There are two basic schools of thought within behaviorism.  The earlier one is known as the classical school (also know as the S-R school for "stimulus" and "response").  The name of Ivan Pavlov (Remember his experiments with the dogs?...Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?) is most closely associated with this elder school of thought.  The more recent type of behaviorism is the "operant" school of thought and practice.  The name most people associate with this view is B.F. Skinner (Remember his experiment with rats, pigeons, and his daughter?...if you don't know about her childrearing, you've gotta look it up).  The operant school of behaviorism believes in the Classical/SR school's view that a stimulus (happening) causes a response (behavior) to occur.  However, the operant school also recognizes that what happens AFTER a behavior influences it's chances of happening again when the stimulus presents itself.
 
 

Click here to see a cartoon about Pavlov and the S-R school (by Gary Larson...Far Side)

 

Click here for another cartoon about Pavlov

    Applied behavior analysis is the application of the principles of the Operant Behaviorist school of thought (although many recent advocates of ABA are separating themselves from the operant school, seeing it as too impersonal) No more mazes and push bars for me!

regarding how behavior develops, is maintained, and can be changed.  Behaviorism assumes that emotional and/or behavioral disorders are the result of inappropriate learning.  In other words, the environment (including the individuals in it) has created the aberrant behavior by reinforcing or rewarding it.  The most effective prevention and intervention for youngsters is therefore to control the student's environment so that the undesirable behavior no longer brings a reward, and a new and better replacement behavior is reinforced.  Maladaptive behavior is viewed as a learned response that can be "unlearned" by rearranging the events that come before and after the behavior.
 
 

Click here for biographies and contributions of important behaviorist figures

Outsmarted by a lab rat.

All of the material below refers to the operant school of behavior analysis.

A-B-C...It's as easy as 1-2-3
     The happenings that occur before a behavior are know as the "stimuli" (plural form of stimulus) or "Antecedents".  They prod the Behavior to occur.  That displayed behavior is then strengthened (i.e., "reinforced") or weakened by the Consequences that follow it.  A certain behavior will continue to occur only if it is rewarded or "reinforced" (Why would someone show a behavior if no benefit came of it?).

     There are four categories of "consequences" that can follow a behavior and thus influence it (i.e., decrease or increase it's probability of re-occurrence).  In other words, a behavior will get stronger or weaker (perhaps even cease completely or "extinguish") depending on what type of consequence follows it.  There are four categories of consequences: punishment, ignoring, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement (P.S. punishment and negative reinforcement ARE NOT the same thing.  If you once believed that they were the synonyms, throw that thought out of your mind forever...not later...NOW!)   A teacher who administers a punishment when a kid misbehaves and then says "I negatively reinforced him." is mixing up terms and concepts.
 
 

Click here for how A-B-C model is used to assess why a student misbehaves (Scroll down to "view #2")

 

PUNISHMENT
     If a behavior is punished, it will be less likely to occur in the future.  An important point to remember is that punishment is not what YOU think is punishing...it's what THE STUDENT who shows the behavior thinks is undesirable or aversive.  For example, some schools use suspension as a "punishment".  However, if the student enjoys being out of school where s/he can roam the streets or watch TV all day, then the "punishment" of suspension is NOT punishing.  It's actually a reward! (reinforcement).  How do you tell if a consequence is punishing or not?  Behaviorists will tell you to watch the occurrence of the behavior...if it happens less often, then your consequence is a true punishment.

     There are some things that behaviorists forget to mention about the use of punishment.  There are MANY drawbacks or problems with the use of punishment in getting rid of undesired student behavior.  For example:
-A punishment must be more powerful than the benefits (e.g., attention, power, money, desired items, etc.) the student receives from showing the behavior.  If the punishment isn't strong enough, the behavior will still continue.
-While punishment that out-weighs the benefits WILL cause the behavior to stop immediately, it DOES NOT teach new, more acceptable behavior.  The youngster knows what NOT to do, but doesn't know what TO DO in place of that inappropriate behavior.
-While the youngster may not show the behavior around the punisher, s/he still shows the behavior elsewhere.  A behavior pattern is not changed by punishment.  The student merely stops showing the behavior around one person: the punisher.
-Additionally, the student stops the behavior NOT because s/he believes it is the right thing to do, but rather because s/he fears you.  Obeying another out of fear  is the lowest stage of moral development.  There is no internal motivation to change for the better.  We have done nothing to help the student.  In fact, we may have caused emotional/psychological trauma, or in some cases, physical harm.  At the very least, we have destroyed the valued student-teacher bond.  Now you have a begrudgingly compliant student who dislikes you, fears you, and avoids you (or is just sneaky...displaying the undesirable behavior when you're not looking). Classic case: Substitute teachers who face unruly classrooms of kids who have been "controlled" by their usual teachers in a negative classroom climate.  However, "when the cat is away, the mice will play."  When the punisher is away, the oppressed masses will show a different behavior.

