• A single instance of behavior

• Measurable unit of analysis in the science of behavior.

• Behavior: Larger set / class of responses that share physical dimensions or functions.

• Response: A single instance of behavior.

• A group of behaviors that comprise an operant / produce the same effect on the environment /      evoke the same consequence (i.e. have the same function)

• Response-consequence relationship. Similar behaviors that are strengthened or weakened collectively as a result of operant conditioning.

• All the behaviors that an individual can do.

• A collection of knowledge and skills an individual has learned that are relevant to a particular task. 

• A complex, dynamic universe of events that differs from instance to instance.

• All behavior occurs within an environmental context.

• Physical events that affect the behavior of an individual.
• Stimuli may be internal or external to the individual.
• A stimulus is an energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells.
• A stimulus event may occur prior to, during, or after behavior. (temporal locus)
• Stimuli may be described formally, temporally, and functionally.

• A group of antecedent stimuli that has a common effect on an operant class.

• Group members of a stimulus class tend to evoke or abate the same behavior or response class, yet may vary across physical dimensions.

3 Types of Stimulus Classes

(AKA: For Fun Time)

1. Formal
2. Functional
3. Temporal

• Physical features of stimuli (i.e. topography)

• Ex: size, color, intensity, weight spatial position

• Stimulus changes are understood best through a functional analysis of their effects on behavior.

• The effects of stimulus on behavior
• Multiple functions of a single stimulus

• Ex: hearing a buzz may mean the doorbell is ringing, or you have a text on your phone.

• Refers to  time.

• Stimulus changes that exist or occur prior to (antecedent) the behavior or that follow (consequence) the behavior of interest.

Share:

• Topography
• Relative relations (spatial arrangements)
• Infinite number of stimuli
• Developed through stimulus generalization

• Ex: concept of a dog

• Stimuli in this class evoke the same response, but do not share common features, look alike, or relative relationship.

• Limited number of stimuli
• Developed through stimulus equivalence

• Ex: 50%, 1/2, half, .50

• Only affect future behavior
• Consequences select response class, NOT individual responses.

Ex: Opening a bag of chips; different bags open differently → have different hand movements, but end result (consequence) is the same: opened bag.

Automaticity

(of Reinforcement and Punishment)

• A person does not need to know what a consequence means for it to work.

• Operant Conditioning happens automatically.

• Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of others (i.e. others do not deliver consequence)

• Naturally produced sensory consequence (i.e. sounds, looks, smells, tastes, feels good)
• Positive or Negative

Ex:

Pos: Taste brownies for the first time, now you bake them.

Neg: Putting lotion on skin relieves dry itchy skin. 

• Punishment that occurs independent of the social mediation of others. (i.e. others do not deliver 
• consequence)

• Naturally produced sensory consequence (i.e. sounds, looks, smells, tastes, feels good)
• Positive or Negative

Ex: To reduce errors;

Pos: Wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it when you make an error.

Neg: Give away a favorite item when you make an error. 

Reinforcement

(General Facts)

• Can strengthen:
  • rate, duration, latency, magnitude, topography 

• Response becomes more frequent in the future when followed by reinforcement within 0-60 seconds.
• Immediacy is critical

• Delayed consequences are not technically reinforcement, but can influence behavior.

• Effects can be temporary
• Relying on use of contrived reinforcers rather than natural reinforcers
• Using items as reinforcers that may be potentially harmful to the client (e.g. sugar, fatty food)
• Behavioral Contrast

• When the rate of responding to a stimulus in one setting changes when the condition of reinforcement in the other setting gets modified
• Can be Positive or Negative

• Possible unwanted effect of Punishment, Extinction, and DRO

• A phenomena in which a behavior INCREASES for potentially MORE FAVORABLE reinforcer AFTER being exposed to a reinforcer that has become LESS FAVORABLE.

• Ex: Pigeon equally reinforced for pecking blue or yellow key. Reinforcement accidentally removed from yellow key, pigeon pecks only blue key. 

