Chapter 24 Rule Governed Behavior Theory PDF

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Principles of Behavior by Malott (7th) Ch:24...

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Chapter 24: Rule Governed Behavior: Theory Performance Management Rule #1 - make a performance contract, stating what you are going to do and give the list to your contractor (wife/teacher/etc) Performance Management Rule #2 - have effective behavioral consequences (losing credit/paying fines) Performance Management Rule #3 - performance not monitored once a week turns to Jell-o -

deadlines!

Performance Contract - a written rule statement describing the desired/undesired behavior, the occasion when the behavior should/shouldn’t occur, and the added outcome for that behavior The Role of Rules: -

The environment exerts 2 major types of psychological control over our behavior 1. Operant Control

2. Respondent Control

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Indirect acting contingencies can control our behavior as well

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Rule control can explain the influence of indirect-acting contingencies

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Most behavior analysts believe rules function as reinforcement based or punishment based SD’s -

Rules are stimuli in the presence of which a response will be reinforced/punished

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But what’s the SD? In the absence of a rule, a response may still be reinforced/punished; so there is no SD

The rule statement causes noncompliance with the rule to become an aversive condition -

For example: Rule - if I don’t start reading this chapter, I won’t be ready for the quiz

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Goofing off will produce aversive condition (fear/anxiety), so starting to read chapter will reduce aversiveness

We still have a direct-acting contingency controlling our behavior: escape from the aversiveness of non-compliance with rule The Mythical Cause of Poor-Self Management - poor self-management occurs because immediate outcomes control our behavior better than delayed outcomes do -

Claims that because we can’t delay our gratification, we fail to act in our long-term best interest

Because of rule-governed behavior, delayed outcomes and rules describing these outcomes can control our behavior; there are other reasons for our poor self-management -

Small but cumulative outcomes: when an immediate outcome for each specific instance of behavior is too small, though it may be cumulative in impact, to reinforce/punish that behavior (eating 1 spoonful of ice cream is not that bad, the cumulative bites are)

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Improbable Outcomes - it’s hard to follow rules that specify low-probability outcomes -

Putting on seatbelt/safe sex

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Improbable outcomes don’t control our behavior because the rules describe contingencies that are hard to follow; the rules are hard to follow because they don’t act as effective verbal pairing produces (their statement doesn’t create an aversive condition)

Rules that are Easy to Follow - describe outcomes that are both sizable and probable; the delay isn’t crucial Rules that are Hard to Follow - describe outcomes that are either too small (though often of cumulative significance) or too improbable Basic Principles - include principles of reinforcement, punishment, stimulus control -

We can’t explain these principles with other, more basic principles of behavior

Higher-Order Principles - includes principles of rules that are both hard and easy to follow -

Must be explained with more basic principles of behavior

The Real Cause of Poor Self-Management - poor self-management results from poor control by rules describing outcomes that are either too small (though often of cumulative significance) or too improbable; the delay isn’t crucial

Why do we miss deadlines? -

The outcome of waiting one more minute is too small and often achieves significance only after too many of those minutes have accumulated

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Failure to meet deadlines is a problem of small & cumulative outcomes resulting from the difficulty of estimating the time needed to complete large tasks before delayed deadlines

We need performance management when the natural contingencies don’t effectively support the appropriate behavior

We manage performance of non-verbal clients by adding direct-acting contingencies to supplement the ineffective natural contingencies and/or we remove undesirable natural contingencies -

Often we add indirect-acting contingencies to the ineffective natural contingencies (we supplement rules that are hard to follow by adding rules that are easy to follow) -

Sometimes we add/remove direct acting contingencies

The Three-Contingency Model of Performance Management - the three crucial contingencies are the ineffective natural contingency, the effective, indirect acting performance management contingency, and the effective, direct-acting contingency

People often miss delayed deadlines but immediate deadlines are our saving grace; deadlines need to be coming up at least within one week to reliably control our behavior

The Research Supervisory System helps because the system provides performance management -

We need performance management when the natural contingencies are ineffective in supporting appropriate behavior

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We supplement rules that are hard to follow with rules that are easy to follow

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Limit how much procrastination can occur (weekly deadlines)

Performance Management controls designed to increase or maintain behavior should specify outcomes that are sizable, probable, though possibly delayed

If the significance of the outcome is high, the rule may control our behavior, though the probability is low If the outcome is not significant, the rule may not control our behavior, though the probability is high -

It’s not a question of real probability, but imagined probability

Deadlines set up avoidance contingencies that indirectly control our behavior, causing us to avoid negative outcomes; these aversive outcomes avoid negative outcomes -

Rules describing deadline contingencies cause noncompliance to become a learned aversive condition; we escape that condition by complying

The physical world has aversive control built into it; deadlines demand aversive control if compliance is to be achieved -

We can’t realistically escape from the need for aversive control by using added unlearned reinforcers, learned reinforcers, or built-in reinforcement contingencies

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We can try to minimize contact with aversive events but some mild, consistent aversive control is necessary

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