Application Scenarios - Module 14 (Extinction/ DR)

Question 1

In a daycare, many of the children throw objects at the other kids when the other child refuses to give up a toy they are playing with. To help address this behavior, the teacher puts this procedure in place: At the end of a 30-sec interval, if no throwing had occurred, the child received a small Tootsie roll and attention from the staff. If any throwing occurred during the 30-sec interval, the timer was reset and a new interval began.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 1

DRO

Question 2

Gerald put his head down on his desk whenever given an academic task. However, he worked for long periods of time on drawing and coloring tasks. The teacher put the following plan into effect: whenever Gerald worked for 5 min on an academic task, the teacher praised him and allowed him to draw or color for 5 min. If he put his head down, she did not give him a break from the task and praised the rest of the class for working so hard. Over time, Gerald began to work longer on academic tasks until he worked for about 30 min at a time.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 2

DRI

Question 3

Danny, the dog, chewed his owner’s bedroom slippers to pieces. The owner read a behavioral training manual and implemented this program. Each evening the owner left his slippers in their usual place and provided soft dog toys for Danny beside the slippers. If Danny played with these toys for 60 sec, the owner gave him a doggie treat and patted his tummy and scratched behind his ears. If the dog touched any part of a slipper during the 60-sec interval, the owner removed all items and walked away. He repeated this procedure for the time he and Danny spent together each evening. Eventually, Danny played only with his soft dog toys.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 3

DRA

Question 4

Eric, a 10-year-old fifth-grader with developmental disabilities, requested, 14 times per day, “Let’s sing The Fox Song,” regardless of what else the class was doing. The teacher put this plan into effect: As long as Eric went at least 20 min without requesting the song, then the class sang “The Fox Song.” If he requested the song before the 20 min were up, the interval started over. After Eric was consistently going 20 min without a request for the song, the teacher lengthened the interval to 30 min. Next, the teacher increased it to 50 min. Now, Eric requests that song less than 3 times per day.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 4

DRL

Question 5

Kurt spit at his teacher, his classmates, his playmates, and on his parents whenever any of them refused to do what he asked them to do. His pediatrician, who also had an M.S. in Behavior Analysis, suggested that his parents try the following procedure at home to decrease the spitting. If it was successful, they planned to ask the teacher to implement the intervention in Kurt’s classroom. The pediatrician advised the parents to allow Kurt to play his favorite video game for 10 min if he was able to refrain from spitting for 30 min (even when someone had to refuse one of his requests). If he spit at anyone during the 30-min interval, the timer was reset and he had to go for an additional 30-min without spitting before he could play his game.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 5

DRO

Question 6

Ernesto, a 4-year-old, was diagnosed as hyperactive. He ran around the house, climbed on chairs, grabbed for things, and pulled clothes from dresser drawers. His mother wanted to change his behavior so that he would sit and concentrate on one thing for several minutes. His mother began reading Dr. Seuss books to Ernesto and asking him to draw the story characters. She set the kitchen timer for 3 min. When the timer sounded, if Ernesto was sitting and drawing pictures, she praised him for sitting and drawing, gave him 2 pieces of popcorn, reset the timer, and encouraged him to continue drawing. If Ernesto got up during the 3-min period and did something else, his mother reset the timer. Eventually, Ernesto sat quietly and drew pictures for longer periods of time.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 6

DRI

Question 7

Maya is a young girl with autism who loves to talk to others, but she especially loves to talk about trains. Often she talks about trains so much that she excludes other topics that could help her form friendships with other kids. With the support of her parents, her teachers implemented an intervention in which they gave Maya a list of ideas for other topics that she could talk about. If she talked about any topic other than trains, they would continue the conversation. However, if she talked about trains three times in one conversation, the teacher would stop having the conversation with her.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 7

DRL

Question 8

Gertrude the giraffe had a sore on her left front leg requiring antibiotic ointment. To apply the antibiotic, employees were trained to offer 2 prompts: a light touch on the upper left front leg and a vocal prompt, “Stand still Gertrude,” as standing still is a necessary behavior for applying the medication. Gertrude kicked at them. Several were injured. A behavior analyst who specialized in animal training provided this plan: When Gertrude goes 5 s without a kick, back away from her to give her a brief break. If she kicks during the 5 s, she needs to go another 5 s without a kick before a break is provided. Once she meets the criterion of zero kicks for 5 s, double the duration of the interval. Continue doing this until she can go 60 s without kicking, which is enough time to apply the ointment. The behavior analyst also gave the staff instructions to make sure all of the supplies were prepared before approaching Gertrude to make sure that the antibiotic could be applied quickly and without disruption.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 8

