Topical Blog Week #13 (Due Thursday)

Topical Blog Week #13

One thing that has always interested me is the use of punishment. I was usually punished rather than reinforced as a child. For example, I was usually verbally yelled at as a punishment of wrong doing. Sometimes it was even physical punishment such as spankings (positive punishment) or a slap on the hand. So this intrigued me to seek out some of the weirdest and craziest punishment's that there are out there.

One punishment that I came across, that most of us probably wouldn't have thought about or considered a punishment is the punishment of solitary confinement. According to Tim Vanderpool, The state continues the dubious practice of placing mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement, this is a crazy punishment to put crazy people in. It will simply make crazy people crazier. I also became aware that studies had shown that the inmates with mental-health issues tend to have related behavioral problems, which can land them in maximum-security situations more often than other prisoners. According to the Arizona correctional system, “There is clearly a high concentration of people with serious mental illness in the SMU's. They are only about 18% of the general population, compared with 26% in the SMU. Personally, I think this is not a good form of punishment because, solitary confinement can make their social and speaking abilities decrease. It can really make a person go insane.

I personally do not believe in the use of punishment, with this in mind, I wanted to see how many families use punishment in their homes and what form of punishment they emit. According to Wikipedia, domestic corporal punishment typically involves the corporal punishment of a child by a parent or guardian in the home, normally the spanking or slapping of a child with the parents' open hand, but occasionally with an implement such as a belt, slipper, cane, or paddle. There are dozens of countries that made it illegal to punish their children in homes. Only four countries is corporal punishment lawful. In Austria, Canada, The United Kingdom, and The United States punishment such as spanking (positive punishment) is legal. Each county has restrictions though. In Austria, corporal punishment of children in the home is legal in every state and territory, provided it is “reasonable”. Parents who act unreasonably may be committing an assault. In Canada, parents are allowed to spank their children, but many restrictions apply. In the United Kingdom, corporal punishment is legal, but it must not leave a mark on the body and in Scotland it has been legal to use any implements other than an open hand when disciplining a child since October of 2003. In the United States, despite some opposition to corporal punishment, the spanking of children is legal in all states. Bans have been proposed in Massachusetts and California on all corporal punishment of children, including by parents.

This video clip, “Horrible Histories- Victorian Punishments” from YouTube, really informed me of how lucky we are here in America. The Victorian's had horrible punishments for the children in the school setting. I thought this video clip used humor and factual information to let us know of the horrors the schools put upon the children. This clip also exemplifies how the children emitted minor offensives and still received very aversive punishment's. For example, if they bit their nails they had their fingers bond in “stocks” or if they miss spelled words or talked in class, they were put in a “cage” suspended above the room or had a wooden log tied on their shoulders. These punishments seem primitive and unethical, but this goes to show you how lucky we really are, spankings may not seem as bad after you realize what children from other parts of the world receive.

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/crazy-punishment/Content?oid=1092954
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment_in_the_home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGSmilO-ah4&feature=related (25 seconds to end)

Terms I used in my blog: Punishment, Reinforced, Positive Punishment, Behavioral Problems, Emit, Emitted, Aversive.

I, like Tricia, am interested in punishment. Why is punishment used so much more, and little reinforcement. When I got introuble as a child I was grounded, made to do chores, or just verbally punished. Mom always seemed to punish, like clockwork, but it just seemed to be more prevelant than reinforcing my good behaviors. So I have chosen to try and find some information on why punishment is prevelant in American/British families, and reinforcemnt is sparse at times. Corporal puishment is going to be the focus when I say puishment because of its prevelance in world history and various contexts of use.

"About 94% of parents admitted to spanking there three to four year old within the last year". This is alarming in my opinion, that parents just resort to spanking as a punishment. I don't feel it the parents fault though, when they grew-up a spanking was just a societal norm, they are merely contiuing with which they were taught. I think even parents that don't agree with spanking have probably spanked their kids out of anger and unconciously do it.

But spanking didn't start with our parents or there parents or event there parents, in fact, sepending on where you get the information from, corporal punishment as been used for many years. But it wasn't always used for punishment, or at least not a negative punishment, in fact, a Renissance humanist named Pico della Mirando found the "passive flagellatory desires of a friend, to be both puzzling and amusing".

Some instances in which corporal punishment has been used in America, but also in other countries.

Slave-owners could whip slaves. This was theoretically abolished in the U.S. at the end of the Civil War.

Masters could whip indentured servants.

Husbands could beat wives with little chance of being arrested; this immunity has been greatly reduced in recent years throughout North America.

The public could commit violence against people found guilty and held captive in a pillory. This was abolished in most US states by 1839. In 1905. Delaware was the last state to eliminate stocks.

Jail guards could cane or whip prisoners. The last flogging in Britain was in 1967; in the U.S. it ended in 1952, again in Delaware.

Ship officers could flog sailors until the practice was abolished by the U.S. Senate in 1850; and in Britain in 1957.

Boxers were and are expected to beat each other senseless to the point that they can no longer function. Over time, this still often causes brain damage.

School teachers could use corporal punishment on their students. Laws were passed to abolished spanking in British state-run schools in 1986, and in privately funded schools in 1998. The Supreme Court of Canada prohibited corporal punishment by Canadian schools in 2004. Punishment in schools is still permitted in about 60% of the states.

Parents and guardians could -- and continue to -- use corporal punishment on their children in the U.S. and Canada, subject to some restrictions.

Currently, only the last three categories are still legal in North America. And the degree of violence is in decline.