• A phenomena in which a behavior DECREASES for  a LESS FAVORABLE reinforcer AFTER being exposed to a reinforcer that is clearly MORE FAVORABLE.

• Ex: Start of relationship = Ray picks up Amy's socks & Amy pick up own socks . 4 years later = Ray stops picking up Amy's socks, she doesn't like, that and her own behavior drops further below baseline. 

5 Types of Positive Reinforcement

(SEATS)

1. Social
2. Edible
3. Activity
4. Tangible
5. Sensory

• A PROCESS that occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by he REDUCTION or REMOVAL of a stimulus that increases the FUTURE frequency of the behavior in similar conditions.

1. Escape
2. Avoidance

• A response that stops an ongoing aversive stimulus. A person is escaping the unpleasant situation.

Ex: Turning off the loud music in your car. 

Walking out of a boring lecture.

• A response which prevents or postpones the presentation of a stimulus.

• 2 Types:

Discriminated Avoidance

Free-Operant Avoidance

• A contingency in which responding in the presence of a  signal prevents the onset of a stimulus from which escape is a reinforcer.

• Think Sd; warning or signal that a specific reinforcement is available.

Ex: Checking traffic before a usually long commute, seeing accident and taking alternative route to work.

• NO WARNING. A contingency in which responses at any time during the interval prior to the scheduled onset of an aversive stimulus delays the presentation of the aversive stimulus. The avoidance behavior is "FREE" to occur at any time.

• Ex: Taking an alternative route to work on any random day, without checking traffic conditions, to avoid a typically congested commute.

• A stimulus change that can increase the future frequency of behavior without prior pairing with any other form of reinforcement.

• No learning history required.
• UCRs are products of phylogeny. All members of a species generally share the same UCRs.

Ex: Food, Water, Shelter, Sex

• When a previously neutral stimulus acquires the ability to function as a reinforcer through stimulus - stimulus pairing with one or more unconditioned or conditioned reinforcers.

• Learning history required
• CRs are products of ontogeny.

Ex: Tone when food is presented, and the tone becomes the conditioned positive reinforcer.

• Does not depend on motivating operation (MO) for its effectiveness.

• Likely to be reinforcing at any time.
• Same reinforcement is given to people with different preferences. 
• Less susceptible to satiation.

Ex: money, token economy, social attention / praise.

• When a response is followed immediately by a stimulus that decreases the FUTURE frequency of similar responses.

• Described by: function, not topography; future effects on behavior not the present
• 2-term contingency: Behavior → consequence

• When punishment occurs only in some conditions and not in others

• Ex: Highway speeding. Getting a ticket at one section of 95, discontinue speeding in that section, but continue speeding in other sections of the same highway.

1. Effects of punishment may be temporary
2. People enacting procedures may be negatively reinforced by procedure (lead to procedural drift)
3. Does not address cause of behavior
4. Emotional and aggressive responding by client
5. Escape and avoidance of people implementing or setting of the procedure.
6. Behavioral contrast
7. Modeling unwanted behavior

• Punisher (S^p): A stimulus change that decreases the future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it. 

• Aversive Stimulus: Unpleasant stimulus

• A PROCESS that occurs when the addition of a stimulus immediately following a behavior results in a decrease in the FUTURE frequency of the behavior.

• Ex: tripping over toys in the living room. It suppresses the frequency of the behavior that came before the tripping. 

5 Types of Positive Punishment

(ROSER)

1. Reprimands
2. Overcorrection
3. Shock / Contingent Electrical Stimulation
4. Contingent Exercise
5. Response Blocking

• "No! Stop"!

• An individual is required to engage in effortful behavior that is directly related to the challenging behavior.

• 2 Types:
  • Restitutional
  • Positive Practice

• Repair environment to its original state and or better before the behavior.

• Ex: Sweep and vacuum the floor after tracking mud into a room.

