Effects of Attribution and Schedules of Reinforcement on Performance

Abstract

We examined the impact of attributional instructions and schedules of reinforcement on performance. Attributional instructions were designed to lead to an internal or an external attribution, whereas schedules of reinforcement were either variable ratio or variable interval. Results obtained from 31 American students indicated that the subjects given external attributional instructions made a greater number of responses but did not respond more correctly. The schedule of reinforcement did not influence either the number of responses or the correctness of responses.     

Performance under Competitive and Self-Competitive Fixed-Interval Schedules of Reinforcement

The Psychological Record - Participants completed blocks of trials under simple (i.e., work-alone), competitive, and self-competitive fixed-interval 20-s schedules of reinforcement. In general,...     

Reducing Time-Out Assignments for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders in a Self-Contained Classroom

This study assessed the impact of a class-wide time-out/re-directing strategy on (a) the frequency of teacher-assigned time-outs and (b) the time students spent in disciplinary sanctions. Twelve students with emotional/behavioral disorders, enrolled in a self-contained elementary classroom were taught an alternative time-out strategy (Active Response Beads-Time Out), while teachers were taught a re-directing strategy, in an attempt to decrease the amount of student's time spent in time-out (TO) and the number of TO assigned by staff. Using a multiple baseline design across academic classroom periods, results showed that Active Response Beads Time-Out (ARB-TO) and teacher re-directions decreased the total time spent in time-out and number of TO assigned across the three class periods. Results maintained at one, two and four week follow-up sessions.     

Determinants of Human Fixed-Interval Performance Following Varied Exposure to Reinforcement Schedules

The Psychological Record - Undergraduates given accurate instructions pressed keys for token points under either a variety of reinforcement schedules (variety training) or under a single schedule....     

Reinforcement of inhibition

A differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) schedule with trials and delayed reinforcement was investigated. Periodically a wheel was briefly available to rats, followed six seconds later by brief availability of a bar. Variable-ratio food reinforcement of wheel turns was adjusted to give 95% turns. After variable-ratio-five reinforcement of bar presses produced 100% pressing, then separate ratio schedules were used for presses following turns (turn presses) and presses following nonturns (nonturn presses). Increasing nonturn-press reinforcements decreased turns, even though total reinforcements increased. Reversal by decreasing nonturn-press reinforcements raised turns, though with hysteresis. Thus food reinforcement increased nonturns even though delayed six to ten seconds after nonturns, a delay that greatly reduces response reinforcement. Those and other results indicate that the turn decrease was not due to reinforcement of competing responses. Evidence against other alternatives, and the reduction of responding by increased reinforcement, indicate that the term inhibition is appropriate for the phenomenon reinforced. Response-specific inhibition appears appropriate for this particular kind, since its effects are more specific to particular responses than Pavlovian conditioned-inhibition. Response-specific inhibition seems best considered a behavioral output comparable to responses (e.g., both reinforcible) but with important properties different from responses (e.g., different reinforcement-delay gradients).     

Perceptions of Work Performance Recognition Among Educators

Educators from several states were surveyed to determine their perceptions about the importance of work performance recognition. Results suggested that educators want to receive recognition for their work performance and that recognition would assist in improving their overall work performance and professional development. Data from this study suggest that recognition of teacher performance may be a viable means for school administrators to improve teacher performance in a manner that is both effective and efficient. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Reinforcement schedule thinning following treatment with functional communication training

We evaluated four methods for increasing the practicality of functional communication training (FCT) by decreasing the frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior. Three participants whose problem behaviors were maintained by positive reinforcement were treated successfully with FCT in which reinforcement for alternative behavior was initially delivered on fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedules. One participant was then exposed to increasing delays to reinforcement under FR 1, a graduated fixed-interval (FI) schedule, and a graduated multiple-schedule arrangement in which signaled periods of reinforcement and extinction were alternated. Results showed that (a) increasing delays resulted in extinction of the alternative behavior, (b) the FI schedule produced undesirably high rates of the alternative behavior, and (c) the multiple schedule resulted in moderate and stable levels of the alternative behavior as the duration of the extinction component was increased. The other 2 participants were exposed to graduated mixed-schedule (unsignaled alternation between reinforcement and extinction components) and multiple-schedule (signaled alternation between reinforcement and extinction components) arrangements in which the durations of the reinforcement and extinction components were modified. Results obtained for these 2 participants indicated that the use of discriminative stimuli in the multiple schedule facilitated reinforcement schedule thinning. Upon completion of treatment, problem behavior remained low (or at zero), whereas alternative behavior was maintained as well as differentiated during a multiple-schedule arrangement consisting of a 4-min extinction period followed by a 1-min reinforcement period.     

