Let’s Chat…
I wanted to get on here and write some less formal and stuffy blogs with my own, unprofessional, language lol.
I have talked about this before, but I wanted to go over reinforcement again.
What is reinforcement? It is basically common knowledge that reinforcement = praise for something that we want to see. I have spoken in “fanciness” before and labeled this a behavior specific praise hahaha. BUT, what I noticed this week is that reward for appropriate behavior is not focused on enough. We automatically want to look at taking something away because “we don’t reward for things that people should just do” (insert caveman voice here). WELL…. It is 2022 and we now have science that backs us when we refuse to comply when someone says “Do it because I said so….” (check out No One Wins in a Power Struggle blog for more information on that topic). We must reward for the behaviors that we want to see in order to increase those behaviors!!!
Now let’s chat about the the biggest misconception of reinforcement. Most people believe that reinforcement is no different than a bribe…. Let’s bust that myth before we move on. A bribe is paying someone 200$ for a service before they provide it. They may follow through and give you the best of their service, but they do not have to because they already have the reward. Reinforcement is waiting for a service to be completed, approving of it, and then paying for that service (giving the 200$). Most people will not pay for a service until they can make sure that the work is up to par. Reinforcement says you do the work first and then you get the reward. A bribe says… take this.. I trust you to follow through with your promise.These two terms are completely different, have completely different results, and do not share the same effectiveness in managing/changing behavior. Reinforcement is super important when you are trying to get someone to do something that they just refuse to do. For example, would you continue to provide a service without pay? When we look at ourselves and how we all function on a reinforcement schedule through our paychecks, it can really give us a different perspective on reinforcement.
Let’s break it down to the basics…
Reinforcement is something that happens after a behavior… that something that happened made us more likely to do that behavior again in the future. I have a great example of this from my nephew. He got an after school job in high school. His first week I was picking him up from work and he said “Aunt Tara, I don’t know how you do this… I hate work”. I told him that it sucks, but to wait for his first paycheck and it will make it a little more worth it. I picked him up the day he got his first paycheck and he was so happy!! He said, “I get it now”.
Number one, I love that I was able to provide that for him; meaning that when we are able to provide advice/directives to our children and follow through, it really helps to build trust (see blog Who Cares if They are Unhappy! I Don’t Want to Work for Them Anyway! for more on that topic). But more importantly, my nephew may have given up on that job because he truly did not like it. What he did like was the pay. Therefore, he became more likely to display the behaviors (show up and complete job duties) in the future so that he could access that reinforcement (his pay).
We are more likely to display the behaviors that are expected of us if we like the reward (consequence) that comes after we display certain behaviors. You will see people punish the behaviors that they do not want to see, which can absolutely be effective, BUT this CANNOT be done without pairing it with reinforcement for behaviors that we want to see. Most of the time, reinforcement for the behaviors that we want to see will even be more effective than punishing the behaviors we do not want to see and punishment is absolutely unnecessary. Reinforcement of appropriate behaviors will automatically reduce the unwanted behaviors and without all of the SIDE EFFECTS that are scientifically proven to occur from punishment.
***Disclaimer: if someone is displaying dangerous behaviors where punishment is necessary for safety, this is a different story. I am currently speaking on ABA principles in everyday life, based on all functioning levels.
So.. takeaway….. Reinforcement is something that changes in the environment, a reward (behavior specific praise etc, see Why Won’t They Listen to Me” blog) that increases the future probability of that behavior. Therefore, we use reinforcement on the behaviors that we want to see displayed, instead of focusing on the behaviors that we do not want to see.
ABA professionals: If your behavior plan is not working… checking your reinforcement schedule to make sure that motivation to display appropriate behaviors is the FIRST STEP (after medical consideration, but can be paired and increased while awaiting medical treatment to help reduce unwanted behaviors).
Parents: if you are having trouble with your child displaying unwanted behaviors, try to find a reward system for them that rewards them for the things that you want to see happen.
As always, let me know your thoughts :)
Comments