LESSON 5

Reinforcement
Part II

Intro To Applied Behaviour Analysis

LESSON 4
Reinforcement - Part II

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SECTION 1

Identifying Somone’s Preferences

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Discovering a person’s
reinforcers
In teaching programs we are interested in
increasing particular behaviour. By now you
know that this involves the use of reinforcement!
It is extremely important to identify reinforcers
for your child/student that are effective. In order
to be effective they must be reinforcers that the
person wants – not ones that you think they
should want. Remember that a reinforcer is
identified only after its positive effect on
behaviour has been demonstrated. Any stimulus
(social, tangible, sensory etc.) can be a reinforcer if
the target behaviour increases when consistently
followed by that stimulus.
CAUTION! Never assume that because
something is a reinforcer for you, that it is for
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someone else! This is particularly relevant to bear
in mind when you are working with individuals
with ASD, many of whom have very idiosyncratic
preferences.
There are a number of ways to identify potential
reinforcers for someone
1. Ask the person (or the person’s caregiver)
what they would work for!
2. Create a survey or checklist of possible
reinforcers and have the person (or caregiver)
fill it out.
3. Observe the person. What does he or she tend
to do?
Premack principle: Activities that a person is highly likely to engage in may
serve as reinforcers for activities that the person is not likely to do. It has also
been called Grandma’s rule: “Eat your peas before you get desert!” Or....Make
sure you have done your assignments for the week before you let yourself watch
a movie.
Movie 1.1 The video clip shows therapists using this method to
assess potential reinforcers for several young children with
autism. The therapists are simply making the toys available to
each child, and are observing which ones the child picks. This is
not necessarily one of the formal methods of preference assess-
ment.
4. Conduct a formal preference assessment.
a. Single item presentation
A type of preference assessment where each
item is presented one at a time to see
whether the individual interacts with it.
Pro: Easy way to help identify reinforcers
Con: Fails to differentiate which would be
the most desirable and therefore the most
effective reinforcer

b. Forced choice presentation:

A type of preference assessment that is a way to
differentiate which items are more desirable.
Potential reinforcers are presented 2 at a time
and the individual must choose between them.
Each potential reinforcer is presented paired
with each other.
(In this way you can tell which items an individual prefers over others – these
will most likely be the strongest reinforcers!)

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 Movie 1.2 Forced Choice Preference Assessment Remember: The true test of whether something
is a reinforcer is to present it contingent on a
behaviour, and see if that behaviour increases. If
the behaviour does not increase, perhaps what
you thought was a reinforcer, wasn’t!

Remember: Things that are reinforcers at one

time may not be at other times. Preference
assessments must be done often!

c. Multiple stimulus presentation:

A type of preference assessment in which all the
potential reinforcers being assessed are
presented at once. The item that the individual
picks first is likely a reinforcer. This procedure
is repeated several times to confirm that that
truly is the individual’s top choice.

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LESSON 5

Reinforcement - Part II Motivating

Operations and Schedules

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 Factors Affecting The Motivating operations influence the value of the
reinforcer.
Effectiveness Of Reinforcers
1. Immediacy
Reinforcers will be most effective at increasing
behaviour if they are delivered immediately
after the desired behaviour. Even a small delay Motivating Operations
between the desired behaviour and the
Sometimes you want something, sometimes you
reinforcer can significantly weaken the effect of
don’t. It is important to realize that just because
the reinforcer delivery.
something is a reinforcer for a person at one time,
2. Contingent
it does not mean that it is a reinforcer at all times.
Reinforcers will be most effective at increasing
Certain factors can temporarily affect how
behaviour if they are contingent on the
reinforcing a stimulus is.
behaviour. This means that the reinforcer
consistently follows the behaviour when it
Motivating operations (MO’s) are factors that
occurs, and the reinforcer is not presented if the
temporarily change the reinforcing property of a
behaviour does not occur.
stimulus.

