DRL, DRO, DRI, and DRA are used to reduce unwanted behaviours or behaviour that occur too frequently. While intermittent reinforcement schedules, as discussed in chapter 6, are used to generate and maintain desired behaviours.
What is spontaneous recovery? describe an example.
The reappearance of an extinguished behavior following a rest. ex: child finger snapping to get teachers attention. implement an extinction program: after lunch. 10 instances of finger snapping, all ignored by teacher and students. Teacher thinks finger snapping extinguished. HOWEVER, first thing in morning finger snapping occurred again. this is spontaneous recovery of an extinguished behavior following a rest in the program.
What are tokens?
Tokens are conditioned reinforcers that can be accumulated and exchanged for back-up reinforcers
What is a behavioral deficit? Give two examples that are not in this chapter.
Too little behavior of a particular type. Examples: Selfish and unclean
What is a behavioral excess? Give two examples that are not in this chapter.
Too much behavior of a particular type. Examples: Overeating and smoking.
Is money a token? Justify your response.
Yes Money is a token. It is a generalized conditioned reinforcer. It is considered a strong generalized conditioned reinforcer because of its ability to be traded for food, shelter, transportation, clothing, entertainment and other reinforcers.
What is meant by a dimension of a stimulus? Give an example.
a dimension of a stimulus is any characteristic of that stimulus that can be measured on some continuum. ex: pressure of a teachers hand that guides a child's printing.
What is a discrete-Operant procedure? give an example.
a discrete stimulus is presented prior to an opportunity for a response to occur and be followed by basic reinforcement. the next response cannot occur until another stimulus is presented, and so on. ex: student presented one math problem to solve, and was given a brief amount of time to solve, and then the next problem is given to her, and so on.
What is an FI schedule?
a fixed-interval schedule. A reinforcer is presented after the first instance of a specific response after a certain amount of time.
Explain why a generalized conditioned reinforcer is more effective than a simple conditioned reinforcer.
a generalized conditioned reinforcer is more effective than a simple conditioned reinforce because the power of a conditioned reinforcer depends in part on the number of back up reinforcers available for it. if many different backup reinforcers are available, then at any given time, at least one of them will probably be strong enough to maintain tokes at a high reinforcing strength for any individual in the program.
What is a free-operant procedure? Give an example.
a procedure in which the person is "free" to respond repeatedly. there are no constraints on successive responses. for example: student given a worksheet with 12 math problems, could work at any rate she wanted.1 per minute, 3 per minute, etc.
Define and give an example of schedule of reinforcement
a rule specifying which occurrences, if any, of a behavior are reinforced. the simplest reinforcement schedule is continuous reinforcement. ex: everytime you you put your key in the keyhole and unlock the door, your actions are reinforced by the door opening. opposite of continuous reinforcement is extinction
Distinguish between a simple conditioned reinforcer and a generalized conditioned reinforcer.
a simiple conditioned reinforcer is a reinforcer that is paired up with one kind of back-up reinforcer. a generalized conditioned reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that is paired with multiple back-up reinforcers.
Define spaced-responding DRL, and give an example.
a specified behavior must not occur during a certain time interval, after that time inerval, the behavior must occur in order for the reinforcer to occur. in other words, the behavior must be spaced out over time. Example: A child who feeds his fish to many time a day. His parents have noticed that he has been feeding it 5 times a day and they started to die because of the overfeeding. The child's parents have told him he can only feed them once a day just before bedtime. If he feeds the fish only that one time throughout the day he will be rewarded an extra bedtime story of his choice.
What is a positive reinforcer?
a stimulus that, when presented immediately following a behavior causes the behavior to increase in frequency.
Explain in two or three sentences what a token economy is.
a token economy is a behavior mod program. Individuals can earn tokens for specific behaviours, accumulate them and exchange them for back-up reinforcers.
What is a VI Schedule?
a variable-interval schedule. a reinforcer is presented after the first instances of a specific response after a certain amount of time, and the amount of time required changes unpredictably from one reinforcer to the next
define within-stimulus prompt and provide an example. does your example involve a teacher-behavior prompt or an environmental prompt.
a within stimulus prompt is an alteration of the SD or Sdelta to make their characteristics more noticeable, and therefore easier to discriminate. ex: teaching a child to set the table, changing out a normal spoon for a large wooden one. this is an environmental prompt because it alters the physical environment.