I find it interesting that a progressive country like Americn states allow corporal punishment. I can't see spanking going away, but do see a downward trend in it's use, ot atleast it's visability. i personally believe a swat on the butt is needed at time, I just don't think we need to beat the "Devil out of them " to prove a point about their behavior. i woinder how different this country would be if we reinforced more and reduced the puishment even in the old days

http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/?q=node/187
http://spankingartwiki.animeotk.com/wiki/The_English_Vice
http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin24.htm

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Punishment(Negative and Corporal), reinforced,

Token Economy
After listening to our lecture on token economies I decided to do a little more research into them. They got their start in the 1960’s when Teodoro Ayllo first started using it as a method of behavior modification. His token economies were developed and implemented to mental health centers and prisons. He found that they were very effective in changing behavior. Over the years the token economy has made its way to the class room in a variety of different settings. It has been used as a way to develop good habits in children with ADD and ADHD. I think that this is a great idea because instead of simply going for the quick fix of drugs I think that we should start focusing on how we can make subtle but effective changes to behavior to gain the desired results. Token economies are also used in the everyday class room with great effect. I can personally attest to this because when I was in grade school the teacher would use a token economy to get us to behave. She did this by giving us all a chip and after the class had accumulated enough chips we could cash them in to get an additional recess. Now that I have discussed the history of token economies I am going to move on what components are required to construct a good one. First you need to pinpoint what behavior you would like to change. This behavior needs to be fairly specific so that you are able to reinforce it with consistency. Next you need to select what you are going to use for tokens. When selecting your tokens you want to make sure that they are easy to dispense, safe to use, and you must make sure that it will be difficult to copy. If you meet all these criteria then you will have a solid token in place. Next you have to decide what you are going to use for a reinforcer. Teachers often choose things that cost money, but that doesn’t have to be the case there are a lot of cost free options that you can use. You should first observe the students and find out what they like doing. Then you can offer things such as, free time on the computer, additional recesses, going first to lunch, or being first to use a station. Next you have to decide how much each token is worth and how much the reinforcer is going to cost. This way the students know exactly what they have to do to get their desired reinforcer. Finally, you will want to construct a record keeping system so that the students will know exactly where they stand in getting their desired reinforcer. You will also want to set up a designated time where students can exchange their tokens for their desired reinforcer. You want to make sure that you are consistent in the times that you allow exchange. Now all that remains is to explain the program to your students and implement the program you have designed. You will want to make sure that you are ready to make any adjustments that are needed because your system might not work exactly as you planned it.

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Token_economy
http://www.olemiss.k12.in.us/intervention/Token.pdf
http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html

I chose to do a little more research on token economies. After our lecture yesterday I became pretty interested in this. I remember reading about this in other people’s blogs at the beginning of the semester and didn’t know what it was.

A token economy is a system of behavior modification through positive reinforcement. It was derived from Skinner’s operant conditioning. People emit certain target behaviors and get “tokens”. These tokens could be, fake money, stickers, poker chips, points, etc. These tokens are then exchanged for something that person wants. Token economies were first started back in the 1950s by Teodoro Ayllon. He worked with mental health institutions and prisons to test the token economy and it had a lot of success. It worked great in changing behaviors. Token economies are used in a lot of different environments including: school, home, prisons, mental health institutions, etc. Token economies are advocated for children with ADHD, Autism, and children with developmental disorders. They work well with children in general and also with adults. Many people participate in token economies and don’t even realize it. Examples of them for adults would be: credit card point system, frequent flyer miles, punch cards, etc. Token economies are used a lot in classrooms to improve school behavior and also by parents to change their child’s behavior. It takes some work to set these up because theres a lot of planning and things to think about, but the benefits way outweigh the costs. There are many steps in the process. First you have to select the target behaviors for change. In a school an example would be: turned in homework on time or was prepared for class. In a home an example would be: completing chores or brushing teeth. The behaviors should be limited to about 3 or 4 so things can be manageable. You then need to decide what you will be using for tokens and develop a method of keeping track of the tokens. You then identify the rewards the individual can achieve; what they can exchange their tokens for. The next step is to determine the number of tokens it takes to obtain each reward and then the program needs to be explained so everyone understands it. Then the program can start and they can start getting rewarded. There are many different things you can do for a token economy; theres many variations. I think these are a very good idea though because essentially both people are getting what they want.

Terms: token economy, positive reinforcement, emit, target behavior,

http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html
http://popsmin.tripod.com/classtokenecon.html
http://www.articlegeek.com/home/parenting_articles/shape_child_behavior_economics.htm

Topic: Token Economy

This topic fits into the chapter by it being a form of reinforcement that can be used as an incentive in order to increase the likelihood of eliciting desirable behaviors. Token economy is a form of behavior modification in that it manipulates an individual through reinforcement instead of through the aversive use of punishment.

I am interested in token economy in that I think it is a great use of reinforcement in order to modify an individual’s behavior. After learning about token economy through discussion in class, I have realized that this system of behavior modification is used in many situations throughout life. Therefore, the fact that this type of behavior modification can impact everyone’s life at all stages interests me enough to want to learn more in this area.

The use of a token economy can be used with children as well as adults and can be implemented in many social settings such as classrooms, correctional facilities, nursing homes, family homes, military divisions, group homes, and the list goes on. Tokens that can be used in token economies include stickers, poker chips, fake money, etc. The important factors of the tokens chosen is that they must be attractive to the participant, easy to carry and dispense, and difficult to counterfeit. When a token economy has been decided on, it is important to explain the specifics of the token economy to the participating individuals. For example, explain the specifics of the target behavior that is necessary in order to achieve or receive the reinforcement of tokens.

