Reinforcers & Establishing Operations

Chapters 9, 10, 11

Unlearned Reinforcers

• A stimulus, event, or condition that is a reinforcer, though not as a result of pairing with another reinforcer

Unlearned Aversive Condition

• A stimulus, event, of condition that is aversive, though not as a result of pairing with other aversive conditions

Deprivation & Satiations

• Most common examples of establishing operations

Deprivation

• Withholding a reinforcer increases relevant learning and performance

Satiation

• Consuming a substantial amount of reinforcer temporarily decreases relevant learning and performance

WATER DEPRIVATION? DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Before:Rudolph has no water

After:

Rudolph has water

Behavior:Rudolph presses the lever

Deprivation:Rudolph has not had water for 12 hours

WATER SATIATION? DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Before:Rudolph has no water

After:

Rudolph has water

Behavior:Rudolph presses the lever

Deprivation:Rudolph has had free access to water

Establishing Operation

• A procedure that affects learning and performance with respect to a particular reinforcer or aversive condition

“Please pass the salt.”

Assume salt is an unlearned reinforcer

• When will I ask for salt?

• If I am reinforced by receiving salt when I ask for it, why don’t I ask for salt all the time?

SALT DEPRIVATION? DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Before:

Jane has bland eggs

After:

Jane has no bland eggs

Behavior:

Jane asks for salt on eggs

Deprivation:

Jane has not had salt

Premack Principal

• If one activity occurs more often than another, the opportunity to do the most frequent activity will reinforce the less frequent activity.

Example

• Suppose a water deprived rat spends more time drinking water than pressing a lever in a test chamber.

• How could the Premack Principle be applied in this case?

Learned Reinforcers

CH 11

Learned Reinforcers

• A stimulus, event, or condition that is a reinforcer because it has been paired with another reinforcer.

Pairing Procedure

• The immediate pairing of a neutral stimulus with a reinforcer or aversive condition

Value Altering Principle

• The pairing procedure converts a neutral stimulus into a learned reinforcer or learned aversive condition

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral “click” as a learned reinforcer

Click

No click No food pellet

Food pellet

Pairing Procedure How to establish click as a learned reinforcer?

??

No click ??

Food pellet

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral “good” as a learned reinforcer

No No food

Food

Shaping a Lever Press with Learned Reinforcement

Before:

Rat hears no click

Behavior Initial: NA

Intermed: Moves around chamber

Inter: Rears

Terminal: Rears close to lever

Behavior Initial: Rears

Intermed: Rears close to lever

Terminal: Presses lever

After:

Rat hears no click

After:

Rat hears click

Reinforcement

Extinction

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral “click” as a learned reinforcer

Click

No click No food pellet

Food pellet

Token Economies

• Pioneered by Ted Allyon and Nate Azrin

• Used to teach and maintain normal behavior of psychotic residents in a psychiatric institution.

Institutionalized People

• Were suffering from severe problems with verbal and social behavior

• Those included in the token economy earned little metal tokens by making responses

Responses that earned tokens

• Serving meals• Cleaning floors• Sorting laundry• Selling items at the commissary• Projecting movies• Leading guided tours• Helping the nurse• Self grooming

Token Exchange

• Tokens could be exchanged for backup reinforcers (the reinforcers with which the learned reinforcers had been paired.

Things that could be purchased with tokens

• Particular bedrooms (roommate)• Choice of eating groups• Locked cabinet• Personal chair• Movies• Live music• Radio/TV• Dances• Extra clothes• Grooming accessories• ETC.

How can a token be established as a conditioned, secondary, or

learned reinforcer?

Write a diagram of the pairing procedure

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral “click” as a learned reinforcer

Click

No click No food pellet

Food pellet

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral “token” as a generalized

learned reinforcer

Token

No token No reinforcers

Various reinforcers like attention, food, conversation, services

Token

• Is a generalized learned reinforcer

Generalized learned reinforcer

• A learned reinforcer that is a reinforcer because it was paired with a variety of other reinforcers when the organism has been deprived of those reinforcers

Token Economy

• A system of generalized learned reinforcers in which the organism that receives those generalized reinforcers can save them and exchange them for a variety of backup reinforcers later.

Learned reinforcers in the acquisition of verbal behavior

Vocal sounds of parent

No vocal sounds of parent

No food, water, removal of aversive condition

Food, water, removal of aversive condition

Before

Baby hears no vocal sounds

After

Baby hears vocal sounds

Behavior

Baby makes vocal sounds

Learned Reinforcers in the Acquisition of Verbal

Behavior

Differential Reinforcement

Before

Baby hears no vocal sounds similar to parents

Behavior

Baby makes vocal sounds unlike parents

Behavior

Baby makes vocal sounds like parents

After

Baby does not hear vocal sounds similar to parents

After

Baby hears vocal sounds similar to parents

Reinforcement

Extinction

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral stimulus as a learned aversive stimulus

No!

No “No!” No smack

Smack

Learned Aversive Stimulus

• A stimulus, event, or condition that is an aversive condition because it has been paired with another aversive condition

The word “NO”

• Generalized learned aversive stimulus

Pairing Procedure Establishes neutral NO as a generalized

learned aversive stimulus

No!

No click No food pellet

Variety of aversive stimuli & loss of a variety of reinforcers