Not trying to change you
Without fail, when people describe Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), they mention the word reinforcement. But what does this really mean? Reinforcing a behavior involves adding or removing something to increase behaviors. In the ABA world, the use of reinforcement is used to increase appropriate behaviors and skills.
Positive and negative
Reinforcement is often associated with rewarding someone when they complete a task or behaves appropriately. While this can be true, it is not an all encompassing definition. There are actually two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. Positive refers to adding something following a behavior in order to increase that behavior, while negative refers to the removal of something following a behavior to increase that behavior. The unifying idea is that both occur after a behavior and increase a behavior. For example, if a child is given a lollipop after finishing all of his math homework, and this, in turn, increases the behavior of doing his math work, positive reinforcement is being used. If a child asks for a food to be moved away from her because it smells badly, and you move the for away, you are using negative reinforcement. On the other hand, if a child screams and kicks, and you raise your voice to tell the child to stop, and the behavior increases over time, you positively reinforced the screaming and kicking. If a child yells and demands you remove something because of the smell, you do and the behavior increases, you negatively reinforced the yelling and demanding.
Reinforcement vs Punishment
While reinforcement may be “negative,” it should not be associated with a negative connotation, like punishment. Within ABA, punishment has the opposite effect than reinforcement. As opposed to increasing behavior, the goal of punishment is to decrease behavior. Just like reinforcement, there is positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive punishment is adding something following a behavior to decrease that behavior and negative punishment is the consequence of removing something after a behavior to decrease that behavior. If a child engages in screaming when told to do homework, then given extra homework as a result, and the behavior decreases, this is positive punishment. On the other hand, if a child hits someone and, subsequently, her iPad is removed, this is an example if negative punishment. ABA focuses on increasing appropriate behaviors and skills, therefore, reinforcement, as opposed to punishment, is a huge part of ABA.
Accidental Reinforcement
You might be reinforcing disruptive or maladaptive behaviors without even realizing it. In the example above, yelling at a child actually reinforced disruptive behaviors. Depending on the child, this could be punishment as well, meaning the behavior decreased. It all depends on the child. If a child is screaming because they want to escape a situation and is told to leave the room, the behavior will most likely increase, meaning that you inadvertently reinforced the screaming behavior. If a child engages in elopement (leaving the room or designated area), to gain attention, and you follow that child out of the room while telling them to come back, you are again reinforcing that behavior.
Understanding Function
The function of behavior helps us identify potential reinforcers for that behavior. The function refers to the purpose or reason for that behavior. If two children engage in the behavior of hitting, and their parents both react by yelling at them to stop, yet, one is engaging in the behavior to gain access to a toy and the other for attention, one child is being reinforced for hitting. That child is the one hitting for attention. You are providing that attention by yelling. The child engaging in hitting to gain access to a toy would be reinforced with the toy. On the other hand, if two children engage in following the direction to do homework, there may be different functions for this as well. One function may be to finish work and gain access to play time and another might be for the positive praise received for doing the homework.
Reinforcement is a major aspect of ABA. Understanding reinforcement vs. punishment and why a person engages in a behavior, will help you reinforce or not reinforce that behavior.