• Replacement behavior. The individual is required to repeatedly perform a correct form of the target behavior for a certain amount of time or opportunities. Educative.

• Ex:Practice wiping shoes on the doormat before entering a room.

• Introducing or applying an electrical shock after an individual's behavior.

• An individual is required to perform a response not topographically related to he behavior.

• Ex: A student throws a paper across the room, you tell them "Drop and give me 15 sit-ups".

• Physically intervening as soon as the individual begins to emit the challenging behavior to "block" the completion of the response.

• Ex: Your friend bites their fingernails, and you place mittens on their hands. The mittens physically block the response of nail biting.

• A process that occurs when a response is followed immediately by the removal of or decrease in intensity of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions.

• 2 Types:
  • Response cost
  • Time-out

Response Cost

2 Types:

• Bonus Response Cost
• Direct Fines

• Loss of a specific amount of reinforcement contingent on a behavior. 
• Produces moderate to rapid decrease in behavior

• Ex: Reduction of minutes for recess, reclaiming earned GCSR, fines.

• When you make additional non-contingent reinforcers available to the individual and then take those away, contingent upon occurrences of specific behavior.

• Ex: A student usually gets 15 minutes of recess, but you give him a bonus 15 minutes so you can take those extra minutes away.

• Direct loss of positive reinforcers.

• Ex: Individual losses 5 minutes of free time

Time-Out

2 Types:

• Non-Exclusionary
• Exclusionary

• Time out from earning / access to positive reinforcement

Non-Exclusionary Time-Out

4 Types

1. Planned Ignoring
2. Withdrawal
3. Observation
4. Ribbon

• Individual is not removed from space
• Preferred over exclusionary time-outs because they are less restrictive.

• Social reinforcers (i.e. attention, physical contact) are removed for a specific amount of time. 

Withdrawal

of Specific Positive Reinforcer

• Taking something preferred away

Observation /

Contingent Observation

• The individual is repositioned in the room, so they can observe everything, but do not participate.

Ribbon /

Time-Out Ribbon

• Colored band placed on individual's person (i.e. wrist, hats, clothing). This becomes discriminated for getting reinforcement.
• Ribbon on = can earn reinforcement
• Ribbon off = cannot earn reinforcement

Exclusionary Time-Out

3 Types

1. Room
2. Partition
3. Hallway

• Individual is removed from space.

• Time-out Room: Confined space outside of individual's normal environment. Devoid of positive reinforcers. Located near time-in space
• Partition: Individual remains in the room, but his view is restricted by a wall or partition.
• Hallway: individual sits in the hallway.

Positive Punishment 

vs.

Negative Reinforcement

(AKA; Aversive Control)

• Similarity: Both are called 'Aversive Control'; aversive events are associated with both

• Difference: Effects on behavior; increase / decrease.
  • Pos. Pun.: Aversive event added
  • Neg. Ref.: Aversive event removed

• A stimulus change that decreases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it irrespective of the organism's learning history with the stimulus.

• No learning history required
• Products of phylogeny. All members of species generally share the same unconditioned punishers.

• Ex: Extreme temperatures, loud noises

• A previously neutral stimulus that now functions as a punisher because prior pairings with one or more other punishers. 

• Learning history required
• Products of ontogeny

• Ex: A neutral tone, when paired with electric shock, makes the tone a conditioned punisher.

• A type of punisher that has been paired with many un/conditioned punishers.

• Do not depend on MO for its effectiveness.
• Likely o be punishing at any time.

• Ex: Reprimands, social disapproval.

• Verbal pairing procedure whereby previously neutral stimuli can become conditioned punishers or reinforcers for humans without direct pairing.

• Ex: Children's literature that teaches morals, pieces of paper kindergartners are told are valuable so they work hard to earn them.

• A procedure that occurs when a previously reinforced response is discontinued, so that behavior decreases in the future.

