hi my name is Kate Harrison and I'm a
board certified behavior analyst with
Brett DiNovi & Associates today I'm
going to discuss with you E-7 of
the fourth edition bacb task list plan
for behavioral contrast so what is the
behavioral contrast introduced by
Reynolds in 1961 the formal definition
for behavioral contrasts is the
phenomenon in which an alteration in one
component of a multiple schedule of
reinforcement that increases or
decreases the rate of responding on that
component is accompanied by a change in
the response rate in the opposite
direction on the other unaltered
component of the schedule or to put it
simply an unintended increase or
decrease in your target behavior that is
opposite of your intervention goal for
the same behavior in a different
environment multiple schedules refer to
two or more basic schedules of
reinforcement so think varied and fix
ratio and varied and fixed interval
occurring in alteration and independent
of each other different discriminative
stimuli are associated with each
schedule this is important so let's
break it down into a more manageable and
understandable definition based on some
of the other components that we already
know generalization training is
incorporated into quality treatment
programs and is one of the seven
dimensions of applied behavior analysis
in their 1977 review paper Stokes and
Barre explained that generalization
occurs when a trained behavior occurring
in a treatment environment occurs across
other settings without direct training
in this context across settings refers
to people places time
behaviors and environment is similarly
if Puthoff and colleagues explained that
a behavioral contrast occurs when a
change in behaviors reinforcement rate
in one context results in behavior
change in the opposite direction in
another context because multiple
schedules are always at play in order to
truly plan and train for generalization
we must consider the potential for
behavioral contrast for example Kevin
calls out the answers in both math and
reading class and those smaller issues
on time and both his math and reading
teachers intermittently reinforce this
behavior by praising him for his answers
different classrooms teachers and
material are examples of controlling
discriminative stimuli in this example
one day Kevin's math teacher has enough
and begins to punish his behavior by
taking away points for free time minutes
who can tell me why gem cries when the
hole in the tree is filled with cement
because she's a crybaby get out Kevin's
reading teacher does not change her
intermittent phrase the following week
in the teachers lounge
Kevin's math and reading teachers are
catching up Kevin's math teacher said
that she noticed a decrease to almost
zero levels for calling out in her class
while Kevin's reading teacher has
noticed a significant increase in
calling out behaviors surpassing
previous levels what happened here one
calling out was initially occurring at
similar rates on two components of a
multiple schedule two responses of one
component of the scheduled math class
were punished
while responses on the other component
reading class continued to go unpunished
three the rate of calling out decrease
in the punished component math class and
simultaneously increased in the
unpunished component reading class even
though there had been no increase in
reinforcement in their 2018 discussion
paper foil and colleagues point out the
substantial amount of research - voted
to generalization while applied research
involving behavioral contrast is quite
limited despite both items being deemed
necessary skill sets according to the
bacb
the authors go on to argue that in order
to thoroughly predict and change
socially significant behaviors out
the therapy setting it's important to
identify the variables responsible for
both generalization and behavioral
contrast effects while Boyle and
colleagues note that variables such as
changes in reinforcement free
reinforcement quality and the presence
of alternative activities do influence
the degree to which behavioral contrast
may occur the consideration of
behavioral contrast occurrence when
multiple schedules of reinforcement are
at play is an important one especially
when programming for generalization in
the earlier example a proactive
collaborative approach among teachers
may have offered the opportunity to
minimize the presence or degree of
behavioral contrast finally as good
behavioral scientists parsimony requires
us to rule out simple and logical
explanations for phenomenon under
investigation prior to considering more
complex explanations fluently
understanding the concept of behavioral
contrasts may allow you to approach
investigate and intervene parsimoniously
do you and your team consciously
consider behavioral contrast we want to
hear from you leave a comment below and
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