When you are considering the selection of a stimulus to be set up as an SD, what four questions might you ask yourself about that stimulus?
a) Is the stimulus different from other stimuli along more than one dimension? That is, is it different in location, size, color, and sensory modality (vision, hearing, touch, etc.)? b) Is the stimulus one that can be presented only or at least mainly on occasions when the desired response should occur to avoid confusion with the occurrence of the stimulus on other occasions? c) Is the stimulus of the type that the probability of the person attending to it when it is presented is high? d) Are there any undesirable responses that might be controlled by the chosen stimulus? If some undesirable response follows the stimulus, it will interfere with the development of new stimulus control of the desired response.
Why is it necessary to be specific when selecting a behavior for a reinforcement program?
a) help to ensure the reliability of detecting instances of the behavior and changes in its frequency which is the yard stick by which one judges reinforcer effectiveness, and b) increase the likelihood that the reinforcement program will be applied consistently
what are the two parts in the principle of extinction?
a) if, in a given situation an individual emits a previously reinforced behavior and that behavior is not followed by a reinforcer then b) hat person is less likely to do the same thing again when next encountering a similar situation
Define and give an example of continuous reinforcement.
an arrangement in which each occurrence of a behavior is reinforced. for example, every time you turn the tap you get water.
what is an extinction burst? describe an example
an extinction burst is a sudden increase in responding during extinction.when a child is crying, it gets louder when no attention is given after a few minutes. Parents keep track of this, and note that the crying tapers off with the refusal of reinforcement.
What is behavioral community psychology?
applications to socially significant problems in a community setting where the behavior of individuals is not considered deviant in the traditional sense.
Define Shaping.
development of new behavior by the reinforcement successive approximations of that behavior and the extinction of earlier approximations of the behavior until the new behavior occurs.
Define extra-stimulus prompt, and describe an example, does your example involve a teacher-behavior prompt or an environmental prompt?
extra-stimulus prompt is something that is added to the environment to make a correct response more likely ex: teaching a child to set the table, parents might draw on the table a knife, fork and spoon in their appropriate locations. this is an environmental prompt. alternatively the parents could point to the correct spot and name the utensil while setting it down. This a gestural and verbal teacher-behavior prompt.
Explain what FD schedule is. Describe in details of two examples of FD schedules that occur in everyday life.
fixed-duration schedule. a reinforcer is presented only when a desired behavior occurs continuously for a fixed amount of time. he value of the FD is the amount of time a behavior must be engaged in for the reinforcer to occur. Example: Melting solder, one must hold the tip of the soldering iron on the solder for a continuous fixed period of time. If the tip is removed, the solder cools quickly and the person has to start over again and apply heat for the same continuous period. Example: A worker who is paid by the hour would be considered on an FD schedule, as if they do not work, they will not get paid, if they do work they get paid.
Explain what an FR schedule is. Describe the details of two examples of FR schedules in everyday life (at least one of which is not in this chapter). Do your examples involve a free-operant procedure or a discrete-trials procedure?
fixed-ratio schedule. a reinforcer occurs every time a fixed number of responses of a particular type are emitted. An example would be workers at a widget factory being paid for every 15 widgets they make. Another example would be in a video game, you have to collect a certain number of points, tokens, or objects in order to receive some type of reward. Both examples involve a free-operant procedure.
What is the principle of positive reinforcement?
in a given situation, somebody does something that is followed immediately by a positive reinforce, then that person is more likely to do the same thing again when he or she next encounters a similar situation
If you instruct someone about a positive reinforcement program for that person's behavior, is that bribery? Why or why not?
not considered bribery. Bribery is described as " ..a reward or gift offered to induce someone to commit an immoral or illegal act." Must consider the difference between the promise of reinforcers for DESIRABLE behaviours verses promise of reinforcers for immoral or illegal deeds
What is a Stimulus? Give two examples.
people, animals, objects and events present in an individual's immediate surroundings that can impinge on their sense receptors and can affect behavior. ex: visual objects: books, clothing, furniture, lights, people, pets, trees. also, sounds, tastes, smells and physical contact with the body.
With examples, distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.
rule governed behavior is behavior that is controlled by the statement of a rule example: if a father were to tell his 16-year-old son he can have the car every Saturday night so long as he mows the lawn every Friday contingency shaped behavior is behavior that is developed because of its immediate consequences. ex: someone who swears around their teacher is likely to receive reprimanding from teacher and will likely learn to not swear around his teacher in the future. note the presense of the teacher end up being an SΔ
What do behavior modifiers mean by the term satiation? Describe an example.
satiation: condition in which an individual has experienced a particular reinforcer to such an extend that it is temporarily no longer reinforcing. Ex: an individual is given candy as a reinforcer. However, this person has had too much candy during a session and is now starting to feel sick to her stomach. Therefore, the reinforcer is no longer productive.