There are four "R"s that will result if you decide to use punishment:
 -resentment (the kids feel devalued and are upset at the way they are treated)
 -retreat (kids avoid you by failing to say "Hi" when they see you, cutting your classes, etc.)
 -rebellion (kids may refuse to work for you or comply with directions)
 -revenge  (students use punishment against you in a recurring battle)

 So if punishment has such negative outcomes, why do most people love their parents, even though their parents punished them?  Most parents provide massive amounts of positives that "outweigh" the negative aspects of punishment.  Any punishment was probably viewed as being administered because the parents loved them (Parent to child: "This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.") or made a rare mistake in judgment.  Teachers don't have the same extensive history with the kids.  Educators should try to avoid punishment as much as possible while using "catching them being good" (positive reinforcement) as the main behavior management tool.

 It's difficult to change punishers to effective behavior managers.  Folks who frequently use punishment and coercion tend to be black and white, either/or, concrete thinkers.  They think that if you're not punishing an inappropriate behavior, you're letting the kids "get away with it".  They fail to see the hundreds or thousands of other interventions that could be used   (Please direct these folks to this web site!).    The mean teachers also get "reinforcement" from punishing: the behavior stops (at least around them...although the behavior usually reoccurs...coercive teachers soon find them selves saying "How many times do I have to punish you to get you to stop?"  The answer is "Forever" because punishment does not teach a student what s/he OUGHT to be doing in that situation.).  As Mark Twain once said: "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail."  These people need to add some more tools to their behavior management tool box.

IGNORING
     You've heard it before: "Ignore the behavior and it will go away."  Maybe you've followed this adage but experienced limited, if any success.  Yes; if done effectively, ignoring will reduce a behavior and cause it to eventually die out ("extinguish").  However, certain conditions and cautions need to be observed.
 First, the student must be trying to gain your attention.  If the student is satisfied with attention from others (i.e., laughter from other kids or yelling/pleading from your para- professional), then you can ignore all you want, but it will have no effect.  Also, some behaviors are self reinforcing.  When an autistic youngster is rocking, or a teenager's hand goes down the front of his pants, they would prefer that you DO ignore them.  The behavior feels good, so they don't want to be interrupted!  When kids say nasty things to other kids, they are exerting power over others.  If you ignore this behavior, it will continue because the benefits of being powerful still occur.  In order for the procedure of ignoring to work, ALL incoming attention and benefits must be withdrawn.  This plan would mean that other students and faculty must also ignore the behavior.  The plan of total ignoring described above is not easy to implement.  The only thing that is needed to ruin your ignoring plan is for another educator, walking by your room, seeing the student engaged in the behavior, and trying to help you by chastising that misbehaving student.

 There is also the phenomenon of the "behavioral burst".  When students are ignored, they tend to escalate the behavior in an attempt to gain the desired attention.  The ignored behavior increases in intensity and frequency...often for quite a long period until the student finally realizes that inappropriate behavior won't bring the usual rewards.  (In one study, staff in a residential setting for severely retarded individuals believed that a client's head banging behavior was an attempt to gain staff attention in a place in which bizarre/severe behavior tends to get attention...not appropriate behavior.  They decided to ignore the head banging instead of rushing over to restrain the individual.  The client banged his head over 9000 times before finally stopping.)

