Chapter 17
Capitalizing on Existing
Stimulus Control:
Rules and Goals
Rules
A description of a three-term contingency of
reinforcement (antecedent-behaviorconsequences)
 Examples: Any If-then statement.
“If you clean up your room now you can go
out with your friends”
Antecedent  Behavior  Consequence
Room
 Clean
Go out with friends

Rules (cont.)

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
Partial Rule: Missing one of the three terms
Examples: NO PARKING (missing antecedent
“location” and consequence “parking ticket”
SALE (missing antecedent “at our store” and
behavior “buy”)
CROSSWALK ( missing behavior “stop the car”
and consequence “hitting a pedestrian…”)
Rules (cont.)



Contingency-Shaped Behavior: behavior
under the control of direct-acting consequences.
Immediate consequences  gradual
behavior change.
Rule-Governed Behavior: Behavior controlled
by the statement of a rule.
Delayed consequences (if rule is used)
Immediate behavior change.
Explains effects of indirect-acting consequences
When To Use Rules?

ALWAYS, even with those with limited verbal skills.

Rules are especially effective:
When rapid behavior change is desirable.
When consequences that you might provide for a behavior are
too delayed to directly reinforce that behavior.
When you would like to maintain a behavior for which natural
reinforcers are immediate but highly intermittent (to motivate
salespeople, athletes, students).
When a specific behavior will lead to immediate and severe
punishment
Why are Rules so Effective?



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They may involve interim reinforcers if rule is followed
(praise for sticking to a program leading to a larger
reinforcer).
The individual may make self-reinforcing statements in
the interim.
Following rules itself may be reinforcing due to our
history of reinforcement for following rules in general or
punishment for not following rules.
So in general, rules capitalize on existing stimulus
control that is already in effect in people’s lives.
Effectiveness of Rules Depends
on…

Specific descriptions of behavior.

Specific descriptions of when to do the behavior (say
please when…).

Probability of consequences (helmets, lifejackets).

Size and immediacy of consequences (diets, exercise).

Deadlines (effective even if reinforcer is delayed far
after the deadline!).
Goals

A level of performance to work toward.

Goals ARE rules, but usually partial ones,
identifying the desired behavior, while the
antecedents and consequences are
implied.
Goals (cont.)

Effectiveness of Goals depends on…

IF specific mastery criteria are used.
IF circumstances are identified.
IF they are realistic, challenging.
IF they are public.
IF deadlines are included.
IF feedback is given throughout.
IF individuals express commitment.






REVIEW SO FAR…

What tools do we have and when do we
use them?
Review




Positive reinforcement (to increase behavior
using primary, secondary, backup reinforcers)
Intermittent schedules to increase behavior
(fixed, interval, ratio, interval, limited hold,
duration)
Intermittent schedules to decrease behavior
(DRL,DRO, DRI, pg. 90)
Extinction
Review (cont.)
Stimulus discrimination training (do
something in this situation but not in
another situation).
 Fading (the stimulus prompt)
 Shaping (the behavior)
 Chaining (linking behaviors together)
 Punishment (to decrease behavior)

Review (cont.)

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Avoidance Conditioning (to avoid an anticipated
punisher)
Escape Conditioning (to escape a punisher that has
already been introduced)
Respondent Conditioning (Classical conditioning of
automatic involuntary responses such as emotions)
Stimulus Generalization (one response in many
situations)
Response Generalization (many responses in the
same situation)
Rules (A-B-C statement)
Goals (Performance standard)
Chapter 18
Capitalizing on Existing
Stimulus Control:
Modeling, Guidance and
Situational Inducement
Modeling

Effectiveness of models depends on:
Similarity (peers best).
Symbolic modeling (pictures, movies) can
sometimes be as effective as live modeling.
Modeling of behavior AND its effects.
Use of multiple models (everyone’s doing it).
Use of rules (behavioral rehearsal/role rehearsal
can help here).
Physical Guidance

Guide with touch to teach behavior.
(see pg 229 guidelines)
Situational Inducement

Rearranging the Surroundings

Moving the Activity to a New Location

Relocating People

Changing the Time of the Activity.
See Guidelines pg. 234…
Chapter 19
Motivation and
Behavior Modification
What is “Motivation”?

Traditional definition:
“Inner drive” that causes behavior.
(Circular reasoning problem: Drive causes the
behavior, but we infer the existence of the drive
because of the behavior).
What is “Motivation”?
Practical limitations of traditional definition:
Leads us to ignore principles of behavior change by:
 Ascribing
 Blaming
 Blame
cause of behavior to a “drive”.
an individual’s “lack of drive”.
our own “lack of drive”.
What is “Motivation”?

Behavioral View of Motivation:
Motivating Operations (MOs):
“Events or operations that (a) temporarily alter the
effectiveness of consequences as reinforcers or
punishers (value altering effect), and (b) influence
behaviors that normally lead to those reinforcers or
punishers (behavior-altering effect).”
Examples: Food deprivation and satiation.
Motivating Operations (MOs)

Motivating Establishing Operations
(MEOs): Increase reinforcer effectiveness
(ex. Deprivation).

Motivating Abolishing Operations
(MAOs): Decrease reinforcer
effectiveness (ex. Satiation).
Motivating Operations (MOs)

MOs affects punishers in the same
way…ex. Effectiveness of time-out as a
punisher is increased when it takes away
opportunity to earn reinforcers.
Motivating Operations (MOs)
Unconditioned MOs (UMO’s) effect
unconditioned reinforcers
(deprivation/satiation of water, sleep,
activity, air…)
 Conditioned MO’s (CMO’s) effect
conditioned reinforcers (desirability of
earning points based on the what the
points can be redeemed for).

CMEOs and SDs

SDs are cues that tell you what to do to
get what you already want.

CMEOs are cues that change what you
want and tell you what to do to get what
you now want.
CMAOs and SDeltas

SDelta is a cue that tells you that doing a
particular behavior will not lead to a
reinforcer that you already want.

CMAO is a cue that influences you to no
longer want a particular consequence.