9.2 Flashcards
reinforcer survey
structured interview or written survey that asks the individual to identify highly preferred activities
-way to identify potential reinforcers
cons:
-individual may list things that are impractical, not in own best interests, or things that don’t function as reinforcers
stimulus preference assessment
used when working with nonhuman animals or individuals w/ limited or no expressive language capabilities
-rank-ordered list of preferred stimuli is obtained by observing choices between those stimuli
-potential reinforcers (“stimuli”) presented concurrently and the individual chooses the one they like most
preference hierarchy
stimuli rank ordered from most to least preferred
-individual chooses from remaining stimuli, with each item chosen placed sequentially in preference hierarchy, which continues until all stimuli are consumed
-stimuli at or the top of the preference hierarchy will function as the most effective reinforcers
liking strategy cons
may prove inadequate to reinforce a high-effort performance
ultimate test of reinforcer’s efficacy
ability to increase behavior targeted for change
Premack principle
access to high-probability behavior will function as a reinforcer when made contingent upon a low-probability behavior
breakpoint
maximum amount of behavior the reinforcer will maintain
-tells how much more reinforcing one stimulus is than another
4 of these dimensions of effective reinforcers
1) contingency
2) reinforcer size
-the larger the reinforcer, the sooner satiation an (AO) will occur and, when it does, the behavior will come to an end
3) reinforcer quality
-subjective value of a reinforcer, which can vary from one individual to the next
4) reinforcer immediacy
-reinforcers more effective when obtained immediately
reasons that delayed reinforcers are less effective than immediate reinforcers
1) stable environment of evolutionary ancestors
-aversion to waiting
2) difficult to learn response-reinforcer contingencies
