APPLICATION EXERCISES

 

  1. Exercises Involving Others

 

  1. Describe how you might use chaining to teach a child to lace his or her shoes.
  2. Describe how you might use chaining to teach a child to tie a knot.
  3. Describe how you might use chaining to teach a child to tie a bow.
  4. Try out your chaining programs in application exercises 1 to 3 and see how they work.

 

  1. Self-Modification Exercise

     

            Identify a behavioral deficit of yours that might be amenable to a chaining procedure. Describe in detail how you might use the guidelines for the effective use of chaining to overcome deficit.

 

GUIDELINES FOR THE EFFECTIVE USE OF CHAINING

 

            One should observe the following rules when developing stimulus-response chains:

 

  1. Identify the units of the chain that are simple enough to be learned without great difficulty by the individual to whom you are teaching the chain.
  2. The units must be taught in the proper sequence. Otherwise, poor stimulus control will develop in that when one step is completed it will not necessarily be a discriminative stimulus for the next step, but rather may control some other step (as when a young child learns to count incorrectly, for example, 1, 2, 4, 3.).
  3. To expedite learning, use a fading procedure to decrease extra help that may be needed by a client to perform some of the steps.
  4. If you are using backward or forward chaining, make sure that on each trial the student performs the entire set of components learned up to that point.
  5. Early in training, use ample reinforcement for correct performance of individual steps. Gradually decrease this reinforcement as the client becomes more skillful.
  6. Make sure that the reinforcement provided at the end of the chain conforms to the guidelines for the effective application of positive reinforcement given in Chapter 3. The more effective this terminal reinforcement, the more stable the chain of responses. This does not mean, however, that once a chain is developed it must be reinforced each time it occurs in order to be maintained. After Agnes had been taught to assemble a coffee pack, coffee pack assembly could be viewed as a single response, which could, if desired, be put on any intermittent reinforcement schedule.

 

 

GUIDELINES FOR THE EFFECTIVE USE OF FADING

 

  1. Choosing the final desired stimulus. Specify very clearly the stimuli in the presence of which the target behavior should eventually occur.
  2. Selecting an appropriate reinforcer (see Chapter 3).
  3. Choosing the starting stimulus and fading steps.
    1. Specify clearly the conditions under which the desired behavior now occurs – that is, what people, words, physical guidance, and so forth are necessary, at present, to evoke the desired behavior.
    2. Specify clearly the dimensions (such as color, people, and room size) that you will fade to reach the desired stimulus control.
    3. Outline the specific fading steps to be followed and the rules for moving from one step to the next.
  4. Putting the plan into effect.
    1. The fading of cues should be so gradual that there are as few errors as possible. However, if an error occurs, move back to the previous step for several trials and provide additional prompts.
    2. When the desired stimulus control is obtained, review the guidelines in previous chapters for weaning the student from the program (a topic that is discussed in more detail in Chapter 12).

 

 

GUIDELINES FOR THE EFFECTIVE APPLICATION OF SHAPING

 

  1. Select the terminal behavior.
    1. Choose a specific behavior (such as working quietly at a desk for 10 minutes) rather than a general category of behavior (for example, “good” classroom behavior). Shaping is appropriate for changing amount, latency, and intensity of behavior, as well as for developing new behavior of a different topography (form).
    2. If possible, select a behavior that will come under the control of natural reinforcers after it has been shaped.
  2. Select an appropriate reinforcer. See Figure 3-3 and the “Guidelines for the Effective Application of Positive Reinforcement,” p. 41.
  3. The initial plan.
    1. List successive approximations of the terminal behavior, beginning with the initial behavior. To choose the initial behavior, find a behavior already in the student’s repertoire that resembles the terminal behavior most closely and that occurs at least once during an observation period. If your terminal behavior is a complex sequence of activities (such as making a bed) that you have broken down into sequential steps, and if your program amounts to linking the steps together in a particular order, then your program is not best described as shaping, nor is it best developed through a shaping program. Rather, it should be developed by chaining (see Chapter 11).
    2. Your initial steps or successive approximations are usually “educated guesses.” During your program, you can modify these according to the student’s performance.  
  4. Implementing the plan.
    1. Tell the student about the plan before starting.
    2. Begin reinforcing immediately following each occurrence of the starting behavior.
    3. Never move to a new approximation until the student has mastered the previous one.
    4. If you are not sure when to move the student to a new approximation, utilize the following rule: Move to the next step when the student performs the current step correctly in 6 out of 10 trials (usually with one or two trials less perfect than desired and one or two trials in which the behavior is better than the current step).
    5. Do not reinforce too many times at any one step, and avoid underreinforcement at any one step.
    6. If the student stops working, you may have moved up the steps too quickly; the steps may not be the right size; or the reinforcer may be ineffective.