3. Motivating Operations
Other factors influencing the effect of
reinforcers include motivating operations.

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 • A bowl of soup is an EO for a spoon – you need
that if you are going to eat the soup.
• For a child who has difficulty reading – books
are EO’s for escape.

When we go a long time without access to one of

our reinforcers, the value of that reinforcer often
goes up. This is called deprivation. If you have
not had a coffee all morning, you find yourself
willing to do anything for that cup of coffee! As a
result of deprivation, the coffee becomes a strong
reinforcer.

Teaching involves extensive use of reinforcers. A

Establishing operations (EO’s) temporarily
wise therapist will always be aware of whether
increase the value of the reinforcer. Here are some
EO’s are in effect for the reinforcers she is using.
examples:
Deprivation is used to keep some reinforcers
• Eating lots of salty chips increases the value of
strong – some special toys may be reserved to be
water as a reinforcer. Salt is an EO for water.
used as reinforcers in teaching programs.
• For some people any stressful situation is an EO
for chocolate!

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Abolishing operations (AO’s) decrease the value Schedules Of Reinforcement
of the reinforcer. A very common AO is satiation.
1. Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)
Too much of a particular Sr+ makes that Sr+ loose
When a reinforcer is delivered every time a
its effectiveness for some time, until deprivation
behaviour is emitted. In teaching programs we
sets in again. After you have eaten a lot of ice
often we start out with CRF. Each time the
cream, ice cream no longer functions as a
client gets a right answer – praise! And a
reinforcer – at least for a little while! After a child
sticker! This helps our clients learn new skills
has played with a toy for a long time, he no longer
quickly.
wants to play with the toy for a while.

However, this is not a situation that can be kept

It is important to watch out for satiation during a
up. If we always used CRF, our clients will
teaching program. Here are 4 ways to avoid
become satiated on the reinforcers. It would
satiation while teaching:
also become expensive if we use Sr+’s we have
1. If you need to deliver a reinforcer often, use
to buy. Furthermore, when a behaviour is
small amounts of it at a time.
reinforced every time, what happens if the
2. Use a variety of reinforcers.
reinforcers suddenly stop coming? Very
3. Use generalized reinforcers (praise, tokens).
quickly, the person will stop doing the
4. Use intermittent reinforcement (next lesson
behaviour. (This is called “extinction”. You will
note!).
learn more about extinction). The natural
world does not dole out reinforcers each time

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 we do something right. If we stick with CRF, 2. Intermittent Schedules
Movie 1.3 Continuous Reinforcement Schedule (CRF)
In the real world we experience reinforcement
every so often…enough to keep us hooked and
responding. When a behaviour is reinforced, but
not every time it occurs, this is called intermittent
reinforcement.
a. Ratio Schedules of Reinforcement
A reinforcer is delivered after a certain number
of responses.

i. Fixed Ratio (FR)

A reinforcer is delivered after a set number
of correct responses occurs.

How are they written?

the student will be dependent on the therapist
FR5 – after every 5 responses
to dole out the reinforcers all the time.
FR1 -- same as CRF since for every 1
behaviour completed correctly, a reinforcer is
So CRF is a good thing to get a behaviour
delivered
started, but not realistic to keep going forever.

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Movie 1.4 Fixed Schedule
VR5 -that would mean that on the average
every 5th correct behaviour would be
reinforced.
For example, under a VR5 schedule, over a
series of 20 correct responses the reinforcer
might be delivered after the 3rd, 10th, 16th
and 20th … 4 reinforcers for 20 behaviours
20/4 = VR5.

Movie 1.5 Variable Schedule

ii. Variable ratio (VR)

A reinforcer is delivered around some average
number of correct responses occurs that is
varied.

How is it written?