The Power of Reinforcement: A Review

The Psychological Record -     

A Comparison of Escalating Versus Fixed Reinforcement Schedules on Undergraduate Quiz Taking

Drug abstinence studies indicate that escalating reinforcement schedules maintain abstinence for longer periods than fixed reinforcement schedules. The current study evaluated whether escalating reinforcement schedules would maintain more quiz taking than fixed reinforcement schedules. During baseline and for the control group, bonus points were distributed on random days for attending class. Following baseline, students in the fixed reinforcement section received 5 bonus points for each quiz completed while students in the escalating reinforcement received 3 bonus points for the first quiz with an increase of 0 or 1 point for each consecutive quiz completed. Results indicated that the escalating reinforcement schedule maintained quiz taking significantly longer than the fixed reinforcement schedule. The control group took the fewest number of quizzes. Students with good attendance took significantly more quizzes under the escalating reinforcement schedule than students with good attendance exposed to the fixed reinforcement schedule or control condition. This study demonstrates a potential novel application for escalating reinforcement schedules. Results indicate that escalating reinforcement schedules may be successfully applied to academic settings, but more research is needed.     

The sleeping giant: Reinforcement schedules

Schedule research has been the core of operant conditioning, but it is no longer an active area, at least with respect to its traditional focus of describing and explaining moment-to-moment behavior. Yet schedules are central in psychology: Not only do they establish lawful behavior, but they also play a major role in determining the effects of other variables. The reason for the decline appears to be primarily theoretical, in that the work seems not to have led to meaningful integration. The search for controlling variables brought into play by schedule specification has proven unsuccessful, and a catalog of all possible schedule effects is of limited interest. The paper reviews the reasons for the contemporary state of affairs. One prediction about future developments is that instead of revealing component variables and their modes of interaction, schedule effects will be treated as basic empirical laws. Theory will take the form of abstract statements that integrate these separate laws by reference to higher-order principles rather than by reduction to supposedly simpler component variables.     

Job Stress and Burnout Among Correctional Officers: A Literature Review

This literature review presents an overview of occupational stress and burnout in correctional institutions, based on 43 investigations from 9 countries. First, the prevalence of various stress reactions among correctional officers (COs) is discussed: turnover and absenteeism rates, psychosomatic diseases, and levels of job dissatisfaction and burnout. Next, empirical evidence is summarized for the existence of 10 specific stressors in the CO's job. It appears that the most notable stressors for COs are role problems, work overload, demanding social contacts (with prisoners, colleagues, and supervisors), and poor social status. Finally, based on 21 articles, individual-oriented and organization-oriented approaches to reduce job stress and burnout among COs are discussed. It is concluded that particularly the latter (i.e., improving human resources management, professionalization of the CO's job, and improvement of the social work environment) seems to be a promising avenue for reducing job stress and burnout in correctional institutions.     

Re-Examination of Classroom Rules

Abstract

This article provides a contemplative, research-based discussion of classroom management by examining classroom rules. The introduction contains a discussion establishing the importance of effective classroom management strategies. The article also provides a consideration of the literature to gain a better understanding of ineffective and effective rules.     

A NEUROBIOLOGICAL NON ALTERNATIVE: REJOINDER TO LEWIS,BAUMEISTER, AND MAILMAN

Certain misrepresentations of our theory of self-stimulatory behavior by Lewis, Baumeister, and Mailman (1987) are corrected and several questions raised by the commentators are answered. Their proposed neurobiological alternative is considered briefly and judged to be insufficiently detailed, inadequate in scope, and therefore premature.     