(1)   First, check the effectiveness of your reinforcer.

(2)   If the student becomes inattentive or shows signs of boredom, the steps may be too small.

(3)   Inattention or boredom may also mean you have progressed too rapidly. If so, return to the previous step for a few more trials and then try the present step again.

(4)   If the student continues to have difficulty, despite retaining at previous steps, add more steps at the point of difficulty.

 

 

“Peter, what’s your name?”

 

TEACHING PETER HIS NAME

 

            Peter possessed an extensive mimicking repertoire (he could repeat many of the words other people said) but had little other verbal behavior.1 He would mimic many words, even when it was not appropriate. For example, when asked “What’s your name?,” he would reply “Name.” Sometimes he would repeat the entire question, “What’s your name?” This was a problem of stimulus control in which questions (stimuli) evoked mimicking responses rather than appropriate answers.

            Using the following procedure, a university student, Veronica, taught Peter to respond appropriately to the question “What’s your name?” First, Veronica identified an effective reinforcer. Since Peter had been taught to work for plastic chips that could be exchanged for treats such as candy and popcorn, Veronica decided to use the chips as reinforcers.

            Peter sat at a small table in a quiet room, and Veronica sat across from him. In a very soft whisper, Veronica asked, “What’s your name?”; then, very loudly and quickly and before Peter could respond, she shouted, “PETER!” Of course, Peter mimicked the word “Peter,” and Veronica reinforced this with “Good boy!” and a chip. You may wonder how this could represent any progress, since the boy was still only mimicking the student. However, over several trials Veronica began asking the question “What’s your name?” more loudly and began supplying the answer “Peter” more quietly. In each case, she continued to reinforce the correct response – “Peter.” Eventually, Veronica asked loudly, “What’s your name?” and simply mouthed the word “Peter.” Nevertheless, the boy responded with the correct answer, “Peter.” Over several trials, Veronica ceased even mouthing the correct answer, but Peter still responded correctly to the question “What’s your name?”

 _________________________

            1 This case is taken from G. L. Martin,  England, Kaprowy, Kilgour, and Pilek (1968).

 

“Agnes, please make a coffee pack for me.”

 

TEACHING AGNES TO ASSEMBLE A COFFEE PACK

 

            Agnes was a developmentally disabled woman with an IQ of 22 who lived in a group home with several other severely handicapped women.1 The group home staff was told that if Agnes could learn to perform vocational tasks, she might be able to attend a work training program that had a contract with an airline company to assemble coffee packs. This task involved appropriately stuffing a plastic bag with a folded paper napkin, coffee whitener, a sugar pack, and a plastic stir stick. The airline company distributed these packs with coffee on their domestic flights. Angela Pallotta-Cornick, a graduate student, decided to try to teach Agnes to perform this task, partly because Agnes would follow simple instructions.

            Before beginning training, Angela conducted a test to see what Agnes could do without any training at all. She placed some samples of each of the components of the task in front of Agnes. She then showed Agnes a completed coffee pack and asked her to make one just like it. Agnes promptly stuffed the plastic bag with plastic stir stick. It seemed clear that Agnes could not assemble the coffee pack appropriately, at least under the test condition.

            Assembling a coffee pack consists of a sequence of responses that must be followed, one response at a time, in the proper order. To facilitate teaching the task to Agnes, the entire process of assembling a coffee pack was divided into the following 15 sequential units or steps:

 

1.      Pick up one napkin.

2.      Fold napkin in half (making it narrower).

3.       Sharpen crease with forefinger.

4.      Fold napkin in half (making it shorter).

5.      Pick up one plastic bag.

6.      Open plastic bag.

7.      Pick up folded napkin.

8.      Put napkin into plastic bag with folded end first.

9.      Pick up one coffee whitener.

10.  Put coffee whitener into plastic bag.

11.  Pick up one sugar pack.

12.  Put sugar pack into bag over napkin, with logo on sugar pack clearly visible.

13.  Pick up one stir stick.

14.  Put stir stick into the bag.

15.  Lift plastic bag so that contents all go to the bottom.

 