Before the implementation of the token economy is even begun, it is important to determine what the back-up reinforcer will be. The back-up reinforcer is the privilege, activity, or object that is exchanged for the tokens. For example, it may be more free time for a child, more outings for adults, special food items, toys, etc. It is crucial to a token economy that the back-up reinforcer be desirable enough to the individual participating so that the individual is motivated to achieve the tokens. If the individual is not motivated to achieve the tokens, then the token economy will not work.

Another important consideration with the use of token economy is that there should be time allowed in order for the target behavior to be shaped. In other words, the individual participating may not be perfect from the start at emitting the desired behavior and may need to be shaped step by step until mastery. Therefore, it is crucial to immediately reinforce the desired behavior upon the occurrence so that the individual is further aware of what is to be expected in order to receive the token of reinforcement. In the beginning the desired behavior may need to be reinforced every time the behavior occurs, but as the mastery sets into place, it is important to lean out the schedules of reinforcement in order to continue to keep the back-up reinforcer desirable to the participant.

The use of a token economy can have advantages as well as disadvantages. Advantages of a token economy are that behaviors can be immediately rewarded, rewards are consistent across the board for all participants, punishment is less restrictive, participants can learn important life skills such as social skills that can be carried with them throughout life. Disadvantages to the token economy is that it is time-consuming, and the reinforcement schedules must stay consistent among the individuals who are in the presence of the participants.

As you can see, token economies may not be for everyone or every situation, but when used appropriately they can be very effective in increasing the likelihood of desirable behaviors as well as decreasing the likelihood of the aversive behaviors.

http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_economy

http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Token-economy-system.html

Terms: Reinforcement, Reinforcement Schedules, Punishment, Aversive, Elicit, Behavior Modification, Target Behavior, Reinforcer, Shaping, and Emit.

Topic Assignment Week #13

Once we had class on Tuesday I was very intreged by the tocken econmoy and how it relates to our everyday life. It is a very interesting subject to me since I my life and job is run on a token economy system. Before I relate it to my own life though I thought I better do some more indepth research on just what a token economy is and how it is structured. When I looked it up I got a variety of examples and definitions. I decided to summarize a definition so it made more sense to me. A token economy is, stricly speaking; a system of behavior modification based on the systematic positive reinforcement of target behavior. The reinforcers are symbols or tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. Token economy is based on the principles of operant conditioning and can be situated within applied behavior analysis or as I know it, behaviorism. Taking into account all of that I thought of how the origins of token economy came to be and found it was first incorporated into prison systems by earning pionts to get privlages.

Applied to my own daily life I realized just how significant it is to be a part of this conditioned push to do a good job. I thought back to my days working at sears before I went to Martin Brothers and remember how they would reward us for making sales or selling so much in a month by being presented as the associate of the month or Best of Blue. If you met all of your quota they would also allow you to keep as a bonus 1% of your total sales for the year. This had a huge impact on competitive-ness and how you performed your job. They also rewarded us for customer satisfaction and if we did well are rewarded for a bonus of ten dollars. This is clearly a use of token economy in the work place. It has the advantage of inspiring and bolstering up with positive reinforcemtn with little negative stimulous. The only negative I can see is the elicit response from other associates for seeing someone aspire doing well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_economy

http://www.drleashabarry.com/pbs/week08/History%20of%20Token%20Economy.pdf

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=174312

terms: token economy, elicit, response, negative response, positive response, stimulous, reinforcement, operant conditioning, conditioned, behavior modification, systematic, behaviorism,

The different functions of smoking include the psychological and physiological. The functions make it more difficult to extinguish the behavior, since an approach to the physical effects of smoking, like nicotine patches, do not address the psychological reasons people smoke. For the same reason, chewing on a straw may help with the oral satisfaction of smoking, it will not solve the physical pleasures of nicotine.

Psychologically, smoking can be a substitute for a sense of freedom. It provides an excuse for interrupting work and talking to other smokers. It can also serve as reinforcement – if we work for an hour, we have earned a smoke.
People often begin to smoke as teens, when it is an act of rebellion and adventure. As they mature, people smoke to relieve stress, or to reduce loneliness. Cigarette advertising has been very effective in making smoking seem glamorous or sexy.
Some scientists have argued that smoking is an addiction more difficult to break than cocaine, heroin or alcohol. Nicotine makes people feel alert and awake, and the absence of nicotine produces physiological withdrawal, including sleep problems and cravings. Some people believe, and it may be true, that quitting smoking will result in weight gain.
when people think about starting smooking or have been smooking for a long time they think about all the positives they get out of it. so through out there life they are being rinforeced for smooking. they only punishment they see is the possiblility of getting cancer but all the reniforment they get out way the one punishment.
punishment, reinforcement

http://smokingsides.com/docs/whysmoke.html
http://www.squidoo.com/why-do-people-smoke-
http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-people-smoke.htm

For my topic I chose to research token economies in regards to helping autistic children.

I first learned a little bit more about the psychology behind token economies. The tokens can be basically anything that is used to represent something pleasurable, and therefore reinforcing. Tokens can be stickers, marbles, cards, chips, punches. At first the tokens are neutral stimuli, because, and they have no intrinsic or extrinsic value. Through their association with the pleasurable reinforcement they become conditioned stimuli. The tokens then have a high intrinsic value placed on them by the child participating in the token economy.

