What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites of a topic that interests you and that relates to behavior modification. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms and concepts we are learning into your writing.
1) Please discuss your topic in general, why it interests you and how it relates to behavior modification.
2) Post at least 2 links to the sites you visited that were most informative about your topic. For each site discuss what the site is about and the information you found and how it relates to your topic (please don't just say they discussed positive reinforcement - how do they go about it? etc?).
3) Disucss how these sites further expanded your understanding of your topic of interest (kind of like a conclusion).
4) Make a list of course related terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).
Thanks.
1. I have always been a fan of the token economy system. I think it’s a good way to get kids in school to emit the behaviors that are good for teaching and learning. I also think parents can enforce this kind of system in their homes or with the babysitter. I’ve been a bit skeptical to use it other than with children. I looked into other ways to use this system besides with children.
2. I found an article about a study where they used a token economy with adults in an acute-psychiatric unit. They used this system to decrease the number of negative events that had been happening in the unit. The unit consisted of 24 adults ranging in age of 18-20. Every patient was given a score sheet where they could collect stamps for good behavior. The target behaviors were explained to the patients before they started. They would earn a stamp for keeping their rooms clean, participating in activities, and helping others etc. They could then trade in their stamps for extra smoke time, off ground passes, TV time, and movies. Researchers then compared the first two months with the system and compared it to the last two months. The results show that with the system in place there were less negative events. Negative events weren’t totally gone but there was less after the program was implemented.
http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/50/7/941
The second thing I found was a handout explaining how to set up your own token economy. This hand out goes through all the steps to setting up your own economy; first you need to pinpoint the behaviors you want to change, build the economy and then implement the program. In order to build the economy you first need to select tokens. You want some type of token that can’t be copied or doesn’t excite the participant. Next select reinforcers, reinforcers need to be valuable but not to valuable or not valuable enough. Then set values of tokens, how many tokens do they need in order to cash in for reinforcement. Then set reinforcers costs, how many reinforcers can the participant receive at a time. Next construct a bank, someplace visible to the participants so they can follow their progress and have a place to exchange. Lastly set up a time to exchange tokens for reinforcers, once a week is good. You wouldn’t want them to be able to cash in every day it would loose effect. To implement the program you first need to explain the program to everyone involved. If someone isn’t on board with the program the program will fail or lose its effect. Award tokens with praise and diminish tokens but keep praise. When distributing tokens you have to do it with praise, this relates the token to a pleasant thought.
http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/behavior/LRBIpdfs/Token.pdf
3. I’m glad I found another study that implemented the token economy other than with children. I know our reader explained it using it with schizophrenia patients as well. I’m also glad I found this breakdown of how to implement an effective token economy. I like how it was all laid out and easy to understand.
4. Token economy, emit, target behavior, implement, reinforcers, reinforcement, and diminish.
I have always enjoyed learning about the ways psychologists don't agree. One great example of this is the argument over the state of the human brain. Is it made up of one states or two. I think dualism is always an interesting topic to talk and learn about. For starters there are so many different definitions or ideas of what dualism is. Actually, simply put, it is just the state of being "two". This could be referring to good and evil, but the way it fits into psychology is the idea of dualism is in association with the mind. I may be getting a little ahead of myself, though. These ideas actually began more in philosophy and religion. There were those who believed in monism and those who supported dualism.Rene Descartes, as many well know, was a dualist. You could say that monists believed that all matter is equal. That all there is to a human beign is body, physical substance. Dualists, however, believed humans of two things; the body and the mind. These categories can be broken down into many other more specific groups, but these are the main two that existed. The idea that we have minds and not just bodies upsets some of the ideas held by more original behaviorists. They say that psychology can only focus on the physical, but this would be ignoring a great part of what makes us human. For example, many may try to play motivation as a purely physical or animalistic thing, but it may actually be born of our minds. It may come from things our "bodies" cannot explain.
