Interventions Based on Operant Conditioning

Question 1

Interventions based on operant conditioning involve

Answer 1

increasing a desirable behavior using positive reinforcement or decreasing an undesirable behavior with punishment or extinction.

Question 2

While positive and negative reinforcement are both useful for increasing the frequency of a behavior, most behavioral interventions rely on ____________ ___________. The effectiveness of ____ ____ is influenced by several factors.

Answer 2

positive reinforcement; Positive Reinforcement

Question 3

There must be a contingent relationship between the target behavior and the positive reinforcer. In other words, the reinforcer should be available only when the target behavior has been performed.

Answer 3

Contingency

Question 4

To maximize the benefits of positive reinforcement, the reinforcer should be delivered immediately after the target behavior. This is particularly important when reinforcement is being used to establish a new behavior.

Answer 4

Immediacy

Question 5

Generally, the establishment of a new behavior is most rapid when reinforcement is applied on a continuous schedule, while maintenance of the behavior (resistance to extinction) is maximized when the behavior is reinforced on an intermittent schedule.

Answer 5

Schedule of Reinforcement

Question 6

Schedule of Reinforcement consequently though, the best procedure is to begin with a continuous schedule of reinforcement and to change to an ___________ ___________ once the behavior is well-established. The process of reducing the proportion of reinforcements is referred to as ____.

Answer 6

intermittent schedule; Thinning

Question 7

____: Up to a point, the greater the amount of positive reinforcement, the greater its effectiveness. Past that point, ____ may occur, which means that the reinforcer has lost its reinforcing value.

Answer 7

Magnitude; Satiation

Question 8

________ are more susceptible to satiation than secondary reinforcers, especially __________ secondary reinforcers; and a __________ is more susceptible to satiation than the intermittent schedules.

Answer 8

Primary Reinforcers; generalized; Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement

Question 9

The effectiveness of reinforcement is enhanced when the contingent relationship between a behavior and a reinforcer is verbally clarified.

Answer 9

Verbal Clarification

Question 10

_____: Verbal and/or physical ____ facilitate the acquisition of a new behavior.

Answer 10

Prompt; Prompt

Question 11

When a prompt signals that the behavior will be reinforced, it’s acting as a ___________ ___________ ___________. For instance, if a father reminds their child to clean their room and always praises the child after they have done so, the father’s reminder is a discriminative stimulus that signals that praise will follow the behavior. The gradual removal of a prompt is referred to as ____.

Answer 11

positive discriminative stimulus; Fading

Question 12

When using reinforcement to increase a response, it’s necessary to wait for the response to be emitted to reinforce it. Often however, the target behavior is one that rarely or never occurs naturally. In this situation, ____ can be used. ____ involves reinforcing successive approximations to the desired behavior; that is, providing reinforcement only for behaviors that come closer and closer to the desired one.

Answer 12

Shaping; Shaping

Question 13

An example of shaping is provided by ____ (1966), who used it to teach mute children with autism or schizophrenia to speak. Training began with having the child imitate the trainer’s voice. To encourage imitation. The child was reinforced with food for simple looking at the trainer’s mouth, but when the child accomplished this task, the trainer modeled a sound and reinforced the child only when they made any vocalization. Eventually, the child was reinforced only for imitating the particular sound made by the trainer. Once a sound was mastered. The trainer introduced a new sound, and this procedure was continued until the child was able to say words and then speak in simple sentences.

Answer 13

Lovaas

Question 14

____: Skinner referred to the sequence of discriminative stimulus-behavior-consequence as the “_______ ______ ___________” and claimed that it accounts for the _________ of most complex behaviors, including “__________ ________” which consist of several distinct responses.

Answer 14

Chaining; three-term contingency; acquisition; Behavior chains

Question 15

Making a cake is an example of a ____ ____: First, you assemble the ingredients, then you measure and mix the ingredients, then you pour the batter into a pan and put the pan in the oven, and so on until, finally, the cake is baked and frosted, and you get to eat it!