One important aspect of token economies is that they need to be clearly explained for them to work. The child must know what target behavior needs to be emitted and what the consequence will be. The tokens need to be given out only after the target behavior is emitted, and in a pattern of continuous reinforcement to be effective in increasing the target behavior. this is especially true for autistic children, though I think all children would be less frustrated if they knew exactly what was expected. The relationship between the tokens and the reinforce help autistic children form connections better.

Some of the benefits of token economies for autistic children include the following. It helps them have a better sense of time because tokens turn in schedules can be established at the ends of weeks. because a regular pattern is established it is easier for the child to visualize the passing of days in regards to a token chart.
Another aspect would be delay of gratification. Because the token have to be turned in for the larger reinforcement, this helps the child build a sense of the time between a behavior and its pleasurable consequence. This is beneficial, because usually in adult life one has to work for the delayed gratification of a paycheck. Delayed gratification is important in of itself. If a child expects reinforcment immediately after each target behavior this teaches them wrongly and to have little patience.

Another positive aspect of token economies is that they can be used a a discriminate stimulus in the form of a visual reminder to the child. It is reinforcing for them to see their progress and look forward to the pleasurable consequence.

I also learned of about response cost, which is when unwanted behaviors are punished with the aversive consequence of removing a token. This is not recommend for working with autistic children for a couple reasons. One, this involves the teaching of another concept for them to remember and connect with their tokens. Two, it is aversive, and if the token economy becomes associates with aversive consequences the child is less likely to want to participate and emit the target behaviors. Basically it turns something fun and pleasurable into something threatening which they can’t fully trust. I also think it complicates things, since setting up a token economy seems difficult enough.

It’s also better to cater token economies to the individual when working with autistic children. I one blog I read, the parents included their child in the planning process and picking out some reinforcers. This helped the child understand and be invested in the program.
Token economies also seem to work effectively for children with adhd and ADD

pleasurable, extrinsic value, intrinsic value, neutral stimuli, conditioned stimuli, reinforcement, emit, target behavior, consequence, continuous reinforcement. descrimant stimulus, punishment, aversive,
http://www.polyxo.com/visualsupport/tokeneconomies.html
http://www.autismparent2parent.com/token-economy.html
http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html
http://karenplumley.suite101.com/token-economy-for-autism-a231945

While doing Monday’s reading of chapter 5.3 I struggled with answering some of the questions relating to what I would do for an intervention for various behaviors. One that I choose to research is smoking. I’m interested in this because my mother is a smoker and if I want her to live a long and healthy life I need to formulate an intervention plan.

I very key element in the intervention is the willingness of the smoker to quit. If the smoker is under stimulus control we know that the intervention will be more effective. In my mother’s case she is not ready to quit so I would have to identify why quitting smoking is relevant to her and remind her of her ability to quit which she has done before (during pregnancy I hope). Next it only makes sense to make her aware of all of smoking’s undesirable consequences. More importantly I need to make her aware of reinforcing elements of quitting smoking like better smelling clothes, save a lot of money, and an improved sense of taste.

She also needs to be aware of antecedents that lead to the undesirable behavior of smoking. This is what may prove difficult because she smokes in the car on the way home from work every day. Quitting driving is not an option so something else needs to replace smoking in the car that is a stress reliever (the function of the smoking). Possibly a favorite snack instead of the cigarette, the snack would taste even better than it did when smoking every day.

Having support from friends and family will help cease the smoking. Having support will provide further reinforcement like praise for example “did you smoke on the way home from work? No. Good Job!” However, Reinforcement won’t stop the withdrawal symptoms of nicotine. Smokers need to be aware of behavioral coping skills when in antecedents that elicit a craving for smoking. The coping skills vary and the person trying to smoke has to identify which strategy works best for them. A prominent coping strategy is deep breathing which helps lower the anxiety and irritability when having a craving. Walking away from the situation is also an option. For example, social settings that elicit a craving can be undermined by just walking away or avoiding the situation entirely.

Terms: stimulus control, consequences, antecedents, undesirable behavior, function, reinforcment, elicit,

http://err.ersjournals.com/content/17/110/187.full
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/smoking-cessation/SK00055/NSECTIONGROUP=2
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/52/3/372.pdf

During class this week we talked a lot about token economies. I have always thought that these are very interesting and such a good way to modify behavior. A token economy is a system of behavior modification based on systematic reinforcement. These reinforcements can be a variety of different items. In class we talked about some items being a sort of play money, poker chips, points, or punch cards. These tokens are being exchanged with behavior that is being rewarded. Most people think of token economies being associated with children in many different situations. Along with the tokens there is also back up reinforcement. Back up reinforcement is something that doesn’t have the value but is associated with the tokens. The tokens are exchanged for the back up reinforcer , these are what you get with the good behavior. An example of this is the cell phone company US Cellular. With US Cellular, when you pay your phone bill on time or back up your contacts you will receive a certain amount of points. This is called the belief system. Once you receive enough points you can cash them in for ringtones, to pay for any overage you have to pay, or even a brand new phone. I have the website showing how you can earn the belief points and what you can use the points on. This is also common for sandwich and coffee shops with having punch cards. Once you get so many sandwiches or cups of coffee you will get one for free. Whenever I think of token economies I think of the Office episode when Dwight becomes the acting manager of the day when Michael goes to New York . I have the clip of Dwight and how to earn Schrute bucks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_economy
http://www.uscellular.com/the-belief-project/rewards/earn-and-redeem-points.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymIoaATv2K0

The topic that I emitted the behavior of researching further was the use of punishment. Punishment can vary quite a bit in severity, such as having driving privileges pulled compared to facing the death penalty. No matter what it is punishment always elicits negative feelings from the person that may be receiving the punishment. Punishment is defined, according to Wiki, is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group. In psychology punishment is divided into a couple of groups. Originally developed by B.F. Skinner, punishment is defined as the reduction of a behavior via application of an adverse stimulus (positive punishment) or removal of a pleasant stimulus (negative punishment).

