www.BehaviorAdvisor.com
This slide show is part of a
workshop given by Tom
McIntyre (Dr. Mac)
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OPERANT BEHAVIOR:
An Introduction to ABA
Tom McIntyre, Ph.D.
www.BehaviorAdvisor.com
Your “Do Now” Activity… Cute cartoon. Can you decipher the humor?
Many slides have been adapted from a slideshow by Dr. Rosa Martinez
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Behaviorist Categories Of Behavior
RESPONDENT
Unlearned actions that
are elicited by
“antecedent stimuli”
OPERANT
Acquired actions that
are evoked by
learned
antecedentbehaviorconsequence
strings
(The A-B-C paradigm)
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Crying:
Respondent or Operant?
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Respondent or Operant?
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Respondent Behavior
& “Conditioning” of New Behaviors
In the presence of an “antecedent stimuli”, a
response occurs
In other words… “Something causes a naturally
occurring reaction.” (“Unconditioned” behavior… no
“conditioning” or training needed)
What are some naturally occurring, “un-conditioned”
behaviors?
– Salivate at the smell (or even the thought) of food
– Fall asleep when tired
– Jump at loud sound
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Who was the major figure associated with respondent
behavior being “conditioned” (trained ) to appear under
other circumstances?
(The “Classical” School of Behaviorism)
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
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Does the Name “Pavlov” Ring a Bell?
What do you remember
about
Dr. Pavlov?
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Hey! Who’s doing the conditioning here?
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What if Pavlov Worked with Cats?
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Old School
In “classical conditioning” there is a
– Strong machine-like connection
– A “fizzy” (Alka-seltzer) response
Between a
– Happening (“stimulus”), and
– The behavior that follows (“response”)
These connections can be
– Naturally occurring
– Trained (“conditioned”)
Bag/Balloon
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Fido welcomes you back to the
homestead ~
Blow in eyes ------- Dog blinks (Reason?)
Thumb nose ------- Dog blinks (Reason?)
Which is the:
– Unconditioned stimulus?
– Unconditioned response?
– Conditioned stimulus?
– Conditioned response?
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Albert & The White Lab Rat
Any recollection of this “experiment” from “Psych 101”?
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Adding a Letter to the
Behaviorist Alphabet
The “classical” school of behaviorists was familiar
with the “A” & the “B”. Operant folks added the “C”.
ANTECEDENT
BEHAVIOR
CONSEQUENCE
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Operant Conditioning
An Antecedent spurs a Behavior to occur.
Whether the behavior occurs again in the future will
depend on the Consequence that follows the action.
In other words: In recurring situations (Antecedent),
we keep doing the same things (Behavior) because it
has brought benefits (Consequences) during those
times.
We don’t show other behaviors because they didn’t
bring benefits in those situations, OR we don’t see
new actions as bringing any more benefits than the
action that is working for us right now.
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“I don’t
want any
stupid
milk!”
Possible…
Antecedent: __________
________________
Behavior: _____________
________________
Consequence: __________
________________
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Operator, can you tell me the name of
the prominent figure in this “newer”
school of Behaviorism?
Hint. Hint…
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Burrhus Frederick Skinner
1904-1990
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Who was B.F. Skinner?
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The Behavior Of Organisms
(Skinner, 1938)
Provided a model & descriptive analysis of how
mammals learn.
Premise?
The environment teaches us. We learn from
the consequences that follow our actions.
There are 3 “teachers” (5 if counting sub-types)
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The “Teachers”: Consequences
Positive Reinforcement – Showing a behavior results
in a “reward” (Something desirable occurs)
Negative Reinforcement – Demonstration of a
behavior removes or avoids an “aversive stimulus”
(Something undesirable never happens OR goes away)
Positive Punishment – An exhibited behavior results
in the appearance of an aversive stimulus
(Something undesirable happens to the person)
Negative Punishment – Showing an action results in
the removal of positive stimulus
(Something desirable is taken away)
Extinction – The disappearance of a behavior due to
lack of reinforcement (“Ignoring”)
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Press 2 for ABA
Skinner did not work with humans (except for his
daughter).