Getting back to Descartes, he believed that the mind and body were two separtate things. He also believed they intereacted through "animal spirits" at the pineal gland. For more visit, http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/Mind/Descartes.html Of course this wasn't true, but he did open the door for many future philosophers and in ways psychologists. Believing in a dualist methodology leads to the idea of introspection. A method used by Wundt, Oswald Kulpe, and many others. Introspection is the art of observing inner states of consciousness. This would clearly not flow with the monists. This was always an idea that was greatly unaccepted by Watson. Watson, of course, would be more of a monist. He believes everything worth anything in psychology is physical.
I am definitely a dualist. I am a Christian and so I believe that we as people have souls. I also believe, although many things can, not everything can be explained away by behaviorism. I believe some greater things are involved. In the very least more of the non-physical should be involved in predicting behavior and describing why things happen. For those who believe more in a single, physical world, I found a video that broke down the dualist position. They use logical, as well as scientifc ways, to show how the dualist view does not makes say. Some of these arguments include:
1. Non-physical does not make sense. It is illogical and a waste of time to argue that the brain also contains things that are not physical. This is an oxymoron.
2. Many of the things dualists attribute to the "mind" are explained by bilogical processes. One example is that Personality is not part of a soul, but a result of your genes and environment. Biological psychologist do a lot of work with human brains trying to explain behaviors that dualsits attribute to something else. For example they argue that desire is not so much a state of consciousness as it is the workings of a brain structure.
There were many more than this. I have to warn that this video wasn't terribly exciting, but it did have a lot to say about the topic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPn5dXfTvA
While there is great evidence in support of Watson's ideas, there is also much evidence supporting more. For years and years religions have strongly believed in the dualism of life. Either way I think it is safe to say taht there really isn't a way to prove whether the world is one way or the other.
Tersm: Dualism, behaviorism, motivation, introspection, monism
After reading about reinforcement and how everyday it can be applied to real life settings, I was interested in researching temperament and personality within individuals. Many behavioral psychologists are often under the influence that they can condition an animal to perform any task that they desire. However, I wondered if temperament of the species and the individual personality of the species being conditioned had an influence on how easily the animal could be conditioned.
The first article I found focused on individual differences among animals such as sex, age and personality and how these individual traits had an influence when conditioning a behavior. One example the article gives relates to the earthworm and how even the smallest, most overlooked species can have such profound individual differences when it comes to temperament. While one earthworm adapts to the desired behavior smoothly, steadily and almost willingly, another adapts slowly and haltingly while being stubborn. As the article says, “the observer gains the feeling that the two organisms are quite as different in reactive tendency as are two men.”.
http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/12446/individuality-temperament-and-genius-in-animals?page=2
The second article I found has a different focus. Many psychologists tend to classify personality and temperament in the same category. They believe that the two affect the conditioning of a behavior in the same way. However, this article strives to define the differences in temperament and personality and holds the belief that the two are unique and have profoundly different effects on how a behavior can be conditioned to the certain organism. The article includes a list of five different ways that personality and temperament can be defined differently. Both temperament and personality have significant influences on personality, however often in different ways.
http://www.personality-project.org/perproj/others/heineman/person.htm
Though both of these articles are quite different and cover a rather controversial and diverse subject, I felt they gave interesting insight in how behavior can be influenced by forces beyond our control. We have absolutely no control over the personality and behavior of an animal. Behaviorist have shown that they can condition a wide variety of animals to perform all sorts of tasks but they often exclude the temperament and personality of each individual animal and whether that had an influence on how easily the behavior was trained.
Terminology: reinforcement, temperament, personality, conditioning, behavior
A topic that I find interesting is behavioral chains. I am interested about how people chain behaviors in animals to get them to do a wanted task. It relates to behavior modification because it is a system that creates a new behavior from a series of behaviors. It is a technique that modifies a behavior. The first website I found was http://www.bbbautism.com/aba_shaping_and_chaining.htm. It talked about how each link in the chain was a cue for the next step in the chain. This website defined chaining as the reinforcement of successive elements of a behavior chain. This website discussed two types of chaining; forward chaining and backward chaining. Forward chaining is chaining that starts with the beginning, and progresses to the last step. Once the first step is completed, you move on to the next. You teach the two parts together. Backward chaining starts with the last step and works its way to the first.
