Factors in Reinforcement

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AYESHA SHAHZAD

ROXENA MORANO – PHD EDUCATION
P172-179
Cueing and Prompting
Cueing

 Using signals to indicate that a certain response is desirable or undesirable.

1. verbal: when a teacher calls on students’ names to signa that they need to stay on task
2. Nonverbal: such as when a teacher uses body language
(i.e., making eye contact, frowning) to let students know that an inappropriate behavior needs
to cease (Emmer, 1987; Woolfolk & Brooks, 1985). Even physical proximity may cue
students about undesirable behaviors.
Setting Event

 The creation of an environment that is conducive to certain target behaviors, where it’s
the environment rather than verbal or non-verbal behavior that cues the subject to behave
in a certain way.
 Environment as a cue
 More cooperation in free play time: Example
Prompting
Prompting

 The presentation of an additional cue following the first cue with the goal of shaping or
changing behavior
 Research suggests that the most effective use of prompts consists
of consistently presenting the cue before the prompt and fading the prompt gradually
(Becker, Englemann, & Thomas, 1975).
 1. DIFFERENTIAL
Decreasing 2.
REINFORCEMENT
EXTINCTION
Undesirable 3. SATIATION

Behaviours 4. REMOVAL PUNISHMENT

5. PRESENTATION
PUNISHMENT
1.Differential Reinforcement

 Reinforcing behaviors that are more appropriate than or incompatible with the undesirable
behavior.
 students can be reinforced for speaking softly rather than loudly, for walking in the
hallways rather than running, or for turning in homework early rather than late.
 Attention seeking behaviours: students’ inappropriate
 behaviors are inadvertently maintained by positive reinforcers such as teacher or peer
attention.
2. Extinction

 The gradual disappearance of a learned response.

 Operant Conditioning: For instance, if you suspect that paying attention to Ali may be
reinforcing his misbehavior, the best strategy is to ignore his undesirable behavior and
only pay attention to his desirable behaviors. Eventually, Ali will stop displaying the
undesirable behavior if your attention was its main reinforcer.
3. Satiation

 Encouraging the undesirable behavior until students are not willing to engage in it any
more.
 The other meaning: the psychological state that results from receiving too much
reinforcement for a desirable behavior.
4. Removal Punishment

 removing desirable stimuli

 not be confused with negative reinforcement, which consists of taking away something
that is undesirable to students.
Removal Punishment

i. Time out
ii. Detention
iii. In school suspension
iv. Response Cost
i. Time out

Removing students from

the class and physically
isolating them from their
classmates.
ii.Detention

 Keeping students in school outside

 of school hours.
iii.In School Suspension

 A method where students are

placed in a quiet room inside
the school building for one or
more days to work on the same
activities that non-suspended
students are working at, under
the supervision of an adult.
iv.Response Cost

 Removing tangible reinforcers and

privileges that were previously
acquired.
5. Presentation Punishment

 Presenting an aversive stimulus when an undesirable behavior is displayed.

 Also known as punishment…though punishment can also be the removal of a positive
stimuli.
 Immediate compliance
 consist of desists, verbal reprimands, and logical consequences. 1.
 1. Desists are verbal or nonverbal messages that teachers send to students to stop an
undesirable behavior. The typical example is putting your fingers over your lips signaling
“Shh. . .” to communicate that a student needs to be quiet. Desists are effective when
administered immediately, briefly, and unemotionally (Emmer et al., 2003; Evertson et
al., 2003).
Continued

2. Verbal reprimands or scolding go one step beyond desists because they are less subtle and usually
are perceived as unpleasant and punishing by most students (Pfiffner & O’Leary, 1993; Van
Houten, Nau, MacKenzie- Keating, Sameoto, & Colavecchia, 1982).
3. Logical Consequences; Requesting students to conduct a certain behavior to revert the negative
effects of their misconduct.
 Teachers should be aware that punishment may also lead to unexpected negative
effects. Punished students are likely to try to escape the negative consequences for their
undesirable behavior by finding ways to hide their behavior, such as when a student
hits other students when the teacher is not present, to avoid punishment.
 Backfiring: Punishment can also cause other unintended undesirable behaviors.