Answer 15

behavior chain

Question 16

The establishment of a behavior chain is referred to as ____, and the chaining process can be either forward or backward: ______ _______ begins with the first component in the chain and gradually works through the entire chain. When using ________ ________, the components in the chain are established in the reverse order.

Answer 16

Chaining; Forward chaining; backward chaining

Question 17

Both techniques are used to establish complex behaviors, but only the _________ _______ _______ is of interest in shaping while the ______ ______ __ ________ is important in chaining. In some cases, the establishment of a ______ ______ may require a combination of shaping and chaining with shaping being used to establish each response in the behavior chain.

Answer 17

final (terminal) behavior; entire sequence of responses; complex behavior; Chaining is sometimes erroneously confused with shaping.

Question 18

When using the ____ ____, a high probability behavior is used to reinforce a low probability behavior.

Answer 18

Premack Principle

Question 19

A therapist would be using the Premack Principle (Premack, 1965) to increase the amount of time a student spends studying when, after learning that the student frequently watches television, she tells him he can watch TV only after studying for at least one hour. In this situation, watching TV (a high probability behavior) is being used to reinforce studying (a low probability behavior) to increase study time. The Premack Principle is particularly useful when it’s difficult to _______ that would act as a ____ for a particular individual.

Answer 19

dentity a stimulus; reinforcer

Question 20

____ ____ combines positive reinforcement with extinction and involves reinforcing alternative behaviors while ignoring the target behavior.

Answer 20

Differential Reinforcement

Question 21

An example of Differential Reinforcement would be: a child who engages in stereotyped hand movements (which are _____-__________) might be reinforced with nickels or tokens for each two-minute period they play with available toys rather than engage in the hand movements. In this situation, playing with toys is being _________, while hand movement are being __________.

Answer 21

self-reinforcing; reinforced; extinguished

Question 22

There are several varieties of differential reinforcement including

Answer 22

differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors (DRI), differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DRA), and differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO).

Question 23

The use of ____ involves applying or withdrawing a stimulus following a behavior to decrease that behavior.

Answer 23

Punishment

Question 24

The effectiveness of punishment is influenced by -

Answer 24

Immediacy; Consistency; Intensity; Verbal Clarification; Removal of All Positive Reinforcement; Reinforcement for Alternative Behaviors.

Question 25

The sooner a punishment is administered, the more successful it will be. Ideally, punishment should be applied at the onset of the behavior; that is, at the beginning of the behavior chain.

Answer 25

Immediacy

Question 26

To be successful, punishment must be applied on a continuous schedule, i.e., it should follow each performance of the target behavior.

Answer 26

Consistency

Question 27

Punishment is usually most effective when it is initially applied in moderation. When punishment is too strong, it’s more likely to produce avoidance, aggression, and other undesirable behaviors.

Answer 27

Intensity

Question 28

Initially administering punishment in a weak form and then gradually increasing its intensity increases the likelihood of ____, which occurs when a punishment loses its effectiveness.

Answer 28

Habituation

Question 29

The effectiveness of punishment is maximized when the contingent relationship between target behavior and the punishment is verbally clarified.

Answer 29

Verbal Clarification

Question 30

Punishment works best when all stimuli that ___________ __________ the behavior are identified and consistently withheld at the same time the behavior is being punished.

Answer 30

previously reinforced ; Removal of All Positive Reinforcement

Question 31

Because punishment only teaches a person what not to do, its effectiveness increases substantially when it’s combined with ____________ . It’s also important to determine if an undesirable behavior is due to inadequate skills; and, if so, punishment must be preceded or accompanied by___________.

Answer 31

Reinforcement for Alternative Behaviors; training in those skills.

Question 32

Evaluation: The use of punishment has been criticized on _____. With regard to the former, some authorities consider the use of punishment and other aversive techniques to be clearly unethical in all cases, while others believe their use is justified only when other treatments have been ineffective and/or when the target behavior is more harmful than the treatment.