This website also gives some rules for defining a target behavior. The site explains how you must first know what the links are. You must know the steps involved. Another step is to reinforce the successive elements of the chain. It also discusses reinforcing the successive elements in the chain. It says to reinforce behaviors as they happen. You have to reinforce the chain. The last step the website says to do is monitor the results. It says to keep track of the intervention to see what parts of it is being mastered and what parts need help with.
This link is a great example of many chained behaviors that come together to create an overall choreographed behavior http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM.
The next site I found was another good one by Karen Pryor. It is http://www.clickertraining.com/glossary. She discussed back-chaining as, “Training the last behavior in a chain first, then training the next-to-last behavior, then the behavior before that, and so on. Back-chaining takes advantage of the Premack principle.” The premack principle is the idea that people will engage in a low frequency behavior for the chance to engage in a high frequency behavior.
These sites helped me to learn more about the reinforcement of the cues between the links and how important they were to chaining behaviors. The ideas of backward chaining also reminded me of when I worked on a golf course. It started by people working on their putting. After they had warmed up, they took a few shots from the sand with their wedge. Then, they went to the driving range to work on their drive. They started with the end result, getting the ball into the cup, went on to fairway work, then moved on to the first thing they would do when starting a new hole.
Terminology: behavioral chains, behavior modification, behavior, chain, cue, forward chaining, backward chaining, target behavior, links, reinforce, intervention, premack principle, low frequency behavior, high frequency behavior, reinforcement,
For my topic I chose to discuss species temperament. Pryor introduced this term in chapter 5 of the reading this week. She didn’t go into detail on the subject so I wanted to do a little research myself.
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm
The first website I found defined temperament as an individual's way of responding to the world. A person’s temperament is usually consistent between situations and over that person’s lifetime. Some examples of temperament in people would be shy, bold, cautious, irritable, docile, reactive, and passive. This concept of temperament has the same effect on animals as well.
From this site, I learned a lot about the temperament of domestic animals versus wild animals. Wild animals are found to be very reactive and aggressive towards their environment. Domestic animals are more calm and passive towards their environment. In general, wild animals don’t like captivity. They get so stressed out by it that they often have a hard time breeding and some animals have even died from exhaustion trying to escape. It is very hard to use shaping techniques with these animals when trying to change their behavior. The key to the survival of these aggressive animals is a ‘temperament shift’ from the reactive temperament to a more docile temperament. There are many factors that come into play when trying to change an animal’s temperament such as selection from proximity to humans (raise them in close proximity to humans), natural selection in captivity (the most reactive animals die), artificial selection for docility (humans chose to breed only the calm animals), and taming of individuals.
When reinforcing animals, especially wild animals, it is always a good idea to keep the animals temperament in mind. This will affect the sort of training techniques an individual will need to use. The rest of the website focused on temperament and the coat color of animals. It dipped into more biopsychology type of material.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4439670_discover-species-temperament.html
Shawn Fay, cofounder and owner of Regal Reptiles, a reptile education center in Rhode Island, posted this video on the temperament of Water Monitor’s. At the beginning of the video, Shawn is holding a pretty small Water Monitor. He stresses that this is a ‘nice’ water monitor. If he works with her (shapes her behavior using reinforcement) as she gets older, she will continue to have a docile temperament. Shawn then picks up a much larger, matured Water Monitor. It has a very aggressive temperament and he will not pick it up without a glove. She has razor sharp teeth and does bite if not handled properly. This video is a good example of a docile temperament versus an aggressive temperament that was discussed in the first website.
As Pryor stated in chapter 5, you will get the general idea of a species temperament right away when working with it. Depending on the animal’s temperament, it will often send ‘social signals’ to its trainer. These signals could range from a greeting behavior to a temper tantrum. Training and shaping an animal can be easy or difficult. When reinforcing animals in the real world, knowing the general temperament of that species before coming in contact with it could make the training process easier.
Reinforcement, species temperament, temperament shift, shaping
1) I applied for and was accepted for a job this summer as an academic camp counselor/dorm staff/mentor for 80 to 90 high school students. The program is for high school students that are potential first generation college students in their family. In order for me to be successful in this position it is REQUIRED for me to be interested in the well being of the students as well as be adequately trained in helping them change negative behaviors as well as reinforcing positive ones.