            The training procedure carried out by Angela involved a series of trials, on each of which Agnes was required to perform all 15 steps in the appropriate sequence. At each step, Angela verbally prompted Agnes to perform the step. If Agnes performed the step appropriately, she was praised and then prompted to perform the next step. If Agnes performed the step inappropriately, Angela used verbal instructions and physical guidance to help Agnes perform the correct response, and then Agnes was required to go on to the next step. Incorrect performance of a step was not followed by praise. Following successful completion of step 15, Agnes received more praise and also an edible of her choice. In this way, Agnes practiced assembling coffee packs over a number of trials, performing each of the steps in the appropriate order on each trial. As Agnes became increasingly proficient at performing the steps, Angela provided less and less verbal help. Eventually, all Angela had to say was “Do all you can” and Agnes would perform all 15 steps correctly. Even though Agnes was severely developmentally disabled, she learned to assemble the coffee packs appropriately after approximately six 20-minute sessions.

________________________

            1 This example is taken from Pallotta-Cornick (1978).

 

 

“Frank, did you do your jogging?”

 

IMPROVING FRANK’S EXERCISING

 

            After taking an early retirement at the age of 55, Frank decided to make some changes in his life. But he wasn’t sure where to start. Knowing that he needed to change some of his long-standing habits, he enrolled in a behavior modification course at the local community college. Next, on the advice of his doctor, he resolved to begin a regular exercise program. Frank had been a “couch potato” all his life.  He typically came home from work, grabbed a can of beer, and parked himself in front of the television set. Frank launched his exercise program with a pledge to his wife that he would jog a quarter of a mile each day. But after a couple of attempts, he returned to his couch-potato routine. He had expected too much too soon. He then decided to try a procedure called shaping that he had studied in his behavior modification course. The following three stages summarize that procedure: 1

1.      Specifying the final desired behavior. Frank’s goal was to jog a quarter of a mile each day. But for a chronic nonexerciser, this was more than could be expected. To reach this goal, it was necessary to reinforce some other behavior first.

2.      Identifying a response that could be used as a starting point in working toward the final desired behavior. Frank decided that, at the very least, he would put on his sneakers and walk around that outside of the house once (approximately 30 yards). Although this was a long way from a quarter of a mile, it was at least a start.

3.      Reinforcing the starting response; then requiring closer and closer approximations until eventually the desired response occurs. Frank decided to use the opportunity to drink a beer as a reinforcer. He explained his program to his wife and asked her to remind him that he had to complete his exercise before he could have a beer. After the first approximation had occurred on several successive afternoons, Frank increased the requirement to walking around the house twice (approximately 60 yards). A few days later, the distance was increased to walking around the house four times (approximately 120 yards), then six times (180 yards), then farther and farther until the distance was approximately a quarter of a mile, and then finally to jogging that distance. By reinforcing successive approximations to his goal, Frank reached the point where he jogged a quarter of a mile regularly. (The application of behavior modification techniques to improve self-control is discussed further in Chapter 24.)

_________________________

            1 This case is based upon one described by D. L. Watson and Tharp (1989).

 

 

 

TABLE 11-1 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG SHAPING, FADING, AND CHAINING

 

 

Shaping

Fading

Chaining

Terminal behavior

1. New behavior along some physical dimension, such as topography, amount, or intensity.

 

 2. The final behavior consists of only the last shaping step.

1. New stimulus control of a particular behavior.

 

2. The fading steps do not necessarily form part of the terminal stimulus control.

1. New sequence of responses, with a clear-cut stimulus signaling the end of each response and the start of the next.

 

2. The final behavior consists of all the chaining steps.

General training procedure

1. Often involves an unstructured environment in which the student has the opportunity to emit a variety of behaviors.

 

2. Proceeds in a forward fashion in terms of the natural order of behavior.

1. Typically involves a structured environment because the stimuli present must be controlled precisely.

 

2. Proceeds in a forward fashion in terms of the natural order of behavior.

1. Typically involves a semistructured or structured teaching environment.

 

2. May proceed in a forward or backward fashion in terms of the natural order of behavior.

Other procedural considerations

1. Often involves instructional control; may involve some physical prompting at successive steps, but usually minimally; may also involve some fading at successive steps.