Answer 32

ethical, legal, and practical grounds

Question 33

In some situation, the use of ______ _______ is illegal, also, in terms of practical considerations, it’s important to keep in mind that _________ does not actually eliminate a behavior but merely suppresses it, and consequently, the effects of punishment are often short-term, inconsistent, and limited to the specific situation in which the punishment was applied. For example, a person often learns when punishment is likely to occur and then engages in the behavior when punishment is unlikely. Punishment is also associated with several negative side effects including

Answer 33

aversive techniques; punishment; fear of the punishing agent and increases in aggressiveness, negative emptions, and escape and avoidance behaviors.

Question 34

____ ____ (e.g., saying “No!” or “Stop!”) are used to suppress unwanted behaviors in a variety of settings. Their effects are inconsistent, however, and in some situations, reprimands act as __________ ________ and actually increase the target behavior. Also, the effects of reprimands are likely to be temporary if they are not ________ or followed by_____ _________ (e.g., time-out).

Answer 34

Verbal Reprimands positive reinforcers; backed-up; other consequences

Question 35

____ is a form of positive punishment that entails applying a penalty following an undesirable behavior to eliminate it. Its use may involve one of both of two procedures: ________ involves having the individual correct any negative effects of their behavior, while_______ ______ requires the person to practice more appropriate behaviors, usually in an exaggerated fashion.

Answer 35

Overcorrection; restitution; positive practice

Question 36

Overcorrection often includes _________, and it may require ________ _________ and/or manually guiding the individual through the corrective behaviors (_______ ______), which can be problematic because it may elicit _______ __ _______ _______.

Answer 36

providing verbal instructions; constant supervision; physical guidance; avoidant or aggressive behaviors

Question 37

Overcorrection is illustrated by Foxx and Azrin’s (1972) treatment of a hospitalized woman with severe retardation who constantly disrupted the ward by throwing objects and overturning their bed. When the woman engaged in these behaviors, she was required to straighten the entire room (____) and then to practice more desirable behaviors such as making up all of the beds on the ward (_______).

Answer 37

restitution; positive practice

Question 38

____ ____ is essentially the opposite of the positive practice component of overcorrection and involves requiring the individual to deliberately repeat the undesirable behavior to the point that it becomes aversive to the individual or the individual becomes fatigued. It’s especially useful for eliminating habits and other behaviors that the individual would like to eliminate but has been unable to control such as nail biting, hair twisting, pica, motor tics, stuttering, and smoking. As an example, when used to eliminate a motor tic, the individual is instructed to “practice” their tic by engaging in the tic rather than attempting to suppress it and, when the tic occurs, to deliberately repeat it for a specified period of time.

Answer 38

Negative Practice

Question 39

____ ____ is an application of negative punishment and involves removing a specific reinforcer each time the target behavior is performed.

Answer 39

Response Cost

Question 40

Although response cost is most associated with _______ (in which token fines are imposed for undesirable behavior), it can be used whenever the control of positive reinforcers is possible. A parent could use response cost to reduce the misbehavior of his child by taking away the child’s computer privileges for a specified period of time or by decreasing the child’s allowance by a specific amount each time the child engages in that behavior.

Answer 40

Token Economies

Question 41

Other examples of response cost are

Answer 41

fines for traffic violations and late fees for paying credit card bills after the due date.

Question 42

____-____ involves removing all sources of ____ ____ for a brief, prespecified period following a behavior in order to decrease that behavior

Answer 42

Time-Out; Positive Reinforcement

Question 43

A teacher would be using ______-____ to eliminate a student’s disruptive behaviors if they place the student in a partitioned-off corner of the classroom for five minutes each time they are disruptive. Time-out is usually classified as a type of _______, but some consider it a form of __________. However, that extinction entails continuous removal of a reinforcer from a previously reinforced response, while time-out involves removing all sources of reinforcement for a specified period of time following a behavior that may or may not have been established or maintained by reinforcement.

Answer 43

Time-out; negative punishment; extinction

Question 44

Evaluation: Some research suggests that the duration of the time-out is ________ and that short time-outs are _______ as longer ones (five to ten minutes is usually optimal). Like other forms of punishment, time-out is most effective when it’s combined with ___________. Its effectiveness is also increased when the time-out begins with a brief explanation of why it is being applied.