Applied behavior analysis developed from the
experiments and ideology of operant
conditioning with animals.
ABA focuses on another mammal…
humans.
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What is Applied Behavior Analysis?
(Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987)
Applied behavior analysis is the science in
which procedures derived from the principles
of learning are systematically applied to
improve socially significant behavior & to
demonstrate experimentally that the
procedures used were responsible for the
improvement in behavior.
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Skinner’s Theory
“All we need to know in order to describe and
explain behavior is this: Actions followed
by good outcomes are likely to recur, and
actions followed by bad outcomes are less
likely to recur.” (Skinner, 1953)
Simplistic, but profound.
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A Closer Look at
“The Teachers”
First up:
Punishment
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It’s gonna hurt me more than you…
2 types of punishment
– Positive (receives an undesirable response)
– Examples of “Giving it to ‘em”?
– Negative (something desirable is taken away)
– Examples of “You just lost…”?
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Which problems accompany
the use of punishment?
Emotional or physical harm can result.
The kids fear you.
The kids come to dislike you.
The kids think that you don’t like them.
The punishment may not outweigh the rewards of the
behavior.
The kids avoid you or just learn to be sneakier so they don’t get
caught.
The “punishment” might actually be a reinforcer.
Punishment does not teach better behaviors, so the
same one keeps popping up. For example…
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“To a man with a hammer, everything looks
like a nail.”
Mark Twain
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Are we really “Teaching him a lesson.”?
Dr. Mac: “…and what do you do when Tony shows that
behavior?”
Parent: “I come up on him and give him a lickin’ (spanking)
right quick.”
Dr. Mac: “Maybe we can come up with another way that
you might deal with the behavior.”
Parent: “What for? It works. I give him the palm of my
hand; he stops.”
Dr. Mac: “How often do you spank Tony?”
Parent: “Sh-- man… Sometimes 3… 4 times a day.
Sometimes my damn hand is bruised come the end of
the day.”
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I’m ignoring you. Really, I am! Do
you hear me?! I’m ignoring you!
Ignoring to Extinction
(Is this how the dinosaurs died?)
What do behaviorists mean by “ignoring”?
What are they doing when they ignore?
– Withholding reinforcement
– Keeping the action from receiving its usual dose of reward
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What problems often occur
when ignoring a behavior?
Hard to ignore some behaviors
Will you ignore the hitting of another?
Expect a “Behavior Burst” (escalation of a behavior)
You get the kids to ignore too (for a reinforcer), but a
colleague who is unaware of the implementation of the
strategy leans in the door and tells the kid to stop.
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Real men reinforce things with duck tape
2 types of reinforcement. They are…?
– Positive (receipt of something desirable for an action)
– Negative
– Most people understand “positive reinforcement”…
– But what is “negative reinforcement”?
(If you say it’s the same as punishment, you fail the course)
– One’s action results in something negative
going away
never happening
– Other ways to explain it:
It feels good not to be punished
You “dodged the bullet”
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Clickers
A student receives 2 nights of detention for refusing
teacher directions and uttering rude comments.
This example is one of:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Negative reinforcement
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The student who received the 2 nights of
detention disliked it intensely. It was
embarrassing, she missed her social
connections after school, and got in trouble
with her parents. Thence forth, she complied
with directions and used respectful language
toward the teacher, even when she did not
wish to do so. Her actions are a result of:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Negative reinforcement
4. Positive reinforcement
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A student receives a sticker for each
homework submitted. The student’s
homework submission percentage increases.
The motivator was:
1. Positive punishment
2. Positive reinforcement
3. Negative reinforcement
4. A combination of the 2
types of reinforcement
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A student engages in fight and is sent to the
principal’s office. The teacher intends this
disciplinary action to serve as:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Negative reinforcement
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A student is being poked. He dislikes this
physical contact, but fails to issue any sort of
“cease and desist” action or verbiage. Which
of his behaviors is being punished?