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So again, the more you do, the more you earn –
except that under this schedule the reinforcer
delivery is unpredictable. This leads to persistent
and high rates of responding, and no post-
reinforcement pause. Because -- who knows? The
next response might lead to the reinforcer!
VR schedules lead to high steady rates of
behaviour. Consider the behaviour of gamblers at
a slot machine, or panhandlers asking for money.
Pulling the slot machine arm and asking for
money from passersby are behaviours on variable
ratio schedules of reinforcement.
Going from a low ratio to a higher ratio (e.g., FR1
to FR 3) is called thinning the reinforcement
schedule. Thinning the reinforcement schedule is
an important part of a teaching program.
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In program delivery, you may start out reinforcing
each instance of the target behaviour (FR1 or CRF)
and then, after 5-10 consecutive correct responses,
you then reinforce only after every 2 correct
behaviours are completed (FR2). By slowly
increasing the amount of work done before the
individual receives a reinforcer, you begin to
approximate a less dense schedule of
reinforcement - more similar to that experienced
in the real world.
b. Interval schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement depends not on how much you
do, but when you do it. It is the delivery of
reinforcement after a specified interval of time.
i. Fixed interval (FI)
The delivery of reinforcement following the
first correct behaviour after the time interval
has expired.

How is it written?
FI 3 -- (the number refers to minutes),
reinforcement would happen after the first
correct behaviour that occurs after 3 minutes
have passed. Following that reinforcement the
next 3-minute time periods begin in which no
reinforcers are given until a behaviour
happens after that three minute interval has
passed.
Not surprisingly, under a fixed interval
schedule, a person will rarely engage in the
behaviour until the time interval is about to
expire or has expired. (Why would you
respond when you are not going to get
anything from it? Just wait until the time is
up.) This pattern of responding is called a
fixed interval scallop.
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ii. Variable interval (VI)
The delivery of reinforcement following the
first correct behaviour after the varied time
interval has expired.
This is like the teacher who walks around on
average every 10 minutes and delivers praise to
those students who are working. Variable interval
schedules lead to low steady rates of behaviour,
with no pausing. You never know when the
teacher is going to walk by!
c. Response-Duration schedules
Schedules in which the behaviour must be
engaged in for a fixed or variable length of
time in order to be Sr+.
i. Fixed response duration schedule (FRD)
The desired behaviour must occur for the entire
time stated before Sr+ is delivered.
FRD schedules are commonly used for increasing
behaviours where duration is most important:
Review 1.1 Schedules of Reinforcement
e.g., time sitting on the toilet, time playing
independently, time working at the table. Question 1 of 4
The child is reinforced on a FR5. What is this?

FRD5 -- for independent play, the caregiver would

deliver the reinforcer every 5 minutes if the child
were playing independently for the whole 5
minute period.
A. Sr+ after 5 minutes
ii. Variable response duration schedule (VRD)
Requires the behaviour to occur for different B. Sr+ after 5 correct responses
lengths of time, averaging out to the stated
C. Sr+ if the behaviour lasted five min
number.
D. Sr+ after approximately 5 responses
VRD5 would mean on average behaviour
lasting 5 minutes would be reinforced, but in
fact the Sr+ might be delivered after 3, 8, 13,
and 20 minutes of appropriate behaviour.
Check Answer

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 Using Schedules Of
Reinforcement
When setting goals for rates of reinforcement, we
want to get the person to do the desired
behaviours when receiving a similar amount and
frequency of reinforcement consistent with the
natural world. We refer to this as the natural
schedule of reinforcement. Of course, in the
beginning, we need to help families and
caregivers to increase the amount and frequency
of reinforcement they give the child, but
ultimately reinforcement will need to be thinned
to the natural schedules.
The process of gradually moving to more and
more intermittent reinforcement is called
reinforcement thinning.
One needs to be careful not to try to change the
schedule too fast or the person may simply refuse
to engage in the behaviour – ratio strain – and
stop altogether. If this happens, you must go back
to higher levels of reinforcement to re-establish
the behaviour, and then proceed more slowly with
the thinning.

REMEMBER: We always THIN reinforcement, we

DO NOT fade reinforcement.

Depending on the behaviour to be changed, a

number of combinations of schedules can be part Assignment 3:
of the same intervention program.

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