The reason that I was interested in this topic was because recently I had to watch my two little nieces, one is 3 years and the other is 9 months, and needless to say I had to try everything I learned from behavior modification this far to try and maintain control. I saw that my 3 year old niece didn’t respond to reinforcement much if at all, but would instantly respond to punishment. You would ask her to stop doing something and she would respond by ignoring you, increasing the behavior, or even throwing something at you. She started acting up so much and starting pushing down her little sister, throwing stuff at her and so on, so I had to resort to punishment. She was throwing legos so I took away all the legos, then she started throwing random toys so I took those too. She then realized the mistake she made by using her toys as ammo and to my surprise learned her lesson and quit acting up. It was funny watching the punishment process lead out into the extinction of the target behavior. I hate having to use punishment, but I couldn’t argue with the results.

The YouTube video that I found titled “Mom Uses Public Humiliation for Punishment” is a good example of a way of punishment. It seems a little extreme, but I think she did get her point across. In the video a mother made the news because she punishes her kids when they do something wrong by making them stand along the road holding a sign saying what they did wrong. It seemed that it may have worked for the older kid, but my have been a little out of line with the younger kids, because I’m not sure if they really understood the punishment.

Terms- emitted, punishment, elicits, positive punishment, negative punishment, stimulus, adverse, reinforcement, extinction, and target behavior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punishment#In_psychology

http://tracey-lloyd.suite101.com/using-punishment-in-behaviour-modification-a166857

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punishment_(psychology)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrAZVnpKFfM

Like a lot of other people, I decided to focus on the topic of token economies for this assignment. This fits into our chapter because we spent the majority of class on Tuesday talking about token economies and how they work. I thought that this was a very interesting concept and wanted to learn more about it.

I am interested in this topic because I hope to use some sort of token economy when I have children. Before taking this class I had always thought that punishment was necessary in order to change the frequency with which your children emit undesirable behaviors. But now that I have learned how behavior modification works, I know that I should use reinforcement instead since it is more effective. By learning more about token economies I will know the best way to go about implementing one when I do start a family.

Token economies were first used by Teodoro Ayllon in the 1960’s. He worked with mental health institutions and prisons to test these systems with great success in changing behavior. A token economy is a system of behavior modification through positive reinforcement derived from the principals of operant conditioning. The primary goal of a token economy is to increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable behaviors. It involves reinforcing a child’s target behavior with tokens, chips, stickers, check marks, points, stars, or other items/markings. The child may periodically exchange the tokens for back-up reinforcers, which are items or activities desirable to them. This can be done using an individual token economy or a group one. A token economy can be compared to our economic system in which we work for money, which has no value in and of itself, and is known as a secondary reinforcer, and later it can be exchanged for items and activities that are valuable to us, known as primary reinforcers.

There are several elements that are necessary in every token economy. First of all, every token system needs some type of token. A token can be anything that is countable and visible. Second off, you must have a clearly defined target behavior. The people taking part in the token economy need to know exactly which behaviors they must emit in order to receive a token. There must also be back-up reinforcers and a system for exchanging tokens in place. Back up reinforcers, like I mentioned before, are the objects or activities that an individual can exchange their tokens for. There must be a set time and place for exchanging tokens that all participants are aware of. You must also have a value for each token so that individuals know how many tokens they need in order to purchase a back-up reinforcer. One last thing that is necessary for token economies is consistent implementation of the token economy. The person in charge of the tokens must reinforce the same behaviors for every child and for every time they are emitted.

At the beginning, tokens are given fairly frequently. But overtime the tokens are often devalued so that individuals must perform at a higher level to earn the same value in back-up reinforcers. This allows for continual improvement in behavior or performance by the participants.

There are several advantages as well as disadvantages to this approach. Some advantages of token economies are that behaviors can be rewarded immediately and rewards are the same for all individuals. Some disadvantages include cost of buying tokens and effort of implementing the system.

Terms: Token Economies, Punishment, Frequency, Emit, Undesirable, Behaviors, Behavior Modification, Reinforcement, Positive Reinforcement, Operant Conditioning, Desirable, Target Behaviors, Tokens, Back-up Reinforcers, Secondary Reinforcers, Primary Reinforcers, Reinforce

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/Tokens.html
http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html
http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Token-economy-system.html

I decided to emit to find more information on the token economies, or more specifically, the goals of token economies. After discussing it in class, I found it to be a reinforcing topic to learn about.

As learned in class, a token economy is based on the systematic reinforcement of a target behavior. The main goal or focus of a token economy is to, as it is stated, reinforce a target behavior. However there are other goals to this system.

Another goal of a token economy is increased ability to delay gratification. This can be used for building a child's ability to wait for reinforcing activities or items. Another goal is increased sense of time. Sometimes kids are unaware of the sense of time. A token economy can help child learn how long they have been at a particular task and possibly how much longer they have on that specific task.