 Imagine the newly ignored youngster who doesn't get the usual attention.  S/he thinks that you are probably tired or somewhat distracted that day.  To help tip you off, s/he shows a stronger, more intense version of the usual behavior.  You ignore this behavior too.  The kid then shows a more frequent and powerful version.  You ignore it too.  Finally, the kid thinks "OK teacher, ignore THIS!!!" (showing you a behavior that is far out-of-bounds).  You might be able to ignore a student who states answers without raising his/her hand, but can you ignore the student when s/he yells out the answer?  You can ignore a student who pesters others, but can you ignore the same student when s/he throws something at others or hits them?  If you do finally react to the new and more intensive behavior, you've just created a new and worse behavior than you had to deal with before.  You've just reinforced a worse behavior than the one you disliked.  Now the student knows to go directly to that more severe behavior to get attention.  You're in for an awful time.

 If you are going to ignore, you have to be able, in the words of a past U.S. President, "Stay the course.".  It will be difficult and fraught with problems...for example, you might have convinced the other students to ignore the behavior of an offending student.  They'll try to help you by being inattentive to the irritating behavior...UNTIL they become so irritated with the escalation in the behavior that they shout out "Stop that!!"  Now they've just reinforced (rewarded) the more intense version of the behavior, creating the likelihood that it will occur again.  OR...perhaps the other students think that if you're failing to react to a certain behavior it must be OK for THEM to show the behavior.  Now you've got a whole classroom of kids showing the undesirable behavior!  Yikes!!!

 To be successful in ignoring (this means NO attention>>>NO explaining, NO pleading, NO scolding), you must also be doing something else at the same time....catching other kids being good (hoping to lure the misbehaving student into showing the correct behavior in order to get your attention).  Be sure to check out the following links on the home page of this site: "Different ways to catch ‘em being good", and "Problems with catching ‘em being good".
 
 

Click here to read an example of how a teacher used ignoring to eliminate hitting behavior

 

Click here to read an example of how a teacher used planned ignoring with an attention seeking pre-schooler.

 

Click here to read an example of planned ignoring with a girl who rips things off of wall to gain teacher attention

    So what makes negative reinforcement different from positive reinforcement?  Well, both make someone feel good.   Positive reinforcement is the acquisition of something the person wants. Negative reinforcement is the avoidance of something the person dislikes.  If a student shows a behavior that avoids something undesirable, then his/her behavior is "negatively reinforced" (and strengthened).  In other words: It feels good not to be punished.  It is reinforcing to avoid a bad thing.
Below, you'll find more information on each type of reinforcement.
 

POSITIVE  REINFORCEMENT
     Talking about catching ‘em being good...The proper use of positive reinforcement will increase the likelihood of the rewarded behavior happening again in the future.  Essentially, if the student receives something that s/he views as being desirable, the behavior that acquired that reward will be shown again.  Again, it is important to remember that it is NOT what WE think would be reinforcing (rewarding), it is what the STUDENT views as being desirable.  Don't know what they find to be reinforcing?  Just ask them via verbal questioning or a checklist/survey known as a "reinforcement inventory". You can create your own or purchase published ones.

 To see a listing of rewards and instructions for weaning kids from lower level reinforcers (e.g., food, money, tokens, stickers) to higher level ones (e.g., social praise, love of learning) go to the home page on this site and click on the link titled "Weaning kids from rewards and developing internal motivation".

NEGATIVE  REINFORCEMENT
     OK, listen up.  Negative reinforcement is one of the more difficult behavior management concepts/procedures to comprehend.

 First of all, note the word "reinforcement" in the term.  We know by this wording that something rewarding must be occurring.  So therefore, negative reinforcement and punishment CANNOT be the same thing.  Punishment is when we do something to the student's behavior that s/he doesn't like.  We know by the inclusion of the word "reinforcement" in the term "negative reinforcement" that we must be doing something that the student finds rewarding.  Therefore, negative reinforcement will have the same result as positive reinforcement...the behavior will increase in frequency and/or intensity in the future.

 Now for the other part of the term.  As you might expect, the word "negative" implies that this way of reinforcing behavior is not as nice as when we use "positive" reinforcement.  Yes, somehow something awful/undesirable is involved, but NO PUNISHMENT TAKES PLACE when a behavior is "negatively reinforced".  In fact, we reinforce the behavior by taking away a threatened punishment IF the student shows the correct behavior.