Define limited-responding DRL, and give an example
specifies a maximum allowable number of responses to occur during a certain time interval in order for a reinforcer to occur. ex: Example: A child at a Daycare is being disruptive during naptime The day care has observed that she gets up and runs around waking up the other children and average of 5 times each naptime. The child was told that if she got up less than 3 times during the 1 hour nap time she would be allowed to play at the paly dough station for an extra 5 minutes each day. The day care worker let her know if she had met the requirements at the end of each naptime.
Explain what an unconditioned reinforcer is. Give two examples.
stimuli that are reinforcing without prior learning or conditioning. these reinforcers are also known as primary or unlearned reinforcers. ex: water, when a person is thirsty; food for a hungry person; warmth when a person is cold
Describe the stimulus discrimination training procedure, and give an example.
stimulus discrimination training involves reinforcing a response in the presense of an SD and extinguishing that response in the presence of an (SΔ)S delta. Example: A teacher presents the signs "Look at the teacher" and so on, that stimulus was an SD for the children's on task behavior, and it was an SΔ for their off task behavior.
List four general areas of sport psychology in which behavior modification has been applied.
techniques for improving the skills of athletes Strategies for motivating practice and endurance training changing behavior of coaches sport psyching to prepare for competition
If a behavior that was maintained by positive reinforcement is not reinforced at least once in a while, what will happen to the behavior?
the behavior will either not decrease, or in the event that it does, the behavior will resurface as the behavior originally stopped during a postively reinforcing trial. If a behavior is not maintained as it was previously; it will stop temporarily, due to the positive reinforcement, but will reoccur in the long run once the reinforcement stops.
What do behavior modifiers mean by the term target behavior in a shaping program? Give an example.
the first stage in shaping is to identify clearly the final desired behavior, which is often referred to as the target behavior. In Frank's case, the final desired behavior was jogging a quarter of a mile a day. It is important to be precise because it increases the chances for consistent reinforcement of successive approximations of that behavior. If different people working with the individual expect different things, or if one person is not consistent from one training session or situation to the next, progress is likely to be delayed.
Chapter 3 What is a baseline. Give an example.
the measure of a behavior in the absence of a treatment program: example: observing how a mother interacts with her son in the playroom at the clinic before a treatment program is suggested/underway.
what is another name for shaping?
the method of successive approximations
why is it necessary to consider the setting as a factor in your extinction program?
the setting which the extinction will be carried out will minimize the influence of alternative reinforcers on the undesirable behavior to be extinguished. it maximizes the chances of the behavior modifier persisting with the program.
what do we mean by starting stimulus? give an example
the stimulus that reliably evokes the desired behavior at the beginning of the fading program. usually contains many additional prompts For example, in teaching Peter his name, the teacher knows that the person would mimic the last word of a question when the word is spoken loudly. Therefore, the teacher would begin the program by saying "what's your name?" very soft and quietly, and then followed quickly by yelling "Peter". The shouted name prompts Peter to give the right answer.
Define errorless discrimination training
the use of a fading procedure to establish a stimulus discrimination so that no errors occur
What do behavior modifiers mean by the term deprivation? Describe an example.
time during which an individual does not experience a particular reinforcer. Ex: Food is more likely to become a reinforcer if the individual has gone a number of hours without eating and is in fact, hungry.
Explain what a VR schedule is. Describe the details of two examples of VR schedules in everyday life (at least one of which is not in the text). Do your examples involve a free-operant procedure or a discrete-trials procedure?
variable-ratio schedule.a reinforcer occurs after a certain number of responses are emited, and the number of responses required for the reinforcer changes unpredictably from one reinforcer to the next. ex: slot machine ex: door-to-door salesman. do not know how many houses they will have to hit before making a sale. both examples involve free-operant procedure.
Define and give an example of intermittent reinforcement.
when a behavior is reinforced only occasionally instead of every time it occurs: ex: a student receives reinforcement after they correctly complete a fixed number of math problems Instead of each individual question.
What are concurrent schedules of reinforcement? Describe an example
when each of two or more behaviors is reinforced on different schedules at the same time. The schedules of reinforcement are concurrent.. ex: a student has the option of either doing homework, watching tv, studying, going on the internet. each of these activities is on its own schedule of reinforcement.