A third goal of a token economy is to lessen satiation. If a child or a person is continuously being reinforced, they will eventually become satiated and what was being used as a reinforcer won't work. The token economy can lower the rate at which a person becomes satiated.

More natural reinforcement is a fourth goal of a token economy. You can use tokens as a way of delaying the presentation of the more obvious reinforcers like those used in a classroom (i.e. candy, fruit loops, bubbles). This can be less obtrusive in a classroom environment.

The final goal of a token economy is the increased selection of reinforcers. Due to some reinforcement being delivered after several responses rather than after each response, it is possible that more longer-lasting, and maybe more reinforcing items or activities could be chosen to be used for reinforcement.

Although on the main idea of a token economy is to reinforce a target behavior, there are many more goals and advantages to using a token economy, especially in a classroom environment. But token economies are not just used in classroom settings, but also in the real world.

Terms Used: emit, token economies, reinforcing, target behavior, reinforcement, reinforcing, satiation, reinforced, satiated.

http://www.polyxo.com/visualsupport/tokeneconomies.html

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Token_economy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_economy

Reading this weeks topical blog topic illicits the my desire to learn further about the techniques to quitting smoking. This ties into what we are learning because people are defining a target behavior, smoking, and are trying to use self-directed behavior techniques to change and aversive behavior. After emitting the behavior of reading further into this topic I learned some very interesting things.

Smoking tobacco is both a psychological habit and a physical addiction. The act of smoking is ingrained in people's daily rituals and to successfully quit you need to address both the habit and addiction by changing your behavior. One of the important things to look at when quitting smoking is the antecedents of the behavior. Some people like to smoke after a meal, when they drink alcohol, or when their friends or coworkers smoke. It is important to look at what leads to the behavior in order to attempt to alter it.

Like I stated earlier, smoking often take holds during the daily routine. As well as the daily habits, smoking is usually associated with psychological benefits of smoking, such as overcoming nerves, anxiety, shyness, or boredom. Some people also using smoking as a reward to completing tasks during the day. Often, when quitting, we must try and change how we psychologically view smoking and try and use rewards other than smoking to reinforce completing the tasks.

In my opinion, the easiest and most cost effective way to quit smoking is to use behavioral techniques. By defining the ABCs of your target behavior you can successfully remove an aversive behavior of yours. By altering the antecedents and changing the consequences of smoking, you can cut back until you are able to fully quit. It is a mind over body struggle to cut often a big part of someones daily routine out, but with using these techniques can make it easier than most people think.

http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/methods.htm
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/smoking/quitmethods_000505.htm
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/quit_smoking_cessation.htm

Terms: Illicit, target behavior, self-directed behavior, aversive, Emit, antecedent, reinforcement, consequences

After reading through other people's topical blogs this week, I decided to not look into what I originally had been planning on, which was token economies. It seems everyone else has covered it pretty well! I instead decided to look further into the Premack Principle and its different used in everyday life. I'm interested in this because when I first learned about the principle, it was kind of confusing to me. It might have just been how tired I was that day, but after further explanation it made more sense. I want to find where the principle fits into people's lives, to make it more understandable to myself. This fits into what we are learning since we just learned about it in class on Tuesday.

To start, the Premack Principle involves a high frequency behaviors which are desirable, and low frequency behaviors, which are aversive to the person who is being manipulated. Premack states that a person or animal will emit a low frequency behavior, in order get the opportunity to emit a high frequency behavior. According to one of the sources I found, "When a high probability behavior is contingent upon the performance of a low probability behavior, the outcome is the increased frequency of the low probability behavior."

As I researched further about the uses of the Premack Principle, I found some interesting information. One way the Premack Principle can be used is in training a dog. If you want your dog to emit a certain behavior, like sit for example, you can let them emit a high frequency behavior (playing catch) after they emit the sitting behavior (low frequency).This ellicits them to behave that way more often. In the example from a source I found, it states, "If you’re working on 'sit' with your dog, wait until she sits, then release her as you’re throwing the ball."

The Premack Principle can also be used when trying to modify aversive behavior in a nursery school children. For example, if a teacher instructs the children to emit a certain behavior they find aversive, the children will not be likely to emit this behavior without any type of reinforcement. In the article I found regarding this, they had done an exploration on these nursery school children. On the first day, there was an absence of aversive control and the children did not emit the behaviors the teacher had tried to ellicit. The Premack Principle had been put into place, and the children were allowed to jump up and scream and run around when they emitted the behavior the teacher had asked of them. In the end, the study showed that the use of the Premack Principle set a control in the classroom and was very effective.

Thirdly, I found that the Premack Principle can be used when dealing with the ever known problem of procrastination. If there is an unpleasant activity you really are putting off, using this principle can help out. In a source I found, it states, "David Premack understood that pleasant tasks are reinforcing tasks, and when we put reinforcing tasks after something, we get more of that something." So in order to stop your procrastination, you could pick a behavior you like to emit, like maybe playing a game on your ipod. If you complete the aversive task (low frequency) then you can reward yourself with being able to play that game on your ipod (high frequency). Eventually over time, hopefully, the unpleasant activities will become eventually more tolerable, and maybe even pleasant. As you can see from my examples, there are many ways the Premack Principle can be used in every day lives.

