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Daily Applications of Principles
The application of behavioral analytic principles extends far beyond
working with children with autism. It is far too common that
individuals refer to operant learning principles only as they relate to
ABA programs. Some of the more commonly known applications include the
development of academic skills, treatment of mal-adaptive behaviors,
language acquisition, self-help skills, leisure skill development, and
many more. However, ABA extends far beyond the above mentioned areas.
There are endless applied behavioral analysis research articles that evaluate the utility of ABA principles in many other types of functional socially significant day-to-applications. Applied behavioral analysis principles have been used in situations related to parent, staff and teacher training, health, safety, and biobehavioral applications, reducing the illegal sales of cigarette to minors, gerontology, substance abuse, crime and delinquency, self-management, highway speeding, employee work performance and productivity, exercise, elevator use, littering, consumption of electricity, clothing selection, seat belt usage, and for many other socially significant behaviors.
Imagine getting into your car and forgetting to buckle your seat belt. In this instance, a bell will beep in your car that will last from 10 to 15 seconds. In addition, this may be accompanied by a red flashing silhouette of a person wearing a seatbelt displayed on the odometer. This annoying sound is a stimulus to punish those of us who forgot to "buckle up." In some instances, we avoid this sound by buckling up.
Imagine getting out of your car and leaving your keys or your headlights on. Once again, lights will begin to flash and bells will begin to ring as a stimulus to reinforce the positive behavior of taking your keys and saving your battery or preventing one from being stranded.
Establishing Operations
The concept of establishing operation (EO) proposed by Jack Michael
identified EO's as a defining term for the motivational features of
antecedent events. Michael defines the concept as "an environmental
event, operation or stimulus condition that affects an organism by
momentarily altering (a) the reinforcing effectiveness of other events
and (b) the frequency of occurrence of that part of the organism's
repertoire relevant to those events as consequences." Michael indicated
that the "EO" serves two functions: it alters the effectiveness of
response consequences (e.g. reinforcers and punishment), and it changes
the frequency of the related behaviors. This specific description
separated the discriminative properties of antecedents from the
motivational influences. The concept of the EO has facilitated the
study of antecedent effects, and the manipulation of motivational
aspects that influence behavior.
Example of an EO - Feeling cold is an EO that motivates one to seek warmth and increases the behaviors associated with obtaining warmth (i.e., putting on a jacket, turning up the heat, snuggling with a love one). Jack Michael also introduced the related term of "abolishing operation." This refers to those EO's that have the opposite effect on behaviors. If you are too warm, that serves as an EO to terminate or decrease the behaviors associated with seeking a motivating stimuli (i.e., turning off the heat or taking off a jacket).
The relationship of EO's to language acquisition and treating
problem behavior is a relatively new topic in applied behavioral
analysis. Several common EO's have been identified in the motivation of
problem behavior, including attention deprivation, deprivation of
tangible items, deprivation of stimulation, and many more. In those ABA
program that utilizes EO's, capturing or contriving situations is
involved. Capturing situations involves those were the child is
engaging in a naturally occurring activity and stimuli are manipulated
that motivate the child to use language, or engage in higher or lower
rates of the targeted behavior (see TLC's Verbal Behavior section under
"Our Program"). Contriving situations involves providing opportunities
that are "set up" to elicit language, higher or lower rates of the
targeted behavior.
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What is Operant Conditioning?
B.F. Skinner's work has formulated the principle that operant (learned)
behaviors are not elicited by preceding stimuli, but instead are
controlled by stimuli that follow the behavior (consequences). The term
operant conditioning encompasses both reinforcement and punishment,
which are defined by their effects on behavior. Changes in behavior
result when a specific stimulus evokes a response pattern and is then
followed by a consequence (either reinforcement or punishment). The
consequence determines the behavior's future rate of occurrence (i.e.
either increase or decrease).
Operant reinforcement is the key element in Skinner's stimulus response (S-R) theory. Reinforcement is anything that immediately follows a response which increases the future occurrence or strengthens the presence of the desired response. There are various forms of positive reinforcement used that include: food, social praise, physical reinforcement, toys and many more. The theory also includes negative reinforcement, which can be confusing. People often hear the term "negative" and immediately think that negative reinforcement equals punishment. However, negative reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior occurring in the future. Negative reinforcement is any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response when it is withdrawn. This is not to be confused with an aversive stimulus (punishment) which, when presented, results in the probability that the targeted behavior will occur less frequently.
Punishment is another component of operant conditioning.
Punishment is a consequence that, when presented, decreases the
probability of subsequent occurrences of the behavior it follows. When
the term "punishment" is used, it is often associated with being
negative or with having a negative impact. However, punishment is a
natural phenomenon that occurs daily in the environment. The examples
of natural and controlled environmental punishers are abundant in the
world we interact in. For instance, receiving a speeding ticket is a
controlled punisher as it decreases the future probability that you
will speed in that area again. Getting a painful sunburn is a natural
punisher for staying out in the sun for too long. NOTE - Aversive punishments are NOT used in the TLC model.
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