2) I found a website with a couple very minor coding areas that deals with the reinforcement of appropriate behavior in students. The reader and text agree with the website in the fact that it is vital to condition students one step at a time. Students are much more likely to willingly change behavior if it is small changes over a large period of time. (This is consistent with the concept of successive approximations). Instead of rewarding a student for performing the exact behavior you desire, you should reward them for any step they take in the right direction. One concept I wasn't able to find in the reader in text is a concept that I would have considered common sense, but it was made much more clear. It is required that the student be WILLING to accept change. Behavior modification can not occur against someone's will. This means in order for a change to occur, a set of skills must be taught to the student in question. The student must be taught how to self-monitor, self-evaluate, and self-reinforce themselves. A mediator can not be present to motivate the students at all times so they must be equipped with tools to regulate their own behaviors.
http://cecp.air.org/fba/problembehavior3/reinforcement3.htm
The second link gives more direct instructions on how to handle children in an educational situation. It gives very brief instructions on how to develop a new behavior, strengthen a new behavior, maintain an existing behavior, how to stop inappropriate behavior, and how to modify emotional behaviors. There are multiple methods to each of the types of behavior you're trying to modify, but some of the familiar ones include Successive Approximation Principle (as previously mentioned); Continuous Reinforcement Principle (rewarding a student immediately after performing a behavior that has not been previously exhibited); the Variable Reinforcement Principle (rewarding the child with random, frequent positive reinforcement to encourage desired behavior); and the Extinction Principle (arranging conditions so the child receives no awards following the negatively perceived behavior).
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behsys/behmod.html
3) These sites were helpful to me because they broke the situations down into very basic, formal sentencing. There is no descriptive data, it is very simple "This is what you need to do." By keeping information very concise and open ended it allows me to have a fundamental understanding to the basic mechanics of how behavior modification works and allows me to mold the basic rules to specific situations.
4) Successive approximations, behavior modification, self-evaluation, self-reinforcing, self-monitor, continuous reinforcement principle, variable reinforcement principle, extinction principle
After reading chapter 4 of Don’t Shoot the Dog, I was interested in learning more about time outs. Pryor defined time outs as a part of the ‘shoot the animal’ method of untraining. She explained that time outs, as well as punishments, often teach the ‘subject’ nothing. I wanted to see if any sites would describe time outs in these terms, rather than its benefits and how to use it. Many parents, and even nannies on TV, use time outs as a form of parenting and swear by it. It was difficult to find sites discussing how time out may not always be beneficial and the downsides to it.
When looking for articles on time out, it was easy to find many resources with rules, guidelines, and tips. I compared three sites in particular that explained guidelines for time out and the best way to use it. All three sites agreed that time-outs should be used sparingly. Time out was described as a time to remove the child from positive reinforcement (playing with their own toys or doing what they want). All the sites agreed that time out should be a short period of time; one site even determined that time out should be one minute for every year the child is old. Very little talking should take place when the child is in time out. All the sites agree that before putting the child in time out, one should say why the child is going to time out; however, this would not be the time for a lecture. Two of the sites agree that after time out it is appropriate to explain to the child why they were in time out to help them learn for future reference. The other site believes lecturing the child on why they were in time out is reinforcing their negative behavior by giving them the attention they desired. Finally, the articles stressed that time out should be used immediately after the behavior, something behaviorists would likely agree with.
I was able to find one site that discussed the negatives of time outs as well as a site that defined time out in terms of positive or negative punishment. The site defined time out as a negative punishment. It also recommended that the punishment be paired with positive reinforcers for it to work. The other site argued that time out was an inappropriate form of parenting, as it did not help the child learn anything. The site argued that children are often acting out on their frustrations before they are put in time out. By putting the child in time out, the parent is causing the child to become more frustrated and not helping them to find an appropriate way to act out that frustration. The author argues that time out teaches children to hold in their emotions and ignore negative emotions.