School-Wide Discipline and Classroom Ecology

Abstract

Shortages of teachers with specialized skills, coupled with increased difficulty accommodating students with problem behaviors in general education classrooms, create pressures for performance and accountability in schools and with respect to teachers. Matters become increasingly problematic by initiatives that stress high academic competence, high graduation rates, and high performance standards. In addition, heightened cultural and linguistic diversity, diminished public satisfaction, and increased violence and disruptive behavior at school levels suggest a need for effective, easy-to-implement discipline procedures. In this investigation, we describe improvements in classroom ecology after implementation of a school-wide discipline model. These outcomes were positive and provide support for continuing efforts to improve discipline within the schools.     

CONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT FOR BENZODIAZEPINE-FREE URINES: EVALUATION OF A DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT INTERVENTION

This study evaluated contingent reinforcement for benzodiazepine-free urines as a therapeutic intervention for promoting reduced use of supplemental benzodiazepine drugs among methadone maintenance outpatients. Ten methadone maintenance patients were selected for participation on the basis of positive urinalysis results. During a 12-week intervention period these patients were offered clinic privileges, including monetary payments or methadone take-home doses, contingent on benzodiazepine negative urinalysis test results. Eight of ten participants responded to the intervention with at least 2.5 weeks of consecutive clean urines. An increase in benzodiazepine-negative tests during the contingent reinforcement period was significant for the group as a whole. The results suggest that more widespread application of contingent reinforcement procedures may be warranted in drug abuse treatment clinics.     

Choice with Concurrent Interval Schedules of Reinforcement: The Effects of Different Timing Procedures

Using a Findley changeover procedure, two groups of rats were exposed to various concurrent variable-time (VT) schedules of milk presentation. The rules governing the operation of the timers for the stimulus events differed for the two groups with resulting differences in the overall degree of changeover responding but not with respect to time allocation measures, which in both cases consisted of undermatching. When an interrupted VT reinforcement timer was reset upon re-entry of that component, the rats tended to emit changeover responses almost exclusively to the more favorable component. When the VT reinforcement timers were left running regardless of which components the rats selected, changeover responses were significantly more frequent and equally distributed among both the more and less favorable components. In comparing the present results with those from a similar procedure in which shock was used (Deluty & Church, 1978), it is apparent that what is basic to choice in concurrent interval schedules is not matching or some mathematical variation of it. Instead, it is a tendency to optimize on the basis of the favorability of the stimulus events and the contingencies regarding how those events are timed and administered.

     

A Comparison of Five Reinforcement Schedules for use in Contingency Management-Based Treatment of Methamphetamine Abuse

The Psychological Record - One variation of contingency management involves providing vouchers with monetary value for the provision of a biological sample indicating no recent drug use. These...     

DEVELOPING A TECHNOLOGY FOR THE USE OF OPERANT EXTINCTION IN CLINICAL SETTINGS: AN EXAMINATION OF BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Extinction of operant behavior, which involves terminating the reinforcement contingency that maintains a response, is important to the development, generalization, and reduction of behavior in clinical settings. We review basic and applied research findings on variables that influence the direct and indirect effects of extinction and discuss the potential value of a general technology for the use of extinction. We suggest that current research findings are not sufficient for the development of a comprehensive, applied technology of extinction and provide extensive guidelines for further studies on factors that may affect the course of extinction in clinical settings.     

Reinforcement contingencies and social reinforcement: some reciprocal relations between basic and applied research.

Reinforcement contingencies and social reinforcement are ubiquitous phenomena in applied behavior analysis. This discussion paper is divided into two sections. In the first section, reinforcement contingencies are discussed in terms of the necessary and sufficient conditions for reinforcement effects. Response‐stimulus dependencies, conditional probabilities, and contiguity are discussed as possible mechanisms of, and arrangements for, reinforcement effects. In the second section, social reinforcement is discussed in terms of its functional subtypes and reinforcement context effects. Two underlying themes run throughout the discussion: (a) Applied research would benefit from a greater understanding of existing basic research, and (b) basic research could be designed to specifically address some of the issues about reinforcement that are central to effective application.