How might negative reinforcement be
involved here? (Avoiding a worse punishment)
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The student being poked moves her chair out
of reach of the prodding finger. Her
scooching (moving away) action is:
1. Positively punished
2. Negatively punished
3. Positively reinforced
4. Negatively reinforced
5. An example of ignoring
the student who did the poking
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Over the course of a couple of minutes, a
student’s inappropriate behavior escalates.
The behavior is probably being:
1. Positively reinforced
2. Negatively reinforced
3. Ignored
4. Punished
5. It depends on the situation. We need more
information to determine the answer.
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The teacher reacts to spitting by having the
student research the topic and write an essay
about why the expectoration behavior was
inappropriate. This disciplinary action is
intended by the teacher to be:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Negative reinforcement
4. “Busy work”
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After being belittled by the teacher for offering
an incorrect oral answer to her question,
Ricky fails to contribute any more
commentary. His silent behavior is
maintained by:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Negative reinforcement
4. Positive reinforcement
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A youngster seems to “set himself up”
repeatedly to be victimized by the bully. His
seemingly masochistic behavior is maintained
by:
1. Positive punishment
2. Negative punishment
3. Positive reinforcement
4. Negative reinforcement
5. Mental health issues
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A teacher approaches a child and puts his
arm around the youngster’s shoulder. The
crying, caused by embarrassment, quickly
stops. The crying behavior responded to:
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Ignoring
4. Positive punishment
5. Negative punishment
6. ABA can’t explain it
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Activity:
10 Levels of Reinforcement
Groups: When you receive the document,
convene to add at least one more
reinforcer to each level.
Begin with level 10 and move up to level 6.
Stop there.
After our class discussion, you will reconvene to add one more reinforcer to
each of levels 5 to 1.
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SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
(accompanies document & discussion)
Interval schedules - reinforcement given after a certain
amount of time has passed
Fixed Interval - reinforcement is presented after a fixed
(always the same) amount of time expires
Variable Interval - reinforcement is delivered on a random
(unpredictable to all) OR variable time schedule (unpredictable
to the student)
Ratio schedules - reinforcement given after a certain number
of responses have been emitted
Fixed Ratio - reinforcement is presented after each completion
of a designated # of responses (always the same number)
Variable Ratio - reinforcement delivery is variable, but based
on an overall average number of responses
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Variable Schedule
Interval (VI5) or Ratio (VR5)
+
+
+
+
+
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Which Schedule?
Julio is reinforced each time that he withholds
curse words for the entire class period.
1. Continuous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which Schedule?
Louise is reinforced for every 3rd recess period
during which she exhibits only “friendly”
behavior.
1. Continuous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which Schedule?
Emma is reinforced each time she says “Excuse
me.” when interrupting a conversation.
1. Continuous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which Schedule?
Joe is reinforced for every 5th homework
assignment submitted.
1. Continuous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which Schedule?
Students trying out for roles in the school plays
1. Continous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which Schedule?
“News” story about man asking ladies to join him for
coffee.
1. Continous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Which schedule?
Every 4th 10-minute time period that Sigmund has
displayed “hands-to self” behavior, he gets a point
(toward the 20 points he must earn for a video he has
requested as his prize).
1. Continous ratio
2. Continuous interval
3. Fixed ratio
4. Fixed interval
5. Variable ratio
6. Variable interval
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Can ABA be Explained by ABA?
Can ABA explain all of our behavior patterns and
situational responses?
Do emotions come into play? How would ABA
explain impulsive acts (Due to emotion or ADHD)? Do our
emotions develop from how the environment acts
upon us?
ABA is essential for working with young, severely
impaired kids. What do you do when kids outgrow
ABA practices & younger kids with conduct disorders
laugh at your tokens and contracts?
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