I found it interesting that many sites argue the benefits of time outs and few argue that it teaches the child nothing. While time out may be a great method of removing the child from an environment that is promoting negative behaviors, it may not be the most effective form of parenting. I would be interested in seeing if the arguments for time out change over the years as more people learn about positive reinforcement and its benefits.
Terms: positive punishment, negative punishment, positive reinforcement
http://www.parentingideas.org/articles/discipline/10-tips-for-making-time-outs-work/
http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/parenting/timeout.shtml
https://www.adda-sr.org/reading/Articles/farb-timeout.htm
http://www.funnelbrain.com/c-816-time-out-positive-negative-punishment--side-effects.html
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/peter_haiman.html
I constantly see this commercial about the "Total Transformation Program." Here is a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXbHRJDtjs
I set out for an adventure to find information on this program to see what exactly they provided in order to change your child's behavior.
The program website states what it means that your child needs 'structure.'
How to stop any argument with your kid instantly
-This is a powerful technique parents love because it pulls the plug on any argument with your child. You'll be stunned at how quickly it works. Even if your teenage son is 6'2" tall and you're 5'4".
The 10 words to say when he gets mouthy
-The technique that stops back talk and cursing…no matter how nasty your child gets.
Stop the Show
-The surefire way to stop fighting and acting out in public. If your child gets more defiant when he's with his friends, this is a must-have tool.
Accountability
-I'll give you a word-by-word script to use with your child to get him to take responsibility for his own behavior and stop blaming you and others.
Consequences
-How to give them, which ones work and which ones don't, with specific consequences for kids in all age groups.
What To Do The Next Time
-Instead of talking back, screaming or blaming you, your child will now have a way to solve his problems that gets him better results and better reactions from teachers and other adults.
The website claims that behaviorally troubled kids lack the skills to solve the problems they encounter every day. The Total Transformation claims to teach you how to give your child more effective ways to solve his problems than fighting, screaming, annoying and defiance. They'll learn a simple system that will enable them to handle their problems appropriately and on their own, without acting out.
Okay, obviously the website isn't going to give out information on HOW to do this, so I had to read some reviews on what other people thought of the program.
http://www.someoneelseskids.com/2008/02/19/total-transformation-program-preview/
The link above gives a sample of one of the CD's and what James tells you what to do.
Here is a review from one customer on amazon.com:
We, too, purchased this from a friend who told us not to bother but we said why not. $20 for the set, so that should tell you something. Friend said that it was a total waste of money and not effective. We gave it a shot. Friend was right, waste of time (not money, in our case, thankfully). Most of this stuff is common sense, stuff that we knew but were not doing. Commit yourself to following through, as we now do, and you will be amazed at how well kids listen. This is a pure and simple money making scheme that packages common sense stuff into impressive-looking CDs, etc. If you are reading this, please, please save your money.
Out of the 21 customer reviews, it rated s 3/5 stars.
So is it worth it?
Well if you are willing to fork out $327 after the 30 day trial, then you would have to try it for yourself. The website claims if it doesn't work, you get your money back (even if you started making the payments). What a bunch of bologna. Almost every negative review I read said their customer service sucked and refused to refund any money. I'm not surprised. Why would you want to buy that for $327 when you can clearly go to support groups, buy a book, or find info on the internet for free? Or, they can contact Dr. MacLin and he will give them the tools they need to change your child's behavior :)
I was really interested in Species Temperment after reading this week's chapter and after reading our article for last week. I wondered what may affect it and if it was a certain gene that affected species specifically or if it affected all animals but certain species were more prone to different genes. While I was reading I came across some strange research about rats and thier coat color affecting thier temperment. The research says that there is a strong relationship between pigment production, hormones, and neurochemistry. "For example, the neurotransmitter dopamine and the hormones noradrenaline and adrenaline, which are involved in the stress response, have the same biochemical precursor as the melanin pigments (Anonymous 1971, Ferry and Zimmerman 1964). In addition, dopamine directly influences pigment production by binding to the pigment-producing cells (Burchill et al. 1986). Dopamine indirectly influences pigment production by inhibiting pituitary melanotropin, also known as melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH), which is responsible for stimulating pigment cells to produce pigment (Tilders and Smelik 1978)." There could possibly be a corrolation between coat color and temperment. They decided to breed the most docile coat color together to see if they could make the most tame rats. They were successful with rats and with silver foxes.
