B.Mod!

1. B.Mod! Thinking about Behaviour!

2. Antecedents • • ABCs of operant learning • • Behaviour is influenced not only by the effects • that follow it (CONSEQUENCES), but also by • the situational cues that precede it • (ANTECEDENTS) • E.g., Stepping on the gas (or the car’s accelerator) • has good effects when the traffic light is green and • bad effects when the traffic light is red • • Become sensitive to situational cues • • Allow you to discriminate whether a behaviour is • likely to produce good effects or bad effects

3. Controlling Antecedents • • Providing previous information about expected behaviours • • Signaling when a behaviour should be emitted • • Cueing: Lights off means “Be quiet!” • • Prompting: Verbal reminder after students do not get quiet after lights were turned off : they missed the cue • • Order of events (Premack Principle)

4. Premack Principle • • Gets around having to define primary and secondary reinforcers • • If get to do high probability behaviour (HPB) after doing a low probability behaviour (LPB), this reinforces LPB • • The opportunity to do the most frequent activity will reinforce the less frequent activity

5. Premack Principle • • Grandma’s Rule • • First you work (LPB), then you play (HPB) • • You can watch TV after you finish your homework • • After you do your chore you get to play • • Reversible?

6. Self-Control • • A typical self control choice situation involves a choice between a small, proximal reinforcer and a larger but more distant reinforcer • • Offer a child spoonful of ice cream now versus bowl of ice cream later • • Offer a college student $5 for experiment now versus $20 a week later • • Offer food-deprived rat ok food on one lever versus a much tastier food later for press a different lever

7. Self-Control Techniques • • Physical restraint hand over mouth to control laugh • • Distraction faced with temptation, distract ourselves • • Inform others of intentions • • Monitoring behaviour

8. Self-Awareness • • Skinner • • We teach children to make comments on and predictions from self-observations • • What are you going to do? Why are you doing that? Do you want to play? Are you sleepy? • • Such questions direct the child to observe and comment on private experiences, i.e., thoughts and feelings • • When observations are accurate, then they are likely to be reinforced

9. Generating Solutions • • Strategy-based solutions • • Trial and error • • Most primitive means of seeking a solution • • Means-end analysis • • Repeated testing for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists • • Subgoals • • Dividing a problem into intermediate steps, and solving each of those steps

10. Generating Solutions • • Contrasts with strategy-based solutions • • Insight • • Sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem • • A sudden awareness of the relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be unrelated to one another

11. Behavioural Modification • • The systematic application of the principles of learning to the direct modification of behaviours • • Behaviour Therapy and Behaviour Modification are often used interchangeably. However, in a practical sense they are different • • Behaviour Modification can be practiced by teachers, parents, or anyone else properly trained in the basic principles and techniques

12. Behavioural Modification • • Skinner’s approach doesn’t focus on • • early childhood, current psychodynamics, or possible organic abnormality • • He simply asks what this person is doing that we, or the person himself or herself, doesn’t like and what we would like to have this person do instead • • Once that is decided, the undesirable behaviours can be extinguished and the desirable behaviours can be reinforced

13. Skinner’s ideas . . . • • Skinner’s ideas in the application of learning principles to complex practical situations are collectively called applied behaviour analysis • • We “operate” on the environment • • Alter behaviour to maximize positive and minimize adverse consequences • • In the treatment of behaviour disorders and in education, Skinner’s ideas have demonstrated validity outside the laboratory • • They have had major practical effects on psychotherapy and some effects in education

14. Behavioural Modification • • Behaviour modification • • Individual learning by reinforcement • • Generally, reinforce for desirable behaviour (punish unwanted behaviour) • • Behaviour disorder covers a wide range of problems • • It can vary from the irritating behaviour we see in each other and ourselves to delinquency,neurosis and severe mental illness

15. Behaviour Modification • • Systematic application of antecedents and consequences to change behaviour • • Minor behavioural disorder: a normal child misbehaving • • Major behavioural disorder : a psychotic patient who must be hospitalized for many years • • Skinner believed in changing the contingencies of reinforcement • • This means doing away with undesirable behaviours by reinforcing the desirable ones

16. Behaviour Modification • • Behavioural theorist’s feel that organisms learn how to behave through • • Reinforcement • • Anything that increases the likelihood of a behaviour reoccurring • • Punishment • • Sanctions that decrease the probability of a behaviour being repeated

17. Behaviour Modification • • The two major operant modification techniques that • are still practiced to this day are: • • Aversion therapy • • Correct unwanted behaviour through • punishment • • Operant conditioning • • Uses rewards and consequences often through a • token economy which reinforce and punish • behaviour, respectively

18. Behavioural Modification • • Where does problem behaviour come from? • • A faulty learning history: • • Making a “wrong” association • • Rewarded/punished for the “wrong” things • • Example: Aggression or Fearful • • What can we do to fix these problems?

19. Behavioural Modification • • A collection of techniques based on learning theory designed to fix problem behaviour • • Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning • • Phobias are maintained by operant conditioning • • Each time the phobic object is removed or avoided negative reinforcement occurs • • If problem behaviour is due to unusual conditioning experiences, then problem behaviour can be changed through similar conditioning experiences!

20. Behavioural Modification • • Here is a series of steps that a “behaviourist” might use to get a person to change their behaviour: • • Choose a behaviour goal for a particular person • • Determine what motivates this particular person • • Break the behaviour down into several small steps • • Implement these steps and record the results • • Evaluate the progress and revise the steps as needed

21. Token Economy • • Learning is the acquisition of new behaviour, not new knowledge • • Behaviour is shaped by the environment • • Any behaviour, simple or complex, can be shaped with appropriate reinforcement • • Change undesirable behaviour by changing patterns of reinforcement • • Increase reinforcement after desired (alternative) behaviour • • Decrease reinforcement of undesired behaviour

22. Token Economy • • Employed in classrooms, mental institutions, prisons, etc. • • The expanding notion of reinforcement and environment • • Not just food and other physical pleasures. Also, secondary rewards • • E.g., money with which to buy food • • Also, social consequences can be very powerful • • E.g., praise, smiles, attention, status, power.

23. Token Economy • • Individual can earn tokens by performing any number of desired behaviours that can be later exchanged for a variety of primary reinforcers • • E.g., Students earn tokens points to “buy” treats or privileges within the classroom • • E.g., Patients earn tokens for speaking in group therapy, work assignments, good hygiene and then exchange these tokens for cigarettes, TV privileges, recreation activities

24. Harmful Effects of Reinforcement • • Bribery • • Greed • • Start with social and use material reinforcers if mild reinforcer is ineffective • • Undermining Intrinsic Motivation • • Probably little danger if behaviour is mowing the lawn or eating spinach

25. Behaviour Modification • Advantage and Disadvantage • • Advantage • • Shapes behaviour quickly • • Disadvantage • • Behaviour not internalized • • E.g., student may act respectful, but not feel • respect towards teacher

26. Behaviour Modification • • Advantage • • Behaviour can be measured • • Disadvantage • • Behaviour measured may not be a true picture of • understanding • • E.g., taking a true or false test with the • assurance of retaking it until student gets it • right can lead to guessing for the correct • answers

27. Behaviour Modification • Disadvantages in the Classroom • • Does not encourage critical thinking • • Rote responses • • Does not encourage reflective thinking • • Does not utilize problem-based learning • • Students are not encouraged to think outside the box