Reinforcement Programs: What Are They And How Are They Used?
Behaviorism is a psychological trend that offers various techniques for behavior modification. Many of them are used in the education of children, both at school and at home. One of the most widely known is reinforcement (rewarding the behavior we want to increase). However, this can be applied in different ways depending on the objective. For this reason, today we are going to talk about the different reinforcement programs.
There are many stimuli that can act as reinforcers. From tangible elements, such as a candy or a toy, to immaterial aspects, such as a compliment or a congratulation. But, in addition, the criteria followed to apply the reinforcer give rise to different procedures. Depending on the behavior we want to increase, some may be more useful than others.
Reinforcement programs
Continuous and intermittent
The best known program is the continuous reinforcement program: behavior is rewarded (reinforced) whenever it appears. For example, every time the child makes the bed, he is congratulated on his homework. This is the most effective type of program to establish new behaviors, as it generates a higher response rate.
On the other hand, we find intermittent reinforcement programs. In this case, the reinforcer does not always follow the behavior ; sometimes it delivers and sometimes it doesn’t. It is more appropriate to maintain already established behaviors, so that they depend, to a lesser extent, on reinforcement.
For example, when we praise the child for how well he has tidied up his room. Although this is already a routine for him, getting that social reward from time to time will help maintain the behavior.
Of reason or interval
Within the intermittent reinforcement programs we find two different modalities, depending on the criteria to be followed. We speak of reason reinforcement when the appearance of the reward depends on the number of times the behavior is issued. For example, if we reinforce the child with a sticker for brushing his teeth after each meal, he will have to perform the behavior three times to get the gift.
On the other hand, we refer to interval reinforcement when the criterion to reinforce is the time elapsed since the last reinforcement. Let’s take an example: the child is studying and the father passes by his room, from time to time, to congratulate him and give him encouragement. The reinforcement appears after an interval of time, but the child has to be performing the behavior when this happens to be able to obtain it.
The problem with interval reinforcement is that there is a behavioral pause after getting the reward. Since the child knows that some time will elapse between the appearance of one reinforcer and the next, he is allowed to stop his behavior when he receives the first. This difficulty is less frequent the shorter the interval.
Fixed or variable
Both ratio and interval programs can be of a fixed or variable rate. A fixed ratio program awards the reward every X repetitions of the behavior (for example, every three times you brush your teeth, you get a sticker). And, in the variable ratio, the reinforcer appears after several repetitions, but it is not specified how many (sometimes every two, sometimes every five …).
Similarly, it would be a fixed interval program if the prize is always obtained after the same period of time. For example, if a child does not like to read, every 10 minutes of reading he gets a point that he can later exchange for prizes. On the contrary, if the interval time is not specified, it will be variable (the child is studying and we start to encourage him from time to time, sometimes every 15 minutes, sometimes every 25…).
Usefulness of reinforcement programs
As we can see, each type of program has different characteristics and utility. To establish behaviors, continuous reinforcement is more effective but, to achieve maintenance over time, intermittent reinforcement is preferable.
Reason programs provide higher response rates than interval programs, but both, if fixed, have a pause after reinforcement. To avoid this, it is preferable to use short intervals and few repetitions, or to use variable programs. Depending on the behavior modification you want to do, you can analyze what type of program is best for you to use.
