The Consequence

1. Consequences

The consequence is the third and final part of the three-term contingency. It is defined as the outcome that occurs immediately following the patient’s response.

The consequence determines if the behavior will increase or decrease over time. The type of consequence depends on the type of response that occurs.

EXAMPLE

The S^D, or antecedent, is the teacher saying, “Give me the blue cup.” The response is the patient, Jacob, giving the teacher the blue cup. The consequence is Jacob receiving a chip.

1. Reinforcement
2. Error correction procedure

term to know

Consequence

The outcome that occurs immediately following the patient’s response

2. Reinforcement

As previously discussed, reinforcement is a type of consequence that happens after the behavior has occurred. It is defined as an immediate presentation of a desired stimulus or removal of an aversive stimulus that increases the future frequency of a response. It is something that occurs after a behavior that makes that behavior more likely to occur in the future.

It can involve receiving something (positive reinforcement) or having something non-preferred taken away (negative reinforcement).

hint

Note that positive and negative are not good and bad in behavior analysis; rather, they are about adding or taking something away.

Reinforcement is used when a patient engages in a correct response, and it should be presented immediately following correct responses. The stimulus presented or removed is called the reinforcer (abbreviated as S^r).

big idea

Reinforcement is the key to teaching new skills.

EXAMPLE

In this case, we are presenting a stimulus, the chips, to teach Jacob to go to the kitchen when someone says, “Go to the kitchen.” We tend to repeat responses that either produce good things or eliminate bad things, so Jacob is more likely to go to the kitchen when he wants chips in the future.

EXAMPLE

In this case, we are presenting the S^D, “Write your name,” to teach the patient to write their name on their paper. They get a high five and verbal praise (“Way to go!”) when they correctly write their name on the paper. They are more likely to write their name on their paper when given this direction in the future.

term to know

Reinforcement

Immediate presentation of a desired stimulus or removal of an aversive stimulus that increases the future frequency of a response

2a. Positive Reinforcement

EXAMPLE

Receiving a paycheck for coming to work.

think about it

Think of a time you were given positive reinforcement.

term to know

Positive Reinforcement

Occurs when the patient is given something when the behavior occurs

2b. Negative Reinforcement

EXAMPLE

The patient is told that if they complete five of the eight math problems, they do not have to do the remaining three.

think about it

Think of a time that you were given negative reinforcement.

term to know

Negative Reinforcement

Occurs when the patient has something that is taken away when the behavior occurs

2c. Types of Reinforcers

think about it

What are some of your own reinforcers?

Many things influence the effectiveness of a reinforcer including the condition of the patient’s motivation.

think about it

Can you recall something you learned earlier that alters the effectiveness of a reinforcer? Do you recall learning about motivating operations (MO)?

Deprivation from a reinforcer can increase reinforcer effectiveness.

Satiation of a reinforcer can decrease that reinforcer’s effectiveness.

In addition, the patient’s current motivation can influence the effectiveness of a reinforcer.

think about it

If your patient skipped out on breakfast, what do you think their current motivation will be?

As a behavior technician, you will need to be sensitive to MOs that may decrease the effectiveness of the reinforcers or consequences you use. Specifically, if you think your patient may be satiated with respect to a particular reinforcer, you will want to use a different reinforcer.

Also, consider the difficulty and amount of the task versus the amount of reinforcement.

think about it

Which is more motivating? Answering one question and earning one gummy bear or writing a whole paper for 30 minutes and earning a two-minute break.

Finally, consider how freely the the patient has access to that reinforcement at other times. If the patient has unlimited time with the iPad outside of the session, will this still be motivating for them to “work for”?

2d. Frequency of Reinforcement

• continuous reinforcement
• intermittent reinforcement

Intermittent reinforcement is used to maintain behaviors previously learned or “mastered” (also known as “on maintenance”) and occurs after every two, three, four, five, etc. correct responses or after an average number of responses

hint

The BCBA for each patient you work with will tell you how frequently to provide reinforcement.

Typically, you will move from primary to secondary reinforcers. This means, for instance, moving away from food reinforcers to toy and activity reinforcers. Your BCBAs will tell you what kinds of reinforcers to use with each of your patients.

You will also typically move to natural reinforcers. Outside of the therapy environment, people don’t usually give children candy or crackers or start blowing bubbles when they say "Hi" to another child, answer another child’s questions, or join a conversation.

When we initially teach skills like greeting another child or responding to another child, we might use primary reinforcers such as food, or secondary reinforcers such as a favorite toy. However, our patients will only continue to greet peers or answer peers without behavior technicians present if we are able to transfer to more natural reinforcers.

EXAMPLE

An example of a natural reinforcer for our patient saying "Hi" to a peer would be the peer saying "Hi" back.

hint

Your BCBA will instruct you on how and when to move to more natural reinforcers with your individual patients.

And, as we just discussed, we also move from continuous reinforcement, or reinforcement following every attempted or correct response, to intermittent reinforcement.

3. Error Correction

Mistakes happen and that is ok! We do not always get things right the first or even the second time. However, we want to have a plan in place for how we will respond if and when those errors happen.

think about it

Think of a time when it took you several tries to learn something, such as riding a bike, playing an instrument, or learning a new language.

Error correction, a procedure following an incorrect or non-response, focuses on decreasing errors in the future. Incorrect responses and no response should be treated the same: they should result in an error correction procedure.

There are two primary choices for error correction procedures, both of which are popular and both of which work well: informational no procedure and head-down procedure.

term to know

Error Correction

A procedure following an incorrect or non-response

3a. Informational No Procedure

The procedure is called “informational no” because you are merely trying to make it clear to the patient that they made an incorrect response. It is for feedback, not punishment, so a neutral tone should be used, not a negative or harsh one. The no response should not be aversive or patronizing; it should simply be informative.

hint

While the informational no is presented neutrally and is not intended to be aversive, some ABA providers discourage providing the verbal feedback of “no” for incorrect responses. They may choose to use other phrases such as “not quite” or “almost.” As a best practice, you should always implement programs and procedures as outlined by your BCBA or supervisor.

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician is working with the patient, Zachariah, to learn to touch his nose.
A: Behavior technician says, “Touch your nose.”
B: Zachariah points to the behavior technician.
C: Behavior technician says “No” and repeats the S^D, “Touch your nose.”

3b. Head-Down Procedure

EXAMPLE

The behavior technician is teaching the patient, Sasha, to touch the picture of a dog.
A: The behavior technician says, “Point to the dog.”
B: Sasha touches the picture of the cat.
C: The behavior technician looks away for a few seconds then repeats the S^D, “Point to the dog.”

Very little research has compared the informational no correction procedure to the head-down procedure. Different individuals and organizations have strongly held beliefs about which is better.

The head-down procedure may make it more difficult for the patients to determine when they have made an error. However, the informational no procedure may evoke more challenging behavior, especially for patients who find the word “no” aversive.

hint

Defer to your BCBA about which of these error correction procedures (or others) you should use.

We will discuss additional prompting procedures in future units.