Chapter 22 Rule Governed Behavior Concepts PDF

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Principles of Behavior by Malott (7th) Ch:22...

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Chapter 22: Rule Governed Behavior: Concepts Rule - a description of a behavioral contingency Rule Control - the statement of a rule controls the response described in that rule Rule-Governed Behavior - direct control of behavior by a contingency, without the involvement of rules -

Most of these indirect-acting contingencies involve deadlines

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Adding deadlines to reinforcement contingencies converts them into avoidance contingencies

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The time before the deadline is either an SD (discriminated avoidance contingency) or the time when there’s an opportunity to respond (non-discriminated avoidance contingency)

Direct-Acting Contingency - a contingency in which the direct outcome of the response reinforces/punishes that response -

Coin in vending machine -> immediately get candy bar (outcome follows the response by less than 60 seconds)

Indirect Acting Contingency - a contingency that controls the response, though the outcome of that response does not reinforce/punish that response -

Rules control responses; whenever you have an indirect-acting contingency, you have rule-governed behavior

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The response may be caused the outcome, but the outcome is too delayed to reinforce or punish the response; response is controlled by rules

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Ex: apply to college, get accepted 3 months later

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Even if a contingency may be indirect-acting, it is incorrect to say the response is indirectly reinforced; if behavior occurs, it’s because it was directly reinforced

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NO SUCH THING AS INDIRECT REINFORCEMENT

Ineffective Contingency - a contingency that does not control behavior -

If you don’t know the rules, a delayed reinforcer will not affect behavior

Rule-Governed Analog to a Behavioral Contingency - a change in the frequency of a response because of a rule describing the contingency

Analog - a response occurs, one day later a reinforcer follows, and the reinforcer increases in frequency Reinforcement - a response occurs, a reinforcer immediately follows, and the response increases in frequency

Although a lot of mentally handicapped people don’t have the language skills needed for their behavior to come under the control of rules, for those who do have the skills, it’s usually easier to give a rule than to set up and maintain a direct-acting contingency without the use of rules

EXAMPLES: Rule: if everyday you study an hour or 2 for this course, you’ll probably ace it Rule + Instruction: everyday, you should study an hour or two for this course so you’ll ace it Rule + Request: I’d appreciate it if you’d study everyday for an hour or 2 so you can get an A Incomplete Rules: Be quiet! Study a couple hours a day

What happens when a person can state the rule without describing a direct-acting contingency? -

We’re not really sure; it’s hard to know if the contingency, the rule, or both control Bx

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If behavior changes as soon as the person hears the rule, without having contracted the contingency yet, it’s probably under rule control...