Increasing Behavior - Reinforcers

What Are Reinforcers?

Reinforcers are tangible and intangible objects or actions that are used to increase the occurrence of certain behavior. Reinforcers are critical to the success of an ABA therapy program because they are instrumental in getting and shaping the right behaviors in a child diagnosed with ASD. Candy, small toys, tickles, praises, and almost anything that will remind a child of good behavior can be used as reinforcers.

There are two kinds of reinforcing stimuli: Primary and Secondary.

Primary reinforcers work without any learning: food, drink, warmth, sleep.

Advantages of Primary Reinforcing Stimuli

• Using them does not have to be taught, it comes naturally.
• The desire to get these stimuli does not go away.

Disadvantages

• They do not represent the natural environment situations.
• An individual’s response to them may satiate or fade over time.

Secondary reinforcers are learned: they gain their value through pairing with a primary or another secondary reinforcer. There are two types of secondary stimuli:

  a. Stimuli that are social in origins such as smiles, praise, or a sense of accomplishment.

  b. Token economy stimuli where an individual earns tangible things for good behavior. It is also used as a means to acquire primary reinforcements or other secondary reinforcements.

Advantages

• More convenient to use than primary reinforcers.
• Fits better in the natural environment.
• Can be used to broaden the interest of an individual.
• Using a token economy system can lengthen the time between the presentation of new reinforcers without the individual losing interest.

Positive And Negative Reinforcements

Reinforcers can be further categorized as positive and negative reinforcing stimuli.

Positive Reinforcements are the presentation of positive events or rewards after a particular behavior to encourage the repetition of the act in the future. Examples: hugs, praises, toys, or food.

Negative Reinforcement is the removal of something unpleasant after a behavior, which makes the behavior more likely in the future. Example: a child puts on a coat and the cold stops, so putting on the coat is reinforced. Withholding ice cream when a child screams for it is not negative reinforcement; it is extinction.

Scheduling of Reinforcements

Depending on the activity and the progress of the child, the frequency and timing of reinforcement for an activity can be either continuous or partial.

Continuous Reinforcement is when reinforcements are given immediately at every correct response. Continuous reinforcement is particularly effective for teaching new behaviors when the goal is to emphasize the relationship between a discriminative stimulus and an associated response.

Partial Reinforcement occurs when only some instances of the desired response are reinforced. Partial reinforcement can produce more frequent and faster responses than continuous reinforcement schedules. Behaviors reinforced through partial schedules also have less chance of being unsuccessful because an individual becomes more accustomed to periods of time when he is not being reinforced for a particular behavior. Partial reinforcement schedules are very useful for the maintenance of learned behaviors, increasing the production of those behaviors once they have been learned, and making reinforcement more natural. Partial reinforcement schedules are based either on intervals or ratios, which can be either be fixed or variable.

Fixed interval schedules reinforce the first response after a set time has elapsed. Responding often pauses after reinforcement and increases as the next interval ends.

Example: In a computer task, the first button press after each 30-second interval earns a point; earlier presses do not.

Variable interval schedules use reinforcements at a random and unpredictable amount of time. Variable interval schedules produce regular responses but not at a particularly high rate.

Example: If someone were to dial a friend’s number with a burning question only to find it busy, he would likely call back regularly but only every few minutes not every few seconds; because he would know that it was not the number of times he has tried to call, but rather the length of time of the other his friend would be on the other call that was determined when he would be rewarded for his efforts.

 Fixed ratio schedules deliver reinforcement after a set number of responses. They often produce rapid responding with a pause after reinforcement.

Example: A worker earns a bonus for every 100 items completed. Variable ratio schedules use reinforcement after an unpredictable number of correct responses. Variable ratio schedules produce a steady pattern of behavior at a high rate.

Example: Slot machines pay off after a random and unpredictable number of pulls.