1. A presentation made possible by The TWITR Project
Mental Health Education for Teachers Part II:
Changing Behavior
A presentation made possible by The TWITR Project
© 2013 TWITR Project. The Texas Office of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Planning Department has provided funds for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center’s TWITR Project with grant number for the purpose of helping schools become safer environments for learning.

2. Executive Vice President
F.Marie Hall Institute For Rural And Community Health
Billy U. Phillips, PH.D., M.P.H.
Core Team
Project Director: Matthew E. Lambert, PH.D.
Writer: Amanda Freeman, M.ED., LPC
Lamencia Berryhill, M.ED., LPC
Ron Martin, M.C., LPC

3. Objectives Understand general Principals of Human Behavior
Understand the ABCs of Behavior
Understand how to decrease and or stop unwanted behavior
Understand the concepts of Reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction

4. Principals of Behavior1
Behavior can be understood when you know what factors determine an individual’s behavior. Determining factors involve the setting in which the behavior occurs, individual differences, and what does or doesn’t happen following the behavior.
What does the behavior look like?
What is going on before the behavior and what happens afterwards?

5. The ABC’s of Behavior1
Antecedent: an action or setting that brings about the behavior
Behavior: the actual behavior
Consequence: what does or does not happen after the behavior and makes it likely for either the behavior to occur again or be stopped

6. The ABC of Behavior1
Example: I just finished exercising and I’m really hot, so I turn down the thermostat and feel cooler.
Antecedent: Feel hot
Behavior or Response : Turn down the thermostat
Consequence: Feel Cooler

7. Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Punishment Extinction
Behavior can be described, understood, and summed up by the four following principals2:
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction

8. Behavior Enhancing Techniques: Reinforcement3
Reinforcement is used to help increase the probability that a behavior will occur in the future by providing a positive stimulus after a behavior occurs.
Reinforcement makes a behavior stronger!

9. Reinforcement3 Reinforcers can be verbal, social, edible, tangible.
They can be delivered in the form of an activity, attention, privileges, money, etc..

10. Positive Reinforcement3
Positive reinforcement works by presenting a motivating/reinforcing stimulus to the person after the desired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen in the future.
Another way to put it is that positive reinforcement is adding something that will motivate the child (or individual) to increase the likelihood they will engage in that behavior again.
Antecedent Behavior Consequence (positive)

11. Positive Reinforcement Example
A teacher gives a student praise (positive stimulus) for doing homework (behavior).
The little boy receives $5.00 (positive stimulus) for every A he earns on his report card (behavior).
A father gives his daughter candy (positive stimulus) for cleaning up toys (behavior).

12. Negative Reinforcement:
Negative reinforcement occurs when a certain stimulus (usually an aversive stimulus) is removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. The likelihood of the particular behavior occurring again in the future is increased because of removing/avoiding the negative consequence.
Negative reinforcement should not be thought of as a punishment procedure. With negative reinforcement, you are increasing a behavior, whereas with punishment, you are decreasing a behavior.
Antecedent Behavior Consequence

13. Negative Reinforcement Example
You go to the dentist office to clean your teeth, which is not something you enjoy, but you do this so you do not loose your teeth: Strengthening the behavior to go to the dentist.
Bob does the dishes in order to avoid his mother nagging : Strengthening the behavior to do the dishes.

14. Punishment Antecedent Behavior Consequence (negative)
Punishment is a process by which a consequence immediately follows a behavior which decreases the likelihood of that behavior continuing in the future. Like reinforcement, a stimulus can be added. For the best outcome, punishment should be used immediately following a behavior.
Antecedent Behavior Consequence (negative)

15. Reinforcement3
When thinking about reinforcement, always remember that the end result is to try to increase the behavior.
Punishment procedures are used to decrease behavior. For positive reinforcement, think of it as adding something positive in order to increase a response. For negative reinforcement, think of it as taking something negative away in order to increase a response.

16. A note on Consequences:3
Reinforcing consequences increase the probability of the behavior occurring again, and Punishing consequences decrease the probability.

17. Extinction2
The decrease in the probability of a response as a result of no reinforcement
Extinction is a non event. You simply did nothing.4
Antecedent Behavior Consequences (behavior stopped)

18. Extinction
Extinction is not punishment. Punishment is an event. When you punish, you either add something or take something away in order to suppress a behavior. Extinction is a “non event.” You didn’t add or take away – you simply did
nothing.
Example:
Teen boy likes a girl, texts the girl, she does not respond, he texts again, she does not respond, he continues to text repeatedly, she still does nothing. A day goes by, he texts, a week goes by he may text a few times, eventually he stops texting because he is not getting a response from the girl. This is called extinction.2
Matthew Lambert:

19. Case Study: Billy
Billy is in his 8th grade English class and is a good student. He has a test coming up on a story he read during class. Billy read the story once and thought that would be sufficient enough to pass the test. Billy did not study for his English test and failed the test.
A week later, Billy’s teacher assigned another reading and announced an upcoming test on the story. Billy read the story and then studied by making annotations, underlying important passages, and read the story more than once. Billy passed the test. Now Billy studies for every test he has in his English class.

20. 2. Did it increase or decrease?
To determine what type of reinforcement is being used ask yourself the following questions:3
1.What behavior changed?
2. Did it increase or decrease?
3. After the behavior occurred was something added or taken away?

21. Case Study: Billy - arguing/ being disruptive
1. What behavior changed?
- arguing/ being disruptive
2. Did it increase or decrease?
- increased (so it is a reinforcer)
3. After the behavior occurred was something added or taken away?
- attention was added =positive reinforcement

22. Case Study: Jessica
Jessica is often disruptive and defiant in class. She often refuses to do her work, and annoys the other students. Jessica’s teachers has asked everyone to open their math book to page 4. Jessica refuses and pushes her book aside and attempts to get the other student’s attention. Jessica’s teacher gets into a power struggle with Jessica and argues with her. Jessica continued to engaged in a power struggle with her teacher and took up a lot of class time.
Jessica returns to class the next day. Before class begins Jessica has begun laughing and joking with her classmates. Jessica’s teacher asks her to be quiet and open her book. Jessica continues to make noise and opens her book very rudely and to the wrong page. Jessica has now taken up 15 minutes of class time. Jessica’s teacher becomes angry with Jessica and argues with her. Jessica likes the attention and continues to argue with the teacher and be disruptive in class, taking up even more class time than the previous day.

23. Case Study: Jessica - arguing/ being disruptive
1. What behavior changed?
- arguing/ being disruptive
2. Did it increase or decrease?
- increased (so it is a reinforcer)
3. After the behavior occurred was something added or taken away?
- attention was added =positive reinforcement

24. Classroom Resources
These are great resources to have which go beyond changing behavior and when used correctly may change the environment of your classroom and promote better relationships with your students.

25. REFERENCES
1. Amanda N. Kelly, P. B. (2015, May 24). Antecedents - Behavior - Consequence (ABC's). Retrieved June 17, 2015, from Behaviorbabe:
2. Matthew Lambert, PHD (2015, June 10). Understanding Behavior. Lubbock, Texas, USA.
3.Positive and Negative Reinforcement: ABA Training Video. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2015, from and- negative- reinforcement-aba-training-video
4. Jane Nelsen, E. L. (2000). Positive Discipline In The Classroom. New York: Three Rivers Press.
5. Adele Faber, E. M. (1999). How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. New York: Avon Books.