Chapter 12, Cooper, Heron, & Heward

Factors influencing effectiveness of negative reinforcement:

Consistency - It is delivered consistently Contingency - stimulus is more effective as a reinforce when it is delivered contingent on the behaviour Establishing operations - reinforcement is unavailable for competing (nontarget) responses (i.e. deprivation and other events make a stimulus more effective as a reinforce at a particular time) Immediacy - it is delivered immediately following the target behavior Individual differences - reinforcers vary from person to person Magnitude - the magnitude of reinforcement is large

Ethical issues involved in negative reinforcement:

Presence of particularly aversive antecedent stimuli may be problematic/unethical Presence of these stimuli may generate undesirable behaviours that compete with the acquisition of desired behaviours Undesirable side effects typically associated with punishment may also be observed when implementing behavior change programs based on negative reinforcement

Examples of how negative reinforcement can be used to produce therapeutic effects for individuals are:

-Acquisition and maintenance of appropriate behaviour Chronic food refusal (e.g. non-removal of spoon or avoidance of physical gesture) -Error correction strategies Correction of student errors by repeating a learning trial, having the student practice correct performance, or giving the student additional work -Acquisition and maintenance of problem behaviour Presentation of task demands may function as an EO for escape behaviour due to difficult or repetitive nature of work requirements Initial forms of escape may include lack of attention or mild forms of disruption Attempts to escape may persist and may even escalate to more severe forms of problem behaviour -Behavioural replacement strategies Strengthen a more socially appropriate replacement behaviour using negative reinforcement Undesirable behaviour could be replaced with a desirable one; however, it does not necessarily facilitate better task performance (e.g. may produce decrease in problem behaviour, but not demonstrate improved performance/skill aquisition)

Similarities between negative a nd positive reinforcement:

-Both produce an increase in responding via a stimulus change

avoidance contingency

-Contingency in which a response prevents or postpones presentation of a stimulus -(e.g. blow on hot food prior to taking a bite, turn down volume on car stereo prior to starting car)

escape contingency

-Contingency in which a response terminates (produces escape from) an ongoing (aversive) stimulus -(e.g. If you take a bite of food that is too hot and spit it out, turn down volume of music once car has already been started)

Negative reinforcement versus punishment:

-Often confused because: "Positive" and "Negative" are opposites But "positive" refers to presentation of the stimulus and "negative" refers to the termination of the stimulus Both involve "aversive" events But in negative reinforcement, the aversive event is present prior to the target behavior and in punishment, the aversive event is presented contingent on the target behavior Effect on behavior is different (negative reinforcement produces an increase in responding; punishment produces a decrease in responding)

conditioned negative reinforcer

-Previously neutral stimulus change that has been paired a number of times with one or more established reinforcer(s) and consequently functions as a negative reinforcer itself -In case of negative reinforcement, neutral events function as both a) discriminative stimuli because responding in their presence constitutes avoidance of another consequence and b) conditioned negative reinforcers because, due to their pairing with another consequence, they become stimuli to avoid and escape -(e.g. dark sky, nagging)

Characteristics of negative reinforcement:

-Response required: Any response (socially appropriate or inappropriate) can be strengthened by negative reinforcement All are adaptive because they allow the individual to interact effectively with the environment -Events that serve as negative reinforcers A variety of stimuli can serve as negative reinforcers Unconditioned Conditioned -Source of negative reinforcement Socially mediated (delivered by another person) Automatic (is produced directly by the person's response)

Unconditioned negative reinforcer

-Stimulus that functions as a negative reinforce as a result of evolutionary development of the species (phylogeny) -No prior learning is involved -(e.g. shock, loud noise, intense light, extreme temperatures)

Differences between negative and positive reinforcement:

-The type of stimulus change that follows the behavior: Positive reinforcement produces a stimulus that was absent prior to responding Negative reinforcement terminates a stimulus that was present prior to responding

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether the stimulus change was positive or negative:

-Turning up the heat Adds heat Removes cold -Free time contingent on work completion Adds preferred activities Removes work -Michael (1975) suggested the distinction is not important, instead, define key stimulus features: Before the stimulus change After the stimulus change -This may provide a more complete, functional understanding of the relationship between the behavior and environment

negative reinforcement

-Type of reinforcement in which: 1) Occurrence of the behaviour 2) Is followed by the removal (or decrease in intensity) of an aversive stimulus, 3) Which results in increase in the future probability of the behaviour (i.e. strengthening of the behaviour) -(e.g. crying results in removal of demand, crying increases)

Four components of a negative reinforcement contingency:

1. Establishing operation - antecedent event (aversive stimulus) in the presence of which escape is reinforcing 2. Discriminative stimulus (SD) - antecedent event whose presence escape (termination of event) is reinforcing 3. Response - the act that produces reinforcement 4. Reinforcer - termination of the EO

discriminated avoidance

Contingency in which responding in the presence of a signal prevents the onset of a stimulus from which escape is a reinforce

free-operant avoidance

Contingency in which responses at any time during an interval prior to scheduled onset of an aversive stimulus delays presentation of the average stimulus

Negative reinforcement produce undesirable, problem behaviours by:

Presenting a noxious event that may lead to problem behaviours in order to terminate the event