PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOR W. Larry Williams Ph.D., BCBA-D University of Nevada, Reno Joseph J. Pear The science of Learning Chapter 3

PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOR Associative Learning

Associative Learning The result of associating or pairing of 2 events closely in time They can be two stimuli, (respondent conditioning) or a response followed by a stimulus ( operant conditioning)

Respondent Behavior Elicitation of certain responses due to the organism’s evolutionary history E.G., A dog’s salivation to meat Neutral stimuli can be made to elicit responses by appropriate pairing with unconditioned stimuli E.G., UCS Puff of air -> UCR Blink reflex NS “ good morning” -> UCS puff of air to eye Results in : CS Good Morning -> CR Blink

Respondent Extinction Repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) without the Unconditioned stimulus ) UCS) until it does not elicit the unconditioned response (UCR). E.G., CS “Good morning” -- O Eventually- no blink (CR)

Respondent Stimulus Generalization A stimulus physically similar to the CS also will elicit the Unconditioned response E.G., “hi” may elicit blinking

Respondent Stimulus Discrimination The tendency for the conditioned response only to occur to the conditioned stimulus E.G., “Good Morning” and Larry -> blink “Good Morning’” and Mary = no blink

Higher Order Conditioning Establishing a 2 nd neutral stimulus (NS2) as a conditioned stimulus (CS2) due to pairing with another conditioned stimulus (CS1) but not with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) E.G., CS1 “Good Morning” ----> blink (NS) Wave then precedes “good morning” This results in: (CS2) Wave  blink

Sensory Pre-Conditioning A former neutral stimulus (NS1) acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned response due only to prior association between that stimulus and another neutral stimulus NS2, prior to NS2 being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Sensory Pre-Conditioning E.G., Before any conditioning we Pair a hand wave(NS2) and “good Morning”(NS1) Then we pair “good Morning with a Puff of air (UCS) Now we observe that the (CS2) Wave -----> blink

Operant Behavior An association between a response and a stimulus (after the behavior) causes operant behavior. If a given response is consistently followed by a certain consequence (a reinforcer) that response ( and the class of all such responses) will show an increased probability of occurrence in that situation in the future (reinforcement has occurred)

OPERANT BEHAVIOR operant class of all possible responses Behavior that is susceptible to contingencies of reinforcement is called ________ behavior. Operant conditioning is the name for the results of contingencies on operant (voluntary) behavior. “Response” may be referred to as an “operant”. Actually the operant is the _____ __ __ _________ ___________ that satisfy a given four term relation EO--(AntecedentResponse Reinforcer) operant class of all possible responses

Positive and Negative Reinforcement Positive reinforcement: An increase in the future occurrence of a response ( the class of all such responses) due to occurrences of the response being followed by a Positive Reinforcer. Negative reinforcement: An increase in the future occurrence of a response ( the class of all such responses) due to occurrences of the response being followed by the removal, postponement or avoidance of an aversive stimulus (event)

Positive Reinforcer An event, that when presented immediately following a behavior, causes an ________ in the occurrence of that behavior in that situation in the future Similar to REWARD but is __________ upon behavior increase CONTINGENT

Positive Reinforcement An increase in the future probability of occurrence of a specific response, in a given situation, due to its current occurrence being followed by a ______________ If, in a given situation, somebody does something that is followed immediately by a positive reinforcer, then that person is more likely to do the same thing, in that and similar situations, in the future. reinforcer.