DRO

Question 9

Patrick the parrot went on a cursing rampage when a non-family person came into the home. This behavior embarrassed his adoptive family. They did not want to return Patrick to the animal shelter, so they called on a behavior analyst whose specialty was training animals. This animal trainer recommended the following differential reinforcement procedure: Invite a neighbor into the house and set a digital timer for a 10-sec interval. If Patrick does not curse during the 10-sec interval, feed him his favorite snack food and praise him at the end of the interval. If he curses, reset the timer and visit with the neighbor, ignoring Patrick. As the rate of cursing decreases, introduce (fade in) more people Patrick recognizes and then some he does not.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 9

DRO

Question 10

Goldilocks, the animal shelter’s only bear cub, played gently with all the staff. However, when they left her cage and attended to other animals in the shelter, Goldilocks began growling loudly. This growling would continue until a staffer returned to her cage. A behavior analysis graduate student from UNT’s Department of Behavior Analysis was asked to decrease this growling behavior (it upset all the other animals, as well as the staff). The grad student set up the following procedure: When a staffer walked away from Goldilocks, another staffer, hidden in the next room, operated a special food hopper that could deliver bear chow to Goldilocks’ food dish one piece at a time. If Goldilocks growled for less than 1 sec during the 10 sec interval, she received a piece of bear chow. This continued for 10 min, with the interval gradually increased to 20 sec, then 40 sec, and finally 1 min. After 2 weeks, staff were able to walk away from Goldilocks’ cage without evoking more than a single brief growl.

Tip: Look first for any additional information in the example that would indicate DRL before you consider the other three. A DRI or DRL may include incompatible behavior, but the additional criteria make it DRL instead of DRI.

Answer 10

DRL

Question 11

Extinction is a process in which a reinforcer for a previously reinforced behavior is
_______ and the rate of behavior __________ in the future under similar situations.

Answer 11

• Stopped
• Decreases

Question 12

When you arrive at work, you usually go through the side entrance. You have entered the building using the side entrance for years and it has never been locked. One morning when you arrive at work, you approach the side entrance and find that the door won’t open. You try again, tugging on the door a few times before finally giving up and walking around to the front of the building. At lunch, you leave through the side entrance but when you return from work, you find that the door of the side entrance won’t budge so you walk around to the front entrance to enter the building. From now on, you always use the front entrance to enter the building when you arrive at work.

• What is the reinforcer for using the side entrance to the work building?
• What happens to the reinforcer for using the side entrance?
• What happens to the future probability of using the side entrance to enter the work building?
• When you first discover that the side entrance door no longer works, you try tugging on the door a few more times before giving up, what do behavior analyst call this temporary increase in behavior?
• What process accounts for your behavior change in relation to using the side entrance to enter your work building?

Answer 12

• What is the reinforcer for using the side entrance to the work building? : Opening the Door
• What happens to the reinforcer for using the side entrance? : It Stops
• What happens to the future probability of using the side entrance to enter the work building?: It Decreases
• When you first discover that the side entrance door no longer works, you try tugging on the door a few more times before giving up, what do behavior analyst call this temporary increase in behavior?: Extinction Burst
• What process accounts for your behavior change in relation to using the side entrance to enter your work building?: Extinction

Question 13

You are driving on a two lane farm-to-market road in Cass County Texas. You are going the speed limit and don’t want to go any faster because you know from experience how strict country cops can be when it comes to speeding. Another driver, who is obviously in a hurry approaches from behind and begins riding your bumper dangerously close. We’ve all had experiences with unsafe drivers and perhaps the most common are tailgaters.

The National Safety Council suggests two ways that you might be influencing the behavior of tailgaters: 1) changing your speed and 2) making eye-contact in the rear view mirror. Think about this situation and then answer the questions below:

• What is the reinforcer for tailgating?:
• As the person being tailgated, you do not want to provide the potential reinforcer for the other driver’s tailgating behavior. Therefore, what should you do?:

Answer 13

• What is the reinforcer for tailgating?: Any sign that they are influencing your driving
• As the person being tailgated, you do not want to provide the potential reinforcer for the other driver’s tailgating behavior. Therefore, what should you do?: Stop making eye contact, maintain your current speed