PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIORAL LEARNING

• the role of consequences
• rein forcers
• punishers
• immediacy of consequences
• shaping
• Extinction
• schedules of reinforcement
• Maintenance and the role of antecedents

The role of Consequences

Pleasurable consequences strengthen behavior; unpleasant consequences weaken it. In other words, pleasurable consequences increase the frequency with which an individual engages in a behavior, whereas unpleasant consequences reduce the frequency of a behavior. If students enjoy reading books, they will probably read more often. If they find stories boring or are unable to concentrate, they may read less often, choosing other activities instead. "pleasurable consequences are called reinforcers; unpleasant consequences are called punishers.

Reinfcorcers

A reinforcer is defined as any consequence that strengthens (that is, increases the frequency of) a behavior. (Effectiveness of the behavior must be demonstrated). Candy cannot be reinforcer some children since they may not like it. No reward can be assumed to be a reinforcer for everyone under all conditions.

Primary and Secondary Reinforces:

Primary reinforcers satisfy basic human needs. Some examples are food, water, security, warmth, and sex. Secondary reinforcers are reinforcers that acquire their value by being associated with primary reinforcers or other well-established secondary reinforcers. For example, money has no value to a young child until the child learns that money can be used to buy things that are themselves primary or secondary reinforcers. Grades have little value to students unless  their parents notice and value good grades, and parents' praise is of value because it is associated with love, warmth, security, and other reinforcers. Money and grades are examples of secondary reinforcers because they have no value in themselves but have been associated with primary reinforcers or with other well-established secondary reinforcers.

Secondary Reinforcers have three basic categories: 

1. Social reinforcers  (praise, smiles, hugs, or attention)
2. Activity reinforcers (such as access to toys, games, or fun activities)
3. Token (or symbolic) reinforcers(such as money, grades, stars, or points)

Positive and Negative Reinforcers

Positive reinforce is pleasurable consequence given to strengthen behavior. Negative reinforcer is release from an unpleasant situation, given to strengthen behavior When a teacher says, "If you get an A on tomorrow's test you won't have to do home work the rest of the week," she's using negative reinforcement (escape from an unpleasant consequence, assuming homework is)

Premack Principle: Rule stating that enjoyable activities can be used to reinforce participation in less enjoyable activities. "As soon as you finish your work, you may go outside" or "Clean up your art project, and then I will read you a story."

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reinforcers

Intrinsic reinforcers:  Behaviors that a person  enjoys engaging in for their  own sake, without any  other reward. People like to draw, read, sing, play games, or swim for no reason other than the fun of doing it

Extrinsic reinforcers: Praise or rewards given to motivate people to engage in behavior that they might not engage in without them.

Practical Reinforcers

Self-reinforcement: Students may be taught to praise themselves, give themselves a mental pat on the back, check off progress on a form, give themselves a short break, or otherwise reinforce themselves for completing a task or staying out of trouble.

Praise: Phrases such as "Good job,"  "Way to go," "I knew you could do it,"

Attention: Listening, nodding, or moving closer may provide a child with the positive attention she or he is seeking.

Grades and recognition: Grades and recognition (e. g., certificates of accomplishment)

Call home: Calling home or sending a note to child’s parents to recognize success can be a powerful reinforce.

Privileges:  Children can earn free time, access to special equipment (e.g., soccer balls), or special roles (such as running errands or distributing papers)

Activity reinforcers: On the basis of achieving pre-established standards, students can earn free time, videos, games, or access to other fun activities.

Tangible reinforcers: Children may earn points for achievement or good behavior that they can exchange for small toys, erasers, pencils, marbles, comic books, stickers, and so on.

Food: Raisins, fruit, peanuts, or other healthy snacks  can be used as reinforcers.

Punishers

Punishment: Unpleasant consequences used to weaken behavior.

Presentation punishment: An aversive stimulus following a behavior, used to decrease the chances that the behavior will occur again.

Aversive stimulus: An unpleasant consequence that a person tries to avoid or escape.

Removal punishment: Withdrawal of a pleasant consequence that is reinforcing a behavior, designed to decrease the chances that the behavior will recur. Examples include loss of a privilege, having to stay in during recess, or having to stay after school. One frequently used form of removal punishment in classrooms is time out, in which a student who misbehaves is required to sit in the corner or in the hall for several minutes.

Timeout: Procedure of removing a student from a situation in which misbehavior was being reinforced.

Unless an unpleasant consequence reduces the frequency of the behavior it follows, it may not be a punisher.

Immediacy of Consequences

One very important principle of behavioral learning theories is that consequences that follow behaviors closely in time affect behavior far more than delayed consequences do

Shaping

Immediacy of reinforcement is important to teaching, but so is the decision as to what to reinforce. The teaching of a new skill or behavior by means of reinforcement for small steps toward the desired goal. The term shaping is used in behavioral learning theories to refer to the teaching  of new skills or behaviors by reinforcing learners for approaching the desired final behavior.

Extinction

Reinforcers strengthen behavior but what happens when reinforcers are withdrawn? Eventually, the behavior will be weakened, and ultimately, it will disappear. This process is called extinction of a previously learned behavior.

Extinction burst: The increase in levels of a behavior in the early stages of extinction

Schedules of Reinforcement

The frequency and predictability of reinforcement

Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule: Reinforcement schedule in which desired behavior is rewarded following a fixed number of behaviors. One common schedule of reinforcement is the fixed-ratio (FR) schedule, in which a reinforcer is given after a fixed number of behaviors. For ex-ample, a teacher might say, "As soon as you finish ten problems, you may go outside."

Variable-ratio (VR) schedule Reinforcement schedule in which desired behavior is rewarded following an unpredictable number of behaviors.

Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforcement schedule in which desired behavior is rewarded following a constant amount of time.

 Variable-interval schedule: Reinforcement schedule in which desired behavior is rewarded following an unpredictable amount of time.

Maintenance

Continuation of behavior. Poorly behaved students  may need careful, systematic reinforcement  for doing schoolwork. After a while, however, they will find out that doing school work pays off in grades, in parental approval, in ability to understand what is going on in class, and in knowledge.

Role of Antecedents

The stimuli that precede a behavior also play an important role. Antecedent stimuli, events that precede a behavior, are also known as cues, because they inform us what behavior will be reinforced and/or what behavior will be punished. Discrimination is the use of cues, signals, or information to know when behavior is likely to be reinforced.(Exp: Observing the best time to ask for a raise from your boss).

Generalization:  Carryover of behaviors, skills, or concepts from one setting or task to another. Usually, when a classroom management program is successfully introduced in one setting, students' behaviors do not automatically improve in other settings. Instead, students learn to discriminate among settings.