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 1. Selecting the behavior to be increased Be specific to (a) increase reliability of measurement, (b) increase likelihood of program being applied consistently

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 2.  Choosing Reinforcers (“Different Strokes”) Effective, Positive, Consumable, Activity, Manipulative, Possessional, Social Premack principle

PREMACK PRINCIPLE Grandma’s Rule You get to do what you want…after you do what Grandma wants What is immediately wanted is referred to as a “High probability” response What Grandma wants is a lower probability response

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 3_______________ _________________ 1. temporarily alters ____________ of a Sr+ 2. increases the ________ __________of behaviors that have been reinforced in the past by that reinforcer Unconditioned - Deprivation & Satiation Conditioned – Social settings Establishing Operations effectiveness strength/ frequency

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement Amount or Magnitude of SR+ Typically the more the better until….satiation 4. REINFORCER SIZE

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 5. Direct acting effect, Indirect acting effect Immediacy

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 6. Instructions: make use of rules Speed up learning process Influence work for delayed Sr+ Teaches instruction following Self control/management, health related, improving / decreasing habits

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 7. Contingent vs Non-Contingent The concept of “contingency” A logical “If…Then “ arrangement

Factors influencing the effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement 8. Weaning to natural Reinforcers “Natural environment” in context”

Pitfalls of SR+ The principle can be misused by someone who is unaware they are using it A person may know the principle but not the details of its proper application. (E.G., non-attending of an Autistic child) A principle can be inaccurately used as an oversimplified explanation of a behavior change (E.G., working all week because we get paid Friday)

Pitfalls of SR+ 4. Individuals without behavioral knowledge sometimes attempt to explain behavior or the lack of it by inappropriately giving people a label. (“lazy” teen) 5. Some principles are not applied because they are complex, requiring special knowledge or training (E.G., catch’ em being good)

Conditioned Reinforcement Conditioned Reinforcer: a stimulus that functions as a reinforcer due to appropriate pairings with other unconditioned or conditioned reinforcers. E.G., Money, Praise/recognition

Unconditioned reinforcers Unconditioned reinforcers that can effect our behavior with no prior experience are referred to as _________or __________ reinforcers. Examples of these are: Food when we are hungry Warmth when we are cold Liquid when we are thirsty PRIMARY unlearned

Conditioned Reinforcers Secondary Conditioned or __________ reinforcers are stimuli that acquire their reinforcing properties through being _____ or __________with other existing reinforcers. These existing reinforcers can be ________ or __________ paired associated Learned. Primary

Conditioned Reinforcers  Praise, Favorite TV show, clothes that make us look good, grades on a quiz, tickets to the show, Favorite books, ……. $$MONEY$$

Conditioned Reinforcers Reinforcers that are paired with formerly neutral stimuli such that the neutral stimuli become conditioned reinforcers are referred to as “__________ ” reinforcers BACK –UP

Conditioned Reinforcers Conditioned reinforcers that are ________ can be accumulated over time and exchanged for back-up reinforcement. Sometimes these are referred to as “______ ” Tangible Tokens

Punishment A decrease in the frequency of occurrence of a response due to the presentation of an aversive event immediately following the occurrence of the behavior. May decrease responding to zero.

Conditioned Punisher Conditioned Punisher. A stimulus that functions as an aversive stimulus due to it signaling a primary (unconditioned) aversive event, or another conditioned punisher. E.G., “NO”, Time out

Operant Stimulus Generalization & Discrimination Discriminative Stimuli “S Dee” (SD) A stimulus in the presence of which a certain response is always reinforced. “S Delta” (SΔ) A stimulus in the presence of which a certain response is never reinforced.

Operant Stimulus Generalization & Discrimination Operant discrimination: If a given response is characteristically reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus or event, that response will come to occur reliably whenever that event or stimulus is present. In the extreme condition where the response is only reinforced in the presence of the event and never in its absence, Stimulus control is said to have occurred, and the event is said to have stimulus control over the response E.G., stop at red light, go at Green light

Operant Stimulus Generalization A response comes to occur in the presence of a given stimulus or event due to being reinforced for occurring to another stimulus or event. There is typically a physical ( formal) similarity in the two stimuli E.G., Identifying a German Shepherd as a “dog” after being reinforced for naming a Collie as a “dog”

Operant Extinction A decrease in the frequency of occurrence of a response to pre conditioning levels ( free operant), due to the non=occurrence of either a positive or negative reinforcing consequence May be associated with aggression, emotional responding, and an extinction Burst ( responding at levels higher than those observed just prior to extinction) Establishing Operations ..Later