PS385 Unit 2 Comp.

PS385 Unit 2 Comp.

Identify Maintaining Consequences* 350 word- No title page- Reference course materials only

Scenario: You are a BCBA in private practice. You received a referral from a parent who is requesting your services to address tantrums and physically aggressive behavior displayed by her 8-year-old son. The child has two younger twin siblings in the home who are often the targets of physically aggressive behavior. In an initial interview, the mother reports that tantrums consist of screaming, throwing objects, kicking objects over, and stomping his feet when he does not “get his way” or have her undivided attention. She also stated that these behaviors occur when she asks him to do things that he does not want to do. Mother says that sometimes she ignores the tantrums and they stop, but other times, she gets so frustrated that she “gives him what he wants.” When asked about previous interventions tried, the mother stated that she has used spankings, time-outs, and taking items away. Mother says that she has tried to “make deals” with the child by promising to take him out for preferred activities at the end of the week, but he never makes it to the end without losing the privilege. She is looking for answers regarding why all of her methods of addressing the problem are ineffective and for some strategies that can be used. You developed an in-home token economy in which the client is rewarded with tokens for displaying appropriate alternatives to tantrums and physical aggression. Your system has provisions for earning tokens that can be exchanged for daily and weekly rewards and losing tokens as a penalty for inappropriate behavior (response cost).

Answer the following questions based on your Unit 2 readings:

1. Define positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Discuss how each of these concepts applies to the scenario in terms of how they contribute to ongoing behavioral problems. How might the mother be confusing punishment with negative reinforcement in the scenario?
2. Define the variable ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement and explain how this schedule of reinforcement is related to her inconsistency with ignoring tantrums. What is the effect of VR on tantrum behavior?
3. Why do you think that the mother’s attempt to provide positive reinforcement at the end of the week was unsuccessful, based on what you know about immediacy?
4. What are some of the potentially unwanted effects of reinforcement and punishment related to your intervention? What are some ethical considerations that should be taken into account as they pertain to the use of reinforcement and punishment in the scenario?

Part 2

Unit 2 Practice Learning Activity Assignment

The Role of Reinforcement

Our everyday behavior is shaped by its consequences. Some consequences result in a tendency to repeat a behavior, while others result in a decrease in the likelihood of a behavior recurring. Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2007) state that positive reinforcement has occurred when a response is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus and, as a result, similar responses occur more frequently in the future. The stimulus presented as a consequence, and responsible for the increase in the frequency of the response, is called a, positive reinforcer. Negative reinforcement is a contingency in which the occurrence of a response produces the removal, termination, reduction, or postponement of an stimulus, which leads to an increase in the future occurrence of that response (Cooper et al., 2007). The aversive stimulus that is removed that produced an increase in behavior that resulted in its removal in called a “negative reinforcer. ” The important consideration here is that reinforcement, whether positive or negative, is defined by an increase in the frequency of the response. Now look at some examples of reinforcement by clicking on the [ video case scenarios ]. Try to identify whether the following scenarios are indicative of positive or negative reinforcement:

Submitting Your Assignment

1. View the Case Scenario Video.
2. Complete the Unit 2 Learning Activity Template located in Course Documents.
3. Complete the assignment in a total of 1 to 2 pages.
4. When completed, submit the Unit 2 Learning Activity Template to the Unit 2 Assignment Dropbox.

References

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied Behavior Analysis (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Read the following chapters in your Applied Behavior Analysis text:

• Chapter 11: “Positive Reinforcement” (pp. 256–269)
• Chapter 12: “Negative Reinforcement”
• Chapter 13: “Schedules of Reinforcement” (pp. 304–312)
• Chapter 14: “Punishment by Stimulus Presentation” (pp. 326–330)
• Chapter 21: “Extinction” (pp. 356–361)

Read the following chapter in your Ethics for Behavior Analysts text:

• Chapter 9: “The Behavior Analyst and the Individual Behavior Change Program” (pp. 123–125, Guidelines 4.08 and 4.010)