• No reinforcement → behavior decreases
• A maintaining reinforcer is no longer provided

1. Extinction Burst
2. Spontaneous Recovery
3. Resurgence
4. Extinction induced aggression
5. Difficult to use with low rate behaviors

• Extinction is not Punishment Procedure
• Extinction ≠ Ignoring
  • Procedural extinction: Ignoring
  • Functional extinction: withholding maintaining Sr+
• Extinction does not refer to any decrease in behavior
• Response blocking ≠ Extinction
  • R.B. prevents response from happening
  • Extinction→ response still occurs ≠ produce reinforcement
• NCR ≠ Extinction
  • Both reduce Bx
  • Extinction lowers Bx by changing consequence
  • NCR is antecedent intervention

3 Types of Extinction

1. Positive Reinforcement
2. Automatic Reinforcement
3. Negative Reinforcement

1. Positive Reinforcement:
   • If function is attention → ignoring is correct form of extinction
   • If function is tangibles → not giving tangible is the correct form of extinction
2. Automatic Reinforcement:
   • Mask or remove sensory consequence
3. Negative Reinforcement: 
   • Individual cannot escape aversive situation.

• An immediate increase in the frequency of responding when an extinction procedure is initially implemented.

• Typical pattern where response that diminished during extinction process reoccurs.

• Behavior reoccurs even though the behavior has NOT been reinforced.
• Not an indication extinction is ineffective.
• Short-lived followed by decrease in behavior.

1. Long history or reinforcement.
2. Intermittent Schedules of reinforcement are more resistant to extinction than continuous.
3. High quality reinforcer.
4. Large amount of reinforcer.
5. Response requiring little effort.
6. Number of previous extinction trials

Operant Extinction

vs.

Respondent Extinction

• Operant Extinction: involves withholding reinforcement when behavior occurs

• Respondent Extinction: involves unpairing of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). 

• Presenting tone without presentation of food until salivation (CR) no longer occurs with tone (CS) 

• When the rate, frequency, intensity, latency, duration of a response is altered by the presence of an antecedent stimulus.

• SC is acquired when responses are reinforced only in the presence of a specific stimuli (S^d), and not in the presence of other stimuli (S^Δ)

1. Pre-Attending skills: Looking at instructor / materials, listening to directions, sitting quietly
2. Stimulus Salience: Prominence of stimulus in person's environment. increased salience makes things easier to learn.

Two elements: 

• Masking
• Overshadowing

• Even though a stimulus has acquired stimulus control over a behavior, a competing stimulus can block the evocative function of that stimulus.
• The behavior is already in the individual's repertoire, but is MASKED by other elements. 

• Ex: Even though Ray knows the answer to the teacher's question, he does not respond with peers around. 

• The presence of one stimulus condition interferes with the acquisition of stimulus control by another stimulus.
• The individual cannot learn the behavior because the learning is OVERSHADOWED be another element. 

• Ex: Watching cheerleading practice out the window distracts the young man from learning algebra in math class.

Discriminative Stimulus

S^D

• A stimulus in the presence of which responses of some type have been reinforced and in the absence of which the same type of responses have occurred and not been reinforced in the past.

• Let's you know reinforcement is available.

Stimulus Delta

S^Δ

• A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has NOT produced reinforcement in the past.
• S^Δ is not always zero reinforcement. It can be lesser quality or amount of reinforcement than the S^D

• S^D and MO in combo are called "Repertoire-Altering Effect."
• They share 2 things:
  • Both occur BEFORE the behavior
  • Both have evocative functions (bring about behavior)
• MO: Something that changes the value of a stimulus as a reinforcer 
  • Related to the differential reinforcing effectiveness of an environmental event.
• S^D: A response in the presence of an S^D must produce more reinforcement than it does in its absence. The S^D has to have the promise of the reinforcer based on the reinforcing history, but an MO is going to produce the response regardless of reinforcement history.

Stimulus Generalization

vs.