 WHAT!?!?!?!  OK, let me explain it in a number of different ways.  Grab onto the one you understand, and then expand your understanding from that point.  First, here's the definition in precise behaviorist terms: "The removal of an aversive stimuli (consequence) contingent upon the display of an identified action."  In simpler words: "If you show the behavior I want to see, I won't punish you."  It feels good not to be punished.  The punishment never happens and that is reinforcing (rewarding).  Below, you will find other attempts to explain "negative reinforcement".
 

Explanation #1
 Negative reinforcement occurs when a student shows an appropriate behavior in order to make the threat of punishment go away.  The student shows the correct behavior to avoid being punished if s/he doesn't do so.  In other words, reinforcement is happening...it feels good not to be punished.  It's not the nicest way to give reinforcement (it's not POSITIVE reinforcement).  Instead, it is a rather NEGATIVE way to reinforce a kid (thus the term NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT).

Explanation #2
 Negative reinforcement is the removal of something awful (or the threat of it) if the student shows an appropriate behavior.

Explanation #3
 A behavior is "negatively reinforced" if a student shows a behavior to keep something awful from happening, or if it is already happening...make it go away.

Explanation #4
 You threaten a student with punishment unless s/he does as told.  The student shows the behavior you demanded.  That exhibited behavior made the threatened punishment go away.  That displayed behavior brought about reinforcement (a feeling of relief at having "dodged the bullet").  It feels good (reinforcement) not to be punished (something negative).  The removal of that negative is reinforcing...thus "negative reinforcement" of the displayed behavior.  We will see more of that behavior in the future to avoid punishment.

Explanation #5
 The student's action keeps a negative thing (in his/her mind) from happening.

Explanation #6
 It's a negative way of reinforcing someone.
 

Behaviorism's focus is on the behavior, not the person.  Because of that focus, some cruel experiments and interventions have been conducted in the past.  Today, restrictions on the procedures have been developed to guide practice (although some violations are still found on an infrequent basis)  There is a famous early behaviorist experiment using negative reinforcement which would violate today's guidelines.  Here's that example:

A room is prepared with a metal grate covering the whole floor area.  In one corner of the room is a chair on a rubber mat.  An autistic child is placed in the room which now contains his mother seated on the chair.  The door is closed behind the boy and locked.  Outside, the "therapist" flips a switch that sends a mild electric current through the metal grid on the floor.  The bare-foot youngster feels the sting on his feet.  He jumps wildly and runs about the room looking for relief.  It is finally found on the isolated rubber mat containing mom seated in the chair.  The current is turned off.  The child is removed from the room.  He is placed inside the room again and five seconds elapses before the switch is turned on, again sending electricity through the metal mesh floor.  The child runs to the mat again for relief.  Over many more trials, the mat is made smaller and smaller until the child must climb up on mom's lap to escape the punishment of the electricity.  In this situation, the behavior of being away from the mother was punished with electrical shock. The behavior of going to mother and physical contact with mom (something often absent in autistic children) was created via negative reinforcement (going to mother makes the punishment go away).

 Most cultures of the world use negative reinforcement prominently in their child raising.  You may have heard some variation on this wording: "Do it or else."  You then did it (showed the behavior your parents wanted to see) to avoid the "or else" (the threatened punishment).  Your behavior was reinforced (strengthened) and occurred again in the future to avoid the negative thing your parents used to threaten you. (But I'll bet you showed the "bad behavior" elsewhere when no punisher was around.)

 Our legal system operates on negative reinforcement.  Police officers don't pull you over when you're driving safely to give you a "certificate of good driving" (positive reinforcement).  However, if you show the wrong driving behavior (e.g., speeding, going past a stop sign without stopping), you can be punished.  Many people drive safely to avoid the punishment (a "ticket" and monetary fine).  Their proper driving behavior is negatively reinforced (good driving practices keep the punishment away).

 So why do some people speed?  The benefits of speeding (i.e., quicker travel time) outweigh the inconsistently enforced penalties.  Speeders gamble that they will be able to avoid the punishment.  They'll slow down when they see on-coming traffic flash their headlights (indicating a "speed trap" ahead)...remember, offenders avoid showing the wrong behavior around the punisher...but they'll keep doing the wrong behavior when the punisher is not around.  It only take a few seconds beyond the speed trap to get back up to the high speed again.