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm
After reading this I wondered if it applied to humans. I did some more reading and I found this wikipedia entry that was talking about the temperment of redheads and the relation between thier hair color and temperment. They even incorporated some of the ideas about the stress chemicals that were mentioned in the rat study.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair
I thought this was a really interesting concept and could in the future be really helpful in the modification of all behavior in humans and animals. If we know what causes different types of temperment then we can account for these things when modifying behavior. Also could this be the answer to the infamous question do blondes really have more fun?
Terms:Species Temperment,stress response, pigment production, neurochemistry, behavior modification.
For this web divergence I have decided to see what youtube clips there were on reinforcement in the sports world. After listening to the clips, I found that modern coaching has adapted to what Prior has hoped to accomplish with her book. The USA women softball coach gave a good example of positive reinforcement on how to project your wants to your players. He gave an example of telling a pitcher what he would like to see them do, not don’t give this person a good pitch to hit. He concluded with a chuckle that if you say don’t do something; it is probably likely to happen. I feel that this applies because when trying to change other peoples’ behavior you get more positive results with reason and understanding than saying “you better not do that”.Another clip was about how to keep your cool while coaching, he concluded that if the person in control were to loose their “cool” than the players will pick up on it and loose their cool as well. This relates to conditioning because animals can sense when their owners are distressed or frustrated. When conditioning, I feel a good rule is not to get frustrated or the animal or person will pick up on your frustrations and not preform up to par. The last site I found dealt with two examples of how to reinforce behaviors in sport. The Shaping Procedure and the distribution of practice sessions, talked about the things found in Priors book. I specific example associated with shaping is that it best works what breaking down the desired behavior into small parts and rewarding the successful attempts to accomplish the overall goal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFd9hZ5sUhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiicLKyLkE4&feature=related
http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/csa/vol31/shapgen.htm
I have two cats and have always been interested in their behavior. Online I found two sites that claim that cats can be trained cats to use the toilet instead of a litter box. The steps used are good examples of shaping behavior through operant conditioning.
http://www.petplace.com/cats/how-to-toilet-train-your-cat/page2.aspx
This website suggests first moving the litter box next to the toilet, then moving it up the height of the toilet, then on top of the toilet. Once the cat is used to this location a roaster pan full of litter is duct taped under the toilet seat. Then you poke a hole in the roaster, and soon the cat is unable to stand in the litter and must balance on the toilet seat. They then learn to use the toilet seat as the litter box.
http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.html
This website stresses the importance of fitting the training methods to your own cat’s personality. The first suggestion is similar to that in the first website, getting the cat accustomed to the location. It suggests finding a metal bowl which can be fitted into the toilet. The author suggests rewarding the cat for proper squatting behavior. The author of the first website did not include this step. Once the cat is used to the bowl, you reduce the amount of litter in it. Later, put water into the bowl to get the cat accustomed to no litter while using the “litter box”. Eventually, you take the bowl away and the cat then continues to use the toilet. She also suggests if the cat makes a mess elsewhere it is because you are going too fast through the stages.
I have cats and there are concerns I would have about implementing this technique. A cat using dirt in a litter box is a strong natural behavior, not a conditioned behavior, so I am not sure they could be trained to perform in this way. First, they always go in the litter box because cats have this innate desire to cover their elimination. The authors do not consider the strong instinct to cover the waste. They also do not discuss the system of reinforcement to needed to shape behavior. Operant conditioning theory indicates that there must be such a system.
Another concern I have is that my cats enjoy all sources of water – sink, bathtub, and toilet – to try to drink from. My concern would be if the toilet becomes a conditioned bathroom location why not the sink or bathtub? I don’t think the reward of using the toilet as a litter box is going to be strong enough to overcome the natural behavior, especially when extinction takes place. For me, it seems like an interesting novelty to have a cat use the toilet but I do not think that as a practical matter it is worth the effort.
Terms: conditioned behavior, operant conditioning, shaping