Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)
- Schedule of reinforcement in which a reinforcer is presented only if a particular response occurs at a low rate
- Two types: Limited Responding DRL + Spaced Responding DRL
Limited-responding DRL
- Reinforcer delivered when target behaviour occurs specified frequency within specified time
- Used when some behaviour is tolerable, but less the better
- Could be starting behaviour in shaping toward DRO
- Example: Reinforcer (money) delivered when target behaviour (drink cup of coffee) occurs below specified frequency (< x instances) within specified time (1 day)
Steven was the class clown and would entertain the class every morning by telling jokes. Mr. Huth, the teacher, found that Stephen was so good at telling jokes that the other students would laugh uproariously. Mr. Huth imposed a dependency on Stephen’s behaviour. If during the morning class session Stephen told fewer than 3 jokes, the class would be able to leave 5 minutes early at the end of the day. The reinforcer is leaving class early. The behaviour is Stephen’s joke telling.
Limited-responding DRL
•Reinforcer (leave class early) delivered when target behaviour (tell joke) occurs below specified frequency (< 3) within specified time (50min?)
• Limited responding DRL < 3 responses/50 min
Spaced responding DRL
- Reinforcer delivered for target behaviour if preceded by minimum time without target behaviour
- Used when behaviour is desirable, but not too much
- Abbreviaed: spaced responding DRL 1 response/x-minutes
- Can work to ones disadvantage for those ignorant of its effects
- Example: student who always calls out the correct answer deprives classmates of the chance to respond to the teacher’s questions. Naturally, we would not wish to eliminate this child’s correct answering. We would hope, however, to reduce the calling out behavior. We might do this by placing the behavior on the following type of DRL schedule: Any target response that occurs after 15 minutes of the previous target response is immediately reinforced; any target response that occurs within 15 minutes of the previous target response is not reinforced.
A helpful strategy for weight watchers is to avoid shoveling the food too quickly, and slow down and pause between each bite of food. Suppose you enlist the help of a friend who provides feedback during mealtimes and praises you whenever you wait at least 20 seconds between each bite. The praise is a reinforcer for you behaviour. The response to consider is taking a bite of food.
Spaced-responding DRL
• Reinforcer (praise) delivered for target behaviour (1 bite of food) if preceded by minimum time without target behaviour (20 sec)
• Spaced-responding of DRL 1-response/20-s
Differential reinforcement of zero rate (DRO)
- Reinforcer delivered when target behaviour does not occur within specified time
- Specified time determines DRO value
- Potential problem with adventitious reinforcement
- Example: Julie pulls strands of hair out of her head when she is completing independent work. Her teacher decides to use DRO in order to reinforce the absence of pulling her hair. Using this procedure, the teacher sets a timer for three minutes on Julie’s desk. If Julie does not pull her hair for the entire three minutes then she is reinforced. If Julie does pull her hair, she is not reinforced and the timer is reset.
Reinforcer (sweets) delivered when target behaviour (wandering) does not occur within specified time interval (30 seconds)
Differential reinforcement of zero rate
Differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (DRI)
- this procedures entails only reinforcing behaviors that are incompatible with the problem behavior while withholding reinforcement for the problem behavior. In other words, only behaviors that cannot occur simultaneously with the problem behavior are reinforced.
- Example: Kevin engages in out of seat behavior so his teacher decides to implement a DRI procedure. She decides to reinforce a behavior that is incompatible with out of seat behavior. Sitting in his seat is chosen as the incompatible behavior because it cannot occur at the same time as out of seat behavior. Kevin only receives reinforcement (ex. token) for sitting in his seat while reinforcement is withheld when Kevin is out of his seat.
Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
- this procedure entails reinforcing a behavior that serves as a viable alternative for the problem behavior, but is not necessarily incompatible with the problem behavior.
- Example: Sarah engages in shouting out behavior after her teacher poses a question to the class. Her teacher decides to use a DRA procedure in which Sarah is only reinforced (ex. called on) for raising her hand to answer a question. This behavior is an alternative to shouting out, but is not incompatible as both the problem behavior and the alternative can occur at the same time. However, raising her hand is a more socially acceptable alternative