 Sometimes a behavior is strengthened even more quickly and strongly via a "double dose" of reinforcement...positive AND negative reinforcement happening at the same time.  For example, if you become a skilled behavior manager you gain more compliance and on-task behavior from the students (positive reinforcement) while non-compliant and off-task behavior (punishment) go away (negative reinforcement of using good behavior management).
 
 

Some Concerns About Behaviorism and ABA
    Applied behavior analysis, behaviorism's answer to paint-by-the-numbers art, has offered special educators (and others) a myriad of effective techniques that have enhanced the education of youngsters with learning and behavioral impairments.  However, you must master many other methods and approaches to become an accomplished artist in the behavior management medium.  To create a classroom masterpiece, you need to be able to dip your behavior management brush into a palate that contains more than just black and white.  Behaviorist techniques are best suited to fill the canvas of those learners with severe cognitive impairments and conditions such as autism.  Their techniques lose effectiveness when used with older youngsters and those who are more cognitively able.

    There are certain other concerns and qualifications that I feel the need to voice.  This blaspheme often brings forth great consternation from fanatic behaviorists.  In their minds, behaviorism, with it's "antecedent - behavior - consequence" series of events is a fact...it's proven!  When I question behaviorism, many dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying behaviorists look at me like I'm questioning gravity.  I suggest that we ought to ask ourselves: "How do I know that gravity is pulling me down?"
 Perhaps I'm being pushed!
 Behaviorists (and you know who you are) attempt to explain all strategies, even those derived from other viewpoints, in their own terms and theoretical orientation.  They claim to have a model that covers everything...sort of like my grandmother's nightgown.  However, extending this ownership to techniques that they do not typically recommend to those in training is equivalent to bragging about having seduced women they have never met.  For example, behaviorists seeing a nice teacher having positive interaction with a youngster will say that the interaction style in a "reinforcer".  However, behaviorist professors do not teach future teachers how to be "nice".  Students in teacher training programs with a strong behaviorist bent are not taught counseling techniques, reflective listening, "I messages", using encouragement, etc., which are the very things that result in the positive interaction.  They should listen to the advice of their mothers and former teachers: You shouldn't take credit for something  you haven't done.

    My concern, as is probably becoming apparent, is with the closed minds of staunch behaviorists.  They tend to view schools as being Skinner boxes with cafeterias.  It seems that while the eminent Dr. Skinner has gone to the big laboratory in the sky, his rats live on (Given that his experiments were conducted at Harvard, I suspect that the cheese fed them was probably Brie).

      By the same token...(Oops, sorry behaviorists...no pun intended)...I am concerned about the attitude of many behaviorists who remain psychologically and personally removed from those youngsters with whom they work.  Indeed, my research has found 96% of behaviorists testing positive for crankiness.  The behaviorists who are most effective are those who also relate well to kids and interact with them on a personalized basis, approaches not taught in typical behaviorist teacher preparation programs.  A teacher must become more than an ice cube with a clip board.  While reading this article, try to understand that there are many valid and effective ways of changing behavior...not all of them based on a behaviorist viewpoint.  "One size fits all" is a lie in fashion... and in education.

    Perhaps I should be placed on a program to prevent me from writing more articles like this one.  Behaviorists could use their "A-B-A-B research design" to prove the effectiveness of their intervention...Take baseline (pre-intervention/1st A) data;  implement the intervention (1st B) and take data;  remove the intervention and take data (2nd A);  and then re-implement the intervention (2nd B) and take data.  If the intervention is effective, we should see a change in the behavior during the "B" (intervention) stages, and a return to intial rates of the behavior during the "A" (no intervention) phases.  That up-and-down display of behavior (according to behaviorists) proves the effectiveness of the intervention.  However, ask yourself:  "Would I purchase a reading program for my school if the kids only read better when I was using it (the intervention phases), but then returned to their previous reading levels when the curriculum was withdrawn?"

    The traditional behaviorist school of thought is not concerned with a person's mental state, because it cannot be measured (Behaviorists prefer to deal only in terms of observable and measurable behaviors.  Emotions can not be reliably measured.).  The emotional and/or psychological impact of interventions is rarely considered, and a common defense of their practice is that "The kid will be emotionally better in the long run because the better behavior will make him/her more socially acceptable to others."

Behaviorism is "big brother"ish.  There is the belief that behavior should be changed for the common good (Ironically, behaviorism reached it's peak popularity around 1984!).