Stimulus Discrimination

• Stimulus Generalization:
  • Loose stimulus control
  • WITHIN
  • Ex: all shades of green

• Stimulus Discrimination:
  • Tight stimulus control
  • Between / across
  • Ex: Green vs. Red

• When an antecedent stimulus has a history of evoking a response that has been reinforced in its presence, the same type of behavior tends to be evoked by stimuli that share similar physical properties with the controlling antecedent stimulus.
• Stimulus that are similar to the original S^D evoke the same responses as the original S^D.
• The evocative function of stimuli that share physical properties with the controlling antecedent stimulus.
• The extent to which the learner improves his performance under conditions different from those in which the original training occurred.
• The behavior is the same, but in different conditions.

• Occurs when new stimuli (similar or not similar to the controlling stimulus) do NOT evoke the same response as the controlling stimulus.
• Stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are RELATIVE relations.
  
  • Stimulus Generalization = Loose stimulus control
  • Stimulus Discrimination = Tight stimulus control

• A procedure in which responses are reinforced in the presence of one stimulus condition (S^D), but NOT in the presence other (S^Δ).

• Ex: Discrimination training can be used to teach an individual not to steal food. Two containers of cookies, one marked with a warning label S^Δ, the other not marked with a warning label S^D. Individual is taught to take cookies only from the container without a label.

• A GRAPH of the extent to which behavior that has been reinforced in the presence of. specific stimulus condition is emitted in the presence of other stimuli.
• The gradient shows the relative degree of stimulus generalization and stimulus control

• An antecedent evokes or abates the behavior.
• 3-term contingency is involved
  • S^D→ response → consequence

• A form on complex stimulus control in which the role of one discriminative stimulus is conditional on the presence of other discriminative stimuli.
• Conditional discriminations involve 4 term contingency.
  • Conditional stimuli → antecedent stimuli → response → consequence
• It is important to know not just the the fine discriminations, but also the circumstances under which the discrimination is appropriate.
• Only the particular antecedent stimuli are presented and accompanied by particular additional stimuli, then that response is reinforced. 

Conditional Discrimination 

vs.

Simple Discrimination

• Conditional Discrimination: 4-term contingency

conditional stimuli → antecedent stimuli → response → consequence

• Simple Discrimination: 3-term contingency

discriminative stimulus → response → consequence

Match to Sample

2 Types:

1. Identity MTS
2. Symbolic MTS

• Selecting a comparison stimulus corresponding to a sample stimulus.

1. Identity MTS: When the sample and comparison stimuli are physically identical
   
   • Ex: Match picture of baby to picture of baby
2. Symbolic MTS: When the relation between the sample and comparison stimuli are arbitrary. 
   • Ex: Matching picture of baby to word baby

• The emergence os accurate responding to un-trained and non-reinforced stimulus-stimulus relations following the reinforcement of responses to some stimulus-stimulus relations.
• MTS tasks are pare of stimulus equivalence.
• Useful for teaching complex verbal relations
• If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.

3 Parts of Stimulus Equivalence

(AKA; RST)

• Reflexivity; (Generalized identity matching):
  • Simple non-symbolic MTS
  • Behavior of matching the 2 identical stimuli under reflexive stimulus control
    • A=A

• Symmetry:
  • Occurs with reversibility of the sample stimulus an the comparison stimulus.
  • If A=B, then B=A

• Transitivity:
  • Requires demonstration of three untrained stimulus-stimulus sequences
    • A = B relation
    • B = C relation
    • A = C relation

• Ex:

Picture of baby (A) = Written word 'Baby' (B)

Written word (B) = Spoken word "baby" (C)

therefore

Picture of baby (A) = Spoken word (C)

• An equivalence class results from stimulus equivalence training, the symbolic MTS procedure.
• A set of arbitrary stimuli that do not need to have common physical properties
• An equivalence class is formed if all stimuli in that set are reflexive, symmetrical, transitive with each other

• A verbal description of behavioral contingency
• Learning the RULES is a way that people's behavior comes under the control of consequences that are too delayed to influence behavior directly.
• Behavior under the control of a rule, NOT a contingency or reinforcement

• When behavior is directly controlled by a contingency, NOT rules. 
• Behavioral contingency is:

The occasion for a response → response → outcome of the response

• Consequences must occur within 60 seconds

Motivating Operations

MO

2 Types

EO

AO

• An environmental variable that has value altering and behavior altering effects
• alters the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of a stimulus 
• alters the immediate frequency of all behavior that have been reinforced or punished by that stimulus.