Answer 44

Not Critical; As Effective; reinforcement for alternative behaviors

Question 45

entails withholding reinforcement from a previously reinforced response in order to eliminate or decrease that response.

Answer 45

Operant extinction

Question 46

The effectiveness of extinction is influenced by

Answer 46

Consistency; Schedule of Reinforcement; Magnitude and Duration; Reinforcement for other Behaviors.

Question 47

For extinction to be effective, positive reinforcement must be consistently withheld following the behavior since a single exception can re-establish the behavior and maintain it for a considerable length of time. Because it’s often difficult to identify and consistently withhold all sources of reinforcement, extinction can be a slow, frustrating process.

Answer 47

Consistency

Question 48

The _________ __ _________ that previously established and maintained the behavior affects the rate of extinction. Extinction is more rapid when the behavior has been reinforced on a ________ schedule than on an intermittent one, and of the intermittent schedules, when a fixed or variable______ ________ was used.

Answer 48

Schedule of Reinforcement; continuous; interval schedule

Question 49

The greater the magnitude and the longer the duration of the previous reinforcement, the more resistant the behavior is to ________.

Answer 49

Magnitude and Duration of Reinforcement; extinction

Question 50

Operant techniques are the primary components of

Answer 50

contingency contracts, the token economy, social skills training, and function-based interventions.

Question 51

A ____ ____ is an application of contingency management that involves a formal written agreement between two or more people (e.g., therapist-client, parent-child, teacher-student) that clearly defines the behaviors that are to be modified and the rewards and punishments that will follow performance of those behaviors. Behavioral change may be required by one or all parties to the contract. A contingency contract between a therapist and client would require all behavior change by the client only, while a contract between spouses would likely require change by both parties.

Answer 51

Contingency Contract

Question 52

According to Stuart and Lott (1972), five elements are necessary to ensure an effective contingency contract: a) the contract must be explicit in defining what each party will ______ as a result of meeting their responsibilities, b) the behaviors included in the contract must be capable of being_______ , c) a system of to meet the contract’s ______ should be defined, d) the contract should define ___________ with the terms of the contract, and e) a record-keeping system should be established to provide______ _______ to the parties about the frequency of the target behaviors and the delivery of reinforcers. Contingency contracts are also most effective when the person whose behavior is to be modified:

Answer 52

receive; monitored; sanctions for failure; terms; bonuses for consistent compliance; actively participates in the development of the contract

Question 53

A ____ ____ is a structured environment in which desirable behaviors are increased by reinforcing them with tokens (generalized secondary reinforcers) that can be exchanged for desired items, activities, and other back-up (primary) reinforcers, while undesirable behaviors are decreased by withholding or removing tokens following those behaviors. Establishment of a token economy involves a) defining the target behaviors, b) selecting the secondary and back-up reinforcers, c) developing a system for monitoring and assessing the token economy, and d) developing a plan for reducing and then eliminating (“thinning”) the reinforcers.

Answer 53

Token Economy

Question 54

Token economies are associated with several advantages. First, they permit an _________. Second, token economies can be tailored to meet________ ______ by allowing each person to select their own back-up reinforcers. Third, because tokens can be exchanged for a variety of reinforcers, they are less susceptible than primary reinforcers to ________.

Answer 54

immediate delivery of reinforcement; individual needs; satiation

Question 55

____ ____ ____ is used to improve communication, assertiveness, problem-solving, and other socially adaptive skills. It is classified as a type of behavior therapy and incorporates techniques derived from operant and classical conditioning as well as social learning theory. Specific techniques include modeling, coaching, behavior rehearsal, feedback, reinforcement, and homework assignments.

Answer 55

Social Skills Training (SST)

Question 56

Ther is evidence that SST is an effective intervention for reducing symptoms, decreasing the risk for relapse, and improving the social adjustment of patients with _________.

Answer 56

Schizophrenia; for improving the behavior of children with conduct problems; and for reducing depression in children, adolescents, and adults, especially when used as part of multimodal treatment approach.

Question 57

____-____ ____ are behavior change strategies that re derived from the results of a ____ ____ ____, which is also referred to as a functional behavioral analysis and is conducted to determine the purpose of an undesirable behavior and identify a more desirable substitute behavior that serves the same purpose.