Terms used: Premack Principle, aversive, desirable, reinforcement, emit(ted), ellicited, low frequency, high frequency, manipulated, contingent

http://gettingstronger.org/2010/12/stop-procrastinating-use-the-premack-principle/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1404418/?page=1
http://www.teachingdogobedience.com/2009/01/premacks-principle.html

I chose to look into the idea of a token economy and its effectiveness in eliciting behaviors. One reason it is effective is it uses positive reinforcement, which we know is the most effective out of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. It is relevant because it is often applied to classroom settings and could be used in a future course. It is also implemented in advertising, with the use of punch cards. I found it compared to the target behavior of students receiving good grades. It was compared with how, if reinforced to easily, individuals become absorbed with completing the tasks as soon as possible, with no regard to the quality of work. Satiation occurs and the reinforcer no longer has valence. Token economy may also quit working if the tokens are too difficult to earn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59KY7ek8Rk

http://www.olemiss.k12.in.us/intervention/Token.pdf

http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html

Terms: token economy, reinforced, elicit, reinforcer, valence, target behavior, positive reinforcement.

The topic I chose was extinction burst. When I was younger I definitely did the whole calling “Mom, mom, mom mom” thing until my mom responded. I did go other routes in getting her attention by calling her by her first name or saying “Ma, ma, mama”. I am even guilty of emitting this behavior now and my mom has continually reinforced me by responding just to stop me from emitting the behavior because it was annoying.

In today’s society, we still find parent’s reinforcing their children’s behavior such as a child wanting you to buy them a candy bar. The child will beg and plead to get what they want and most parents find that it’s just easier to give in and buy the candy bar. There are other reasons besides being annoyed with their child for continuous begging, such as wanting the love of their child by giving them what they want or a parent feels guilty if he/she doesn’t buy it for their child. Each time the parent buys the candy bar, they are demonstrating positive reinforcement. Until the child realizes you want to cause their behavior to become extinct, the child will become even more persistent with their behavior. Tips for most parents are to stand their ground so the child learns that emitting the behavior won’t cause them to later be reinforced.

In another source talks about how you may react when sitting behind a car at a red light that then turns green and the car ahead doesn’t go. Depending on your personality you may do the following: honk the horn, yell, swear, snap at your person in the passenger seat, try to back up and go around or get out to check on the person. If you are experiencing road rage you may stab the person in the car ahead of you depending on how much time you are willing to waste getting to your destination (irrelevant to the topic). No matter what you find a way to aid the situation and continue to do so until you emit a different behavior to help the situation.

One last part I learned from extinction burst was that once you become familiar with rewards, you get attached.

I think extinction bursts happen all the time especially with raising kids. As a kid I knew if I pestered my parents enough, especially my mom, I would get what I wanted. I knew what specific behaviors to emit in order to receive my reinforcer. I know parents who didn’t stand their ground end up raising children who become spoiled. Even though I usually got my way as a kid, considering I was the youngest also, I am not that spoiled and I plan on turning any behavior like begging for a candy bar extinct for my future children.

Terminology: extinction burst, extinction, positive reinforcement, emit, target behavior, reinforcer

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/07/07/extinction-burst/
http://voice4dogs.blogspot.com/2010/02/extinction-burst.html
http://drgeraldstein.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/what-children-need-from-parents-iii-beware-the-extinction-burst/

I chose to research more on reinforcement. With all of the "good job" talk going around in class I wanted to look up more examples of reinforcement.
If a parent wanted to get their child to continue to get good grades, then after the occurrence of receiving a good grade, the parents should reward the child with some desired stimulus to the child. The simplest reinforcer of this would be "Good job" as we have done in class on and off somewhat in meaningful good fun (and my first video). Other desired stimuli could be buying the child something, letting them watch a certain movie you keep from them, playing extra video games, a special meal (or some food item), a movie, a party, etc. While searching YouTube for some more reinforcement videos I found a clip that I hadn't thought of before. In the situation of facing uncertainty, one would look for a hint as to what they should do possibly before making a decision. This could be in they plain just don't know what to do or if something contradictory happens, as it does in my second video for Adam West. This may be on the extreme end of becoming uncertain about a plan, especially considering Adam West's character but the main point is still there. My dog has done this. When we want to elicit the behavior of fetching a stick (or object) sometimes she will go to the vicinity of the object and look at us uncertain of what to do. We give her encouraging (reinforcing) verbal cues to get her to emit the target behavior. Usually this works and we may give her a desired stimulus (dog treat). In the spirit of a good zombie movie I chose my third video from "ZombieLand." In this example, I think that in surviving anything wanting to kill you, that never learns their lesson, I would stick with (be reinforced) to continue to do what always works, shoot them in the head. Take out the head, you stay alive. There is also reinforcement to be creative and funny/cool in killing zombies because you can claim "Zombie Kill of the Week." A great honor lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAhReoyuJ5M
1. ---> "Good job" reinforcement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6npH2RJOeoU&feature=endscreen
2. ---> 0:28 to 0:40 (Adam West is reinforced by Darth Vadar "Stewie" when he is not sure what to do in the situation, I think in the future Adam West will be more likely to go ahead with the plans even when the enemy tells him not to because of the reinforcement from Stewie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euru-wUb270&feature=fvst
3. ---> 0:48 to 1:00/1:08/rest of clip. (Zombie Killing) There is reinforcement with killing and staying alive. Reinforcement with getting funny/creative kills "Zombie Kill of the Week"

Terminology: occurrence, reward, desired stimulus, stimuli, elicit, behavior, reinforcing, verbal cues, emit, target behavior, desired stimulus, reinforced, reinforcement, desired.