 

2. Involves successive application of reinforcement and extinction.

1. May involve some shaping, although this is unusual.

 

2. Involves successive application of reinforcement; if extinction has to be used, fading has not proceeded optimally.

1. Frequently involves verbal and physical prompts, physical guidance, fading, and perhaps shaping at successive steps.

 

2. Typically involves fewer extinction trials than in shaping, because of the strong stimulus control established by prompting and fading at successive steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPLICATION EXERCISES

 

            A. Exercise Involving Others

                       

                        Think of a normal child, one between the ages of 2 and 7, with whom you have had contact (for example, a sister, brother, or neighbor). Specify a realistic behavior of that child that you might try to develop by utilizing a shaping procedure. Outline the starting point you would choose and the successive approximations you would go through.

 

            B. Self-Modification Exercises

                       

1.      Take a close look at many of your own behaviors – for example, sporting skills, personal-interaction skills, lovemaking skills, and study skills. Identify at least three specific behaviors that were probably shaped by others, either knowingly or unknowingly. Identify at least three specific behaviors that were probably shaped by the natural environment. Put each of your examples in sentence form, approximately as follows: “I was probably shaped to hit a Ping-Pong ball with a good chop stroke. That is, after learning basic Ping-Pong skills, each time I tried a bit of a chop, the ball would fly off the table. Eventually, a slight chop was reinforced by the ball landing on the table and the other person hitting the ball into the net. As the other person learned to return my chops, I was reinforced for putting slightly increasing amounts of chop on the ball. In all cases, the reinforcement was returning the ball to the other side of the table and even greater reinforcement was returning it to the other side of the table so that the other person misses.”

2.      Select one of your behavioral deficits, perhaps one that you listed at the end of Chapter 2. Outline a complete shaping program that you (with a little help from your friends) might use to overcome that deficit. Make sure that your plan follows the guidelines given for the effective application of shaping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 14-1 EXAMPLES OF ESCAPE CONDITIONING

 

Aversive situation

Escape responses by individual

Removal by aversive situation

Long-term effects

1. A child sees an adult with a bag of candies. The child begins to scream “candy, candy, candy.”

To terminate the screaming, the adult gives the screaming child a candy.

The child stops screaming.

In the future, the adult is more likely “to give in to” the screaming child because of escape conditioning (and the child is more likely to scream when she sees a candy bag, because of the positive reinforcement she gains for doing so).

2. A woman is playing golf and it starts to rain.

The golfer puts on a rainsuit.

The golfer escapes the feeling of rain beginning to wet her clothes.

The golfer is more likely to put on a rainsuit when it rains.

3. A nonverbal child has had shoes put on her that are too tight and are pinching her toes.

The child makes loud noises in the presence of an adult and points to her toes.

The adult removes the shoes (and perhaps puts on larger shoes).

The child is more likely to make loud noises and point to her sore feet (or to other areas of pain) more quickly in similar situations in the future.

4. A jogger experiences a sensation of sore lips while jogging on a windy day.

The jogger puts on chapstick on his lips.

The sensation of soreness ceases.

The jogger is more likely to use chapstick to sooth sore lips.

5. A staff member in a zoo encounters a pile of smelly dung on the floor of the monkey cage.

The staff member walks away without cleaning it up.

The staff member escapes the aversive smell (and avoids having to clean up the dung).

In the future, the staff member will likely walk away from dung on the floor of the monkey cage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher-directed >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>            <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Student-directed

Behavioral Approach >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>            <<<<<<<<<<<<<Psychodynamic Approach

(based on B. F. Skinner)                                                                          (based on Sigmund Freud)

1. Observation

1. Self-monitoring

1. Active listening

2. Token economy

2. Self-control

2. I-messages

3. Positive reinforcement

3. Logical consequences

3. Group therapy

4. Negative reinforcement

 

4. Counseling

5. Modeling

 

5. Life-Space Interview

6. Timeout

 

6. Negotiation

7. Contingency plans

 

7. Value Clarification

8. Punishment

 

8. Emotional first aid

9. Response cost

 

 

10. Overcorrection

 

 

11. Physical restraint

 

 

12. Suspension

 

 

13. Expulsion