How to reinforce behaviors

The following information is from Unit 4 of the book Teaching: A Course in Psychology by Wesley C. Becker, Siegfried Engelmann, and Don R. Thomas. 

Note: Science Research Associates published the book in 1971. I am unsure if the publishers reprinted the book or if it is available to buy. I found it through a university inter-library loan program. I suspect that Becker or Engelmann use the book or some form of it in their special education teaching classes at the University of Oregon. 

Four rules on when to reinforce:

1. Reinforce or punish immediately after teaching a new task

• How to reinforce when teaching a large group of students
• Giving the students access to a computer program or using a     technology where all student responses are immediately reinforced
• Break the large group into small groups so that all students can receive teacher attention
• The teacher gives specific verbal praise and reinforcement in response to a student’s answers to work on a paper
• However, this method is delayed
• Example of immediate reinforcement by a teacher for one student: the     student would not work unless the teacher gave him attention, so she told him to raise his hand for her attention after he solved one problem
• As he worked more consistently she required him to complete more work to get her attention

2. Reinforce every correct response when teaching a new task

• Require more correct responses before reinforcement as the behavior occurs more often
• Gradually give intermittent reinforcement as the behavior becomes proficient
• Example: gambling is effective at creating gamblers because it inconsistently rewards the gambler for giving money for the chance of getting money (if the gambler always won and then suddenly did not win, he would not assume there was a chance he might win again)

3. Avoid consistent reinforcement for paying attention, persistence to work, and working on-task

• Consistent reinforcement can lead to a student not paying attention or being off-task on work when the teacher is NOT giving direct attention
• An example of how a teacher increased a student’s on-task behavior without giving him direct attention:
• The student has a chart with 25 squares for him to fill as he is reinforced for work completion
• The 25 squares lead to choosing a game for the class to play
• The teacher has a timer on her desk that goes off every set minutes (she keeps track with a card on her desk that shows time intervals like 30 minutes, 2 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.)
• The teacher reinforces the student for work completion (filling a square on the chart) every time the timer goes off
• Since the student does not know when the timer will go off, he has to keep working
• Over time the teacher increases the time intervals
• Over time the bell is faded and the teacher checks independently of the bell
• Over time the points are faded and the teacher gives verbal praise or occasional privileges for work completion

 4. Reinforce improvement in correct behavior

• Do not insist on perfection in the beginning
• Students who know the most tend to get the most reinforcement when it is the students who know less (who need to work harder) who need the reinforcement
• Reinforce ALL students for behavior improvement
• Do not reinforce the wrong behavior
• To change a problem behavior (i.e. a student crying in response to being asked to work), do not sometimes reinforce the behavior by appeasing the student because it will reinforce the problem behavior (intermittent reinforcement for the wrong behavior)

Terms for types of reinforcement:

• Continuous reinforcement: a response is always reinforced by a reinforcing stimulus
• Intermittent reinforcement: a response is sometimes reinforced by a reinforcing stimulus and sometimes is not reinforced
• Predictable intermittent reinforcement:
• Fixed interval reinforcement: the first response after a fixed period is reinforced by a reinforcing stimulus (i.e. a student can watch television after he reads for ten minutes)
• Fixed ratio reinforcement: a reinforcing stimulus is given after a set number of responses (i.e. a student can watch television after he reads ten pages in his book)
• Unpredictable intermittent reinforcement:
• Variable interval reinforcement: the response after a variable period is reinforced by a reinforcing stimulus
• For example, a five minute variable interval reinforcement means that a response is reinforced, on average, every five minutes
• Variable ratio reinforcement: a reinforcing stimulus is given after a variable number of responses
• For example, a variable ratio-twenty reinforcement means that, on average, every twentieth response is reinforced but that any number of responses from one to forty may also be reinforced
• Resistance to extinction: a behavior is resistant to extinction if it continues to occur more often or last longer with no reinforcement than another behavior
• The behavior occurs without reinforcement