📌 Extinction should be used only after changing the environment and reinforcing other incompatible behaviors have not worked, and it should always be paired with reinforcement for desirable behaviors.
Withholding the reinforcer can first intensify behavior, then reduce it.
📌 Punishment that causes pain or harm to the client is unethical.
📌 Punishment is a last-resort tactic, and less restrictive interventions should be tried first, including before negative punishment.
📌 Positive punishment must be delivered swiftly after the targeted behavior so the individual can connect the behavior with the punisher.
📌 Positive punishment is used only within a written behavior-change plan and after staff receive proper training and supervision.
Positive adds a stimulus; the defining outcome is reduced behavior.
📌 A consequence is punishment only if it decreases the future behavior; a reprimand that increases joking is reinforcement rather than punishment.
📌 Punishment should be considered only when there is no other option and the behavior seriously impedes the client’s health, safety, or future options, and it must be used under close supervision by a behavior analyst supervisor.
Address discomforts and triggers, try alternatives, then consider punishment.
📌 Primary reinforcers are biological and do not have to be learned, whereas secondary reinforcers acquire reinforcing value through learning and association with other reinforcers, mainly primary ones.
Primary reinforcers meet biological needs; secondary reinforcers gain value through learning.
Remove an aversive stimulus → the behavior increases.
Reinforcement and Punishment
| Procedure | Stimulus change | Behavior outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Positive punishment | Add a stimulus | Behavior decreases |
| Negative punishment | Remove a stimulus | Behavior decreases |
| Negative reinforcement | Remove an aversive stimulus | Behavior increases |
| Positive reinforcement | Add a stimulus | Behavior increases |
Take a 18-question practice quiz on Principles of Behavior, with every answer explained.
1. A student raises a hand more frequently when a particular teacher is present, after hand-raising has repeatedly been reinforced in that teacher’s presence. What does this pattern illustrate?
2. A child’s requests for a toy previously led to receiving it, but caregivers stop providing the toy after those requests. If the requests decrease over time, what process is occurring?
Memorize the key concepts of Principles of Behavior with 23 flashcards.
What is stimulus control?
A behavior occurs more often in the presence of a specific stimulus because it has been consistently associated with reinforcement of that behavior.
What happens to a previously reinforced behavior during extinction?
It decreases over time when reinforcement stops.
When should extinction be used, and what should accompany it?
Only after environmental changes and incompatible-behavior reinforcement fail, paired with reinforcement for desirable behaviors.
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