Answer 57

Function-Based Interventions; Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA

Question 58

An FBA incorporates interviews, observations, and other sources of data that provide information about the characteristic of the behavior and on its antecedents and consequences. The goal of interventions derived from an FBA is to _____________, which is achieved by eliminating the antecedents and consequences that are maintaining the undesirable behavior and providing antecedents and consequences that support the alternative behavior.

Answer 58

decrease or eliminate the undesirable behavior while increasing an alternative behavior

Question 59

A school psychologist might conduct an FBA to identify the purpose of a student’s off-task behaviors (e.g., staring into space, talking off-topic to peers, playing with school supplies). The FBA would include direct observations of the student and interviews with the student and his teachers, and the results would indicate the conditions in which the student’s off-task behaviors are most likely to occur and the consequences of engaging in those behaviors if the results indicate that the student is most likely to engage in off-task behaviors when he’s working on an uninteresting assignment and then he engages in those behaviors to avoid working on them, a ______ that modifies his assignments (e.g., giving the student a choice of assignments or ways to complete them) and that reinforces the student for staying on-task and completing assignments. The psychologist would then evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention using a _________ to compare the student’s frequency of on-task behaviors and completed assignments during baseline and treatment phases.

Answer 59

function-based intervention would be developed; single-subject design

Question 60

Positive reinforcement is most effective when the reinforcer is delivered 1) ____ the behavior; and up to a point, the greater the magnitude of the reinforcer, the greater its effects. After that point, however, 2) ____ can occur, which reduces the effectiveness of the reinforcement. Prompts facilitate the acquisition of new behavior and the gradual resent of prompts is referred to as 3) ____.

Answer 60

1) immediately after; 2) satiation; 3) fading

Question 61

Shaping, one form of positive reinforcement involves reinforcing 4) ____ to the desired behavior. Shaping should not be confused with 5) ____, which involves establishing a sequence of responses. When using the Premack Principle, a 6) ____behavior serves as a reinforcer for a behavior that does not occur often enough, and when using 7) ____, the target behavior is ignored, and alternative behaviors are reinforced.

Answer 61

4) successive approximations; 5) chaining; 6) high-frequency; 7) differential reinforcement;

Question 62

Punishment is most effective when it is applied at the 8) ____ of the target behavior and when it is applied on a(n) 9) ____ schedule. To avoid 10) ____, punishment should be administered in moderate intensity from the start rather than beginning with a weak form and gradually increasing its intensity. It’s important to keep in mind that punishment does not eliminate behavior but merely 11) ____ it.

Answer 62

8) onset; 9) continuous; 10) habituation; 11) suppresses

Question 63

Overcorrection consists of two procedures that can be used individually or together: 12) ____ requires the person to overcorrect the effects of their behavior, while 13) ____ requires the person to practice alternative and more appropriate behaviors. Response cost entails removing a 14) ____ each time the target behavior occurs, while 15) _____ involves removing all sources of reinforcement for a prespecified period of time following the behavior.

Answer 63

12) restitution; 13) positive practice; 14) positive reinforcement; 15) time-out

Question 64

Operant extinction involves withholding reinforcement from a 16) ____ behavior to decrease that behavior. To maximize its effectiveness, the reinforcement must be 17) ____ withheld. One problem with extinction is that its use may produce a temporary 18) ____ in the target behavior.

Answer 64

16) previously reinforced; 17) consistently; 18) increased (extinction burst);

Question 65

A contingency contract is a formal written agreement between two or more parties about the behaviors that are to be modified and the 19) ____ that will follow those behaviors. A token economy is a structured environment in which describable behaviors are increased by reinforcing them with 20) _____ reinforcers (tokens) that can eb exchanged for 21) ____ reinforcers, while undesirable behaviors are decreased by removing or withholding reinforcers. Function-based interventions are derived from the result of a functional behavioral assessment, which identifies the characteristics of the target behavior and its 22) ____.

Answer 65

19) rewards and punishment; 20) generalized secondary; 21) back-up (briary); 22) antecedents and consequences