Applied behavior analysis is predicated on a European American male view of the world.  It is logical, rational, and mechanical in nature.  There is a "cause and effect" empirical orientation which belittles "less valid", non-scientific views on the world (e.g., a common American Indian belief system recognizes the impact of paradox, mystery, and other-world influences on behavior, etc.)  For more information on how the use of ABA procedures may be culturally insensitive and inappropriate for minority culture students, see this site's home page link titled "Culture, gender, and orientation".  Then click on the sub-link to cultural issues in the use of behaviorist procedures.
 

1. Select a behavior in the situations presented below and decide whether it has been punished, ignored, positively reinforced, or negatively reinforced.
a. A student with Autism engages in self stimulation by waving fingers in front of her eyes.  The teacher grabs the student's hands and slaps them, saying "Quiet hands!"  The finger waving stops (at least when the teacher is watching).
b. You yell at a student (because you haven't yet learned better ways to deal with misbehavior) and the behavior stops (at least for now and around you).
c. The students work hard on their assignments to earn the promised "10 extra minutes of recess" promised by the teacher if they do so.
d. The teacher fails to acknowledge a student's yelling out of an answer, calling instead on another student whose hand is raised.

2. Explain to another person (or to yourself) how negative reinforcement is involved in the following situations
a. A breeze makes you chilly while sleeping.  You get up and close the window.  You are now able to sleep soundly.  Which behavior was negatively reinforced?  What punishment went away?
b. You go on a diet.  You lose weight.  Which behavior was negatively reinforced?  What punishing thing went away?
c. A student cuts his social studies class because he hasn't studied for the test.  What behavior made what awful thing go away (at least for the moment).
d. Students in a course who obtain an average of 90% on four quizzes won't have to take the final examination.  Which behavior is negatively reinforced by making what awful thing go away.
e. A student cheats on a test.
f. A mother is holding her baby.  Her arms begin to get tired so she puts the baby down into the crib.
g. The baby who was placed in the crib starts to cry.   The mother picks up the baby.  Crying ceases. (Both individuals have a behavior that is negatively reinforced)
h. You bring home a new puppy.  Your cat hisses at the puppy.  The puppy runs away. (Both animals have a behavior negatively reinforced.)
i. An educational evaluator enters the testing room.  The child who is to be tested starts to scream and yell and throw test materials.  The evaluator leaves the room and writes a report saying that the child is "untestable".  Both individuals had a behavior negatively reinforced.

3. You intervene upon seeing a behavior.  You note very quickly that the behavior is being displayed more often by the student.  Which consequence COULD NOT be in effect in this situation (the other three categories of consequence could be in effect, depending on the situation).

4.  The description of the four types of consequences was made rather simple to give newcomers to this orientation/theory a basic grasp of the principles.  If you understood the material, click here to go to a more accurate explanation that will give you a deeper understanding of the behaviorist view.

5.  If reinforcement strengthens a behavior and punishment weakens a behavior, how can behaviorists explain the following phenomenon?:  An aspiring athlete, dreaming of someday becoming an Olympic champion, works harder after every race he loses.  He runs more, lifts weights, studies technique, etc.  He unexpectedly qualifies during the Olympic trials for his country, goes to the Olympics and wins the gold medal.  Afterwards, he retires from racing. Why didn't the lost races decrease his "racing behavior"?  Why didn't this sought-after reinforcement (Olympic gold medal) keep him in the sport?
 
 

For further study:
(The basics of ABA) Alberto and Troutman (1990) Applied behavior analysis for teachers.  Merrill Publishing.  Presents information and procedures in humorous and easily understood language.  Filled with humorous cartoons.

(Advanced ABA) Martin and Pear (2003). Behavior modification: What it is and how to do it.  Prentice-Hall Publishers.
 
 
 

Click here for yet another review of the material

 

No.  This animal is NOT a white rat.

                        This puppy is a direct descendant of one of Pavlov's dogs.

Fetch Dr. Mac's Home Page When you hear the bell                                      ...but this time, don't drool all over the page!)

Don't worry pooch.  We won't let that nasty cat hurt you.
 
 

Updated on 2/10/05       Author: Tom McIntyre  at   www.BehaviorAdvisor.com