Just like everyone else above me, I am really interested in the concept of a token economy. A token economy is interesting because it is a veritably easy form of positive reinforcement. As discussed in class, my father in law works for a company that allows employees to earn points, which they can later use to “bid” for perks such as a raise, job change, vacation days, or promotion when it becomes available. This is attractive to the employees because it allows for them to take their fate into their own hands so to speak. Employees have a margin of control over their actions and rewards. With the token economy, they will be rewarded with something of value to them such as a job promotion and the rewards are given through a process which the employees can influence.

I think token economy is a great idea to use for children. Too often punishment is the go to method when it comes to manipulating the behavior of children, even though reinforcement has been proven to be more effective. According to Kidsmakingchange.com, a token is something that represents the promise of a future valuable reward. In order for such an economy to succeed, the reward and accumulation of tokens must be equal. If a child has to garner an unreachable amount of tokens, whatever they may be, in order to earn a prize of little value to them, then the system no longer works and it is no longer considered an effective system.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) also uses a token economy system, in this case actual tokens. Those who attend AA know that for each milestone reached, such as a newcomer’s chip or X amount of time sober. My best friends dad participates in AA and has the opportunity to present these chips for prizes such as weekend trips or dinners. This is a unique token economy because the tokens represent an intrinsic value as well as a promise of value later. The chips themselves serve as reinforcement.

There are many programs out there that use the token economy, particularly classrooms. Thomas Power wrote a book called Homework Success for Children with ADHD: A Family-School Intervention Program. In the introduction of this book, he goes over the steps that need to be considered while implementing a token economy. This design allows the child to set a goal reward, something that parents can use at the end in order to successfully motivate the child. Power emphasizes the importance of an attractive reward, otherwise the tokens will have little effect on the child.

I personally am interested in a token economy because I am a marketing major with an intent to manage someday. In order to be an effective manager I will need to find ways to successfully motivate my employees as well as keep morale high and turnover low. I find that I am much more motivated with a goal in mind and would prefer to achieve rather than fear punishment. This fits into the chapter because the chapter covers the concept of a token economy.

www.kidsmakingchange.com
www.aa.org
Book: Homework Success for Children With Adhd: A Family-School Intervention Program
By Thomas J. Power, James L. Karustis, Dina F. Habboushe
Terms: token economy, manipulate, reinforcement, punishment, token, goal setting

In one of our more recent reading assignments, we were supposed to list out a variety of behaviors and then list out potential functions for those behaviors. This was a very interesting exercise for me because it is not often that I (and presumably most people) will think about what the functions of my behaviors really are. I tend to simply emit behaviors and think more or less about them according to their consequences. This new way of thinking about behavior forced me to question not only my own behavior, but that of the people around me as well. It is this kind of thinking that helped me to kick some of my bad habits and work towards kicking the rest of them. I realized that I would focus on positive functions of these behaviors rather than the inherently negative functions. I quit smoking because of detrimental effects on my health and relationships, rather than continue to smoke and get a buzz, or use it as a social activity. The same is true of my long-time nail biting habit. I never gave it a second thought really because it was a way to trim my nails without having to move or find a clippers. After coming to terms with the fact that i used it as a way to deal with nervousness. After making these changes I feel really good about the fact that I have achieved a higher level of control over my urges and behaviors. Since I was positively impacted by these changes I decided to do some more research into the functions of behavior. There tended to be quite a bit of overlap in the sites that I used as sources, and they all basically listed out the same potential functions of behavior. They are as follows.

-To get attention or a reaction from peers and adults
-To get something tangible
-To get power or control
-To meet a sensory need
-To communicate feelings, wants, and needs
-As a result of a lack of understanding
-To escape or avoid something

These potential functions really made sense to me. They do a quality job of nut shelling the drive behind just about any behavior.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/positive-behavior-support-functional-behavioral-assessment-educators/

http://research.clps.brown.edu/SocCogSci/Pubs/Malle_et_al_(2000)_JPSP.pdf

http://www.wawm.k12.wi.us/District%20Information/Pupil%20Services/support/documents/HandoutsonBehavior-C.Birr.pdf

My topic for this week is going to be punishment. Ever since I was little, my parents have tried to use punishment to stop emitting undesired behaviors or to get me to elicit a desired target behavior but it had never really worked on me. This class has brought to light why it never worked and why my parents had such a hard time with me.. Sorry mom and dad!
I decided to do more research on punishment and child rearing to further understand this phenomenon. I discovered multiple websites that explained what kind of punishment works but honestly, as I was reading through them I found that none would've worked on me. I'm not sure why punishment never worked for me but as I've gotten older I have realized that I might have a slight problem with being told what to do or what not to do. If my parents had instead used reinforcement to control more of my behaviors I probably would've been a more well-mannered child. Instead of yelling at me for not doing the dishes one night, they could have instead rewarded me with something I would have found pleasant. I discovered that at times they would try to use aversive consequences to defer me from eliciting the behavior again. This sometimes worked but I knew that the punishment was never long and would often not even follow the rules that they had set as punishment.
I found on websites that it alright to punish sometimes, and I would have to agree with that. I believe that not all behaviors can be solved with reinforcing an opposing behavior. Some things have to be punished. I just find it funny that parents today still use punishment as a go-to thing to stop unwanted behaviors. With that being said, if I am ever to have kids, I will be using the knowledge I got from this class to help raise them right.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200109/should-you-punish-your-child

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/350/350-111/350-111.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/discipline.html#

Terms: elicit, emit, target behavior, punishment, reinforcement, pleasant, aversive, consequence,