CBT Lecture 9 Page: 1

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

LECTURE 9

CHAPTER 4 REINFORCEMENT

I. Reinforcement is defined as a process in which a behavior is

strengthened by the immediate consequences that reliably follows
its occurrence. When a behavior is strengthened, it is more likely
to occur again in the future.
1. When a behavior results in a favorable outcome (one that
contributes to the well-being or survival of the animal), that
behavior is more likely to be repeated in the future in similar
circumstances
2. An operant behavior is a behavior that is strengthened through
the process of reinforcement. An operant behavior acts on the
environment to produce a consequence and in turn is controlled,
or occurs again in the future as a result of, its immediate
consequences.
II. Positive and Negative Reinforcement
1. Positive Reinforcement
i. The occurrence of a behavior
ii. Is followed by the addition of a stimulus or an increase in
the intensity of a stimulus
iii. Which results in the strengthening of the behavior
2. Negative Reinforcement
i. The occurrence of a behavior
ii. Is followed by the removal of a stimulus or a decrease in
the intensity of a stimulus
iii. Which results in the strengthening of the behavior
3. A stimulus in an object or event that can be detected by one of
the senses and thus has the potential to influence the person
i. A positive Reinforcer is stimulus that is presented or
appears after the behavior that results in the
(reinforcement) strengthening of the behavior
ii. An aversive stimulus which is removed or avoided
following a behavior strengthens the behavior through
negative reinforcement
III. Escape and Avoidance Behavior
1. In defining negative reinforcement, a distinction is made
between escape and avoidance.
 i. In Escape, the occurrence of the behavior results in the
termination of an aversive stimulus that was already
present when the behavior occurred.
ii. In Avoidance the occurrence of a behavior prevents the
presentation of an aversive stimulus. In other words the
person avoids the aversive stimulus by engaging in a
particular behavior, and that behavior is strengthened.
IV. Conditioned and Unconditioned Reinforcers
1. An Unconditioned Reinforcer is a natural Reinforcer such as
food, water and sexual stimulation, which contribute to the
survival of the individual or species. Unconditioned Reinforcers
function as reinforcers the first time they are presented to most
human beings and no prior experience with these stimuli is
needed for them to function as a Reinforcer.
2. A Conditioned Reinforcer (also called a secondary Reinforcer)
is a stimulus that was once neutral (neither strengthened or
weakened a behavior) but became established as a Reinforcer
by being paired with an unconditioned Reinforcer or an already
established conditioned Reinforcer.
3. A Generalized Reinforcer is a conditioned Reinforcer that is
paired with a wide variety of other reinforecers. Money is a
generalized conditioned Reinforcer because it is paired with
(exchanged for) an almost unlimited variety of reinforcers. The
advantage and power of generalized reinforcers is that they are
less likely to diminish in value (because of satiation) when it is
accumulated.
V. Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Reinforcers
1. Immediacy: The time between the occurrence of a behavior and
the reinforcing consequence is important. For a consequence to
be most effective as a reinfor5cer, it should occur immediately
after the behavior occurs. The longer the delay between the
response and the consequence, the less effective the
consequence will be because the contiguity or connection
between the two is weakened. If the time between the response
and the consequence becomes too long there is no contiguity,
the consequence will not have an effect on the behavior.
2. Contingency: if a response is consistently followed by an
immediate consequence, that consequence is more likely to
reinforce the response. When the response produced the
consequence and the consequence does not occur unless the
 response occurs first, we say that a contingency exists between
the response and the consequence.
3. Establishing Operations some events can make a particular
consequence more reinforcing at some times than at other
times. These events that change the value of a stimulus as a
reinforcer are called establishing operations.
i. Deprivation: Unconditioned reinforcers in particular are
more powerful if a person has gone without it for some
period of time. For reinforcers such as food and water,
some degrees of deprivation may be critical for the
stimulus to have much if any reinforcing value. However,
deprivation acts as an establishing operation for all types
of reinforcers. Although money is almost always a
reinforcer, when one is desperately in need of money it is
a more powerful Reinforcer.
ii. Satiation on the other hand makes a stimuls less potent as
a reinforcer. Satiation occurs when a person has recently
consumed a large amount of a particular reinforcer.
Again, like deprivation, the effects of satiation are most
easily seen in unconditioned reinforcers, but Satiation
effects all forms of reinforcers (at varying degrees).
Example: If you just won 200 million dollar
loto…money may not be a very powerful reinforcer.
P
O
W
E
R

Deprivation Satiation

4. Characteristics of the Consequence

Although the relationship between the power of a Reinforcer and the

dimension of deprivation and satiation is a simple straightforward linear
relationship, Need (or the distance between depravation and Satiation) is
a characteristic of the individual and thus subjective to normal
distribution.
Intensity of the stimulus follows the same pattern, as does the quantity of
the stimulus. Intensity is subjected to the same variable of individual
difference, as is quantity (need) of a stimulus.

Need and Intensity vary not only between every individual, but also vary
for every stimulus for that particular individual.

VI. Schedules of Reinforcement

1. Continuous Reinforcement: each occurrence of the response is

reinforced

2. Intermittent Reinforcement: each occurrence of the response is

not reinforced

i. Fixed Ratio: a specific or fixed number of responses must

occur before the reinforcer is delivered.

ii. Variable Ratio: as in fixed ratio, delivery of a reinforcer

is based on the number of responses that occur, but in
this case the number of responses needed for
reinforcement varies each time, around an average
number.

iii. Fixed Interval: a response is reinforced only after an

interval of time passes. It does not matter how many
responses occur; as soon as the specific interval of time
has elapsed, the first response that occurs is reinforced.
iv. Variable Interval: as in fixed interval, the reinforcer is
delivered for the first response that occurs after an
interval of time has elapsed. The difference is that in a
variable interval schedule, each time interval is a
different length. The intervals vary around an average
time.