1. Establishing Operations
2. Abolishing Operations

• A type of MO that INCREASES the effectiveness of a stimulus as a reinforcer
• Makes a stimulus MORE desirable

• Ex: Reinforcing effectiveness of water is ESTABLISHED when you are thirsty.

• An increase in the current reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus.
• Makes the thing you want super VALUABLE in the moment

• An increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by the stimulus that is altered in the effectiveness by the same MO
• Makes you ALTER your BEHAVIOR to get that thing you want in the moment

• A type of MO that DECREASES the effectiveness of a stimulus as a reinforcer.
• Makes something LESS desirable

• Ex: The reinforcing effectiveness of food is ABOLISHED as a result of food ingestion. You do not want more food after you've eaten.

• A decrease in the current reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus.
• Makes the thing you want less VALUABLE in the moment

• A decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by the stimulus that is altered in the effectiveness by the same MO
• Makes you ALTER your BEHAVIOR in that you do not try to get that thing you want in the moment

• MOs also have function-altering effects on behavior
• Refers to how the future behavior of a person changes because of the MO they are experiencing in the moment.
• Consequence variables alter the future frequency of whatever behavior immediately precedes those consequences

Unconditioned Motivating Operations

UMOs

• Unlearned events, operations, and stimulus conditions with value-altering motivating effects.

1. Food Deprivation
2. Water ' ' 
3. Sleep ' ' 
4. Activity ' '
5. Oxygen ' '
6. Sex ' '
7. Becoming too warm
8. Becoming too cold
9. Increase in pain

Conditioned Motivating Operations

CMOs

• A LEARNED relation between the nature and value  of an antecedent stimulus and the nature of a response

Conditioned Motivating Operation Surrogate

CMO-s

• A stimulus that has acquired its effectiveness by accompanying some other MO and has come to have the same Value and Behavior altering effects as the MO it accompanied.
• Alters the value of consequences that are under the control of an MO with which it has been paired.
• Pairing process with another MO
• Exam Tip: Is a pairing process being described?

• Ex: Grandma usually puts baby to bed. When dad put baby to bed baby doesn't sleep. We learn grandma wears a perfume when she puts baby to bed. Baby paired scent with sleep. Dad wears same scent, and puts baby to bed, baby sleeps. 

Conditioned Motivating Operation Reflexive

CMO-r

• A condition or object that acquires its effectiveness as an MO by PRECEDING a situation that is either worsening or improving.
• Since the condition or object comes before the aversive event, escape or avoidance would now be highly reinforcing to the person
  Signal that aversive events may be occurring soon.
• Exam tip: Is aversive event being described as coming soon?

• Ex: Sequence of failures has been shown to set the occasion for escape. History of failure becomes reflexive MO discouraging continued effort.

Conditioned Motivating Operation Transitive

CMO-t

• An environmental variable that establishes (or abolishes) the reinforcing effectiveness of another stimulus and thereby evokes (or abates) the behavior that has been reinforced by that other stimulus.
• UMO effects transfer to the conditional reinforcers and when they do, they are called TRANSITIVE CONDITIONAL MOs. This is the same thing as Motivating Stimulus
• You cannot have access to the stimulus you want, until you solve the problem.
• Exam Tip: Is the scenario wanting a certain object, but something is blocking access to it? Do you need to solve a problem?

• Ex: Someone places a lock on your fridge. This establishes the reinforcing value of the key, when access to food is valuable as a source of reinforcement.