VII. Reinforcing Different Dimensions of Behavior: Although

reinforcement is used to increase the rate of behavior,
reinforcement may also influence other dimensions of a behavior
such as duration, intensity(magnitude) or latency. If a reinforcer is
contingent on a particular duration of a behavior, that duration of
the behavior is more likely to occur.
VIII. Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement: In most situations, it is
possible for a person to engage in more than one behavior. For
each of the possible behaviors a person could engage in at a
particular time, there is a specific schedule of reinforcement. All of
the schedules of reinforcement that are in effect for a person’s
behavior at one time are called concurrent schedules of
reinforcement.

CHAPTER 15
I. Differential Reinforcement of Alternate Behavior

a. Increase (reinforce) one behavior while simultaneously

decrease (extinguish) another behavior
i. Define Desirable Behavior

ii. Define Undesirable Behavior

iii. Identify the Reinforcer

1. Observe the client and identify the reinforcer for

the problem behavior
2. observe the client and identify high-rate behaviors
(premack principle)
3. Ask the client, parents, teachers

4. Use reinforcement questionnaires

5. Present potential reinforcers and measure approach
behaviors
6. Present potential reinforcers contingent on an
operant response and measure response rate or
duration

iv. Reinforce the desirable behavior (immediately and

consistently)

v. Eliminate reinforcement for the Undesirable behavior

 vi. Transition to intermittent reinforcement to maintain the
target behavior
vii. Program for generalization

II. Variations of DRA

a. DRI Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors

b. DRC Differential Reinforcement of Communication

III. DRO: Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior the reinforcer

is contingent on the absence of the problem behavior. The
reinforcer is delivered after a period of time in which the behavior
does not occur. (Theoretical Problems with the definition of
reinforcement, and argues that not responding (which is a covert
behavior of will) is the thing you are reinforcing.

IV. DRL: Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Responding:

This procedure is used when a target behavior is occurring at too
high or a frequency, but the goal is not to eliminate the behavior
entirely. This is consistent with the theory of reinforcement, in that
you can reinforce any dimension of a behavior.

CHAPTER 5 EXTINCTION

I. Extinction is a process that weakens operant behavior.

a. A behavior that has been previously reinforced
b. No longer results in the reinforcing consequences
c. And therefore, the behavior stops occurring in the future

As long as a behavior is reinforced, at least intermittently, it will continue to

occur. However, it a behavior is no longer followed by a reinforcing
consequence the person will stop engaging in the behavior.

II. Extinction Burst

a. On characteristic of the extinction process is that once the
behavior is no longer reinforced, it often increases briefly in
 frequency, duration, or intensity before it decreases and
ultimately stops
b. This can be of particular concern when treating potential
damaging or destructive behaviors.
c. Another characteristic of extinction bust is that of novel
behaviors (behaviors that do not typically occur in a particular
situation) may occur for a brief period when behavior is no
longer reinforced. (Sometimes, the novel behaviors during
extinction bursts may include emotional responses)
d. Extinction burst in a natural reaction to the termination of
reinforcement.
III. Spontaneous Recovery
a. Behavior may occur again even after it has not occurred for
some time. Spontaneous recovery is the natural tendency for the
behavior to occur again in situations that are similar to those in
which it had occurred before extinction. If extinction is still in
place when spontaneous recovery occurs–that is, if there is no
reinforcement–the behavior will not continue for very long.
IV. Procedural Variations of Extinction
a. Extinction is slightly different under the two different variations
if reinforcement (positive and negative reinforcement),
b. If a behavior is positively reinforced: extinction involves
withholding the consequence that was previously delivered
after the behavior.
c. If a behavior is negatively reinforced: extinction involves
eliminating the escape or avoidance that was reinforcing the
behavior. If the behavior no longer results in the escape from or
avoidance of an aversive stimulus, the behavior eventually
stops
V. Common Misconceptions about Extinction
a. The most common misconception is the extinction simple
means ignoring the behavior. Extinction means removing the
reinforcer for a behavior, Ignoring the problem behavior
functions as extinction only if attention is the reinforer.
VI. Factors Influencing Extinction
a. Reinforcement schedule before extinction. When a behavior is
continuously reinforced, it decreases rapidly once the
reinforcement is terminated. On the other hand, when a
behavior is intermittently reinforced, it often decreases more
 gradually once the reinforcement is terminated. Intermittent
reinforcement produces resistance to extinction
b. Occurrence of reinforcement after extinction. If reinforcement
occurs in the course of extinction, it takes longer for the
behavior to decrease. This is because reinforcement of the
behavior, once extinction has been started, amounts to
intermittent reinforcement, which makes the behavior more
resistant to extinction. In addition, if the behavior is reinforced
during an episode of spontaneous recovery, the behavior may
then increase to its level before extinction. (Additional note: If
reinforcement occurs during an extinction burst the
reinforcement may influence other dimensions of the behavior,
such as duration and intensity making the problematic behavior
worse.)

CHAPTER 14

I. Steps in using Extinction

a. Collect data to assess treatment effects (Baseline)
b. Identify the reinforcer for the problems behavior through
functional analysis.
c. Eliminate the reinforcer after each instance of the problems
behavior
i. Have you correctly identified the reinforcer
ii. Can you eliminate the reinforcer
iii. Is extinction safe to use
iv. Can an extinction burst be tolerated
v. Can consistency be maintained
d. Consider the schedule of reinforcement for the problem
behavior
e. Reinforce alternate behavior
f. Promote generalization and maintenance