Positive reinforcement and non-contingent reinforcement are examples of behavior change strategies. Positive reinforcement is a change strategy grounded in operant conditioning. It entails the addition of a stimulus (reinforcement) after a behavior to increase the chances that the behavior will occur again in the future (Krieger & OverDrive, Inc., 2011) . For example, when a child misbehaves in a store, the parent may buy the child a gift to avoid the bad behavior. In this case, the gift is the positive stimulus that increases the chance of good behavior. However, an unwanted behavior that may occur as a consequence of using positive reinforcement is acting out because the reinforcement may lead the child to learn that they can get a gift from the parent by misbehaving. Therefore, the parent is basically reinforcing the misbehavior. A person can plan for this unwanted behavior by using positive reinforcement when the child is behaving well and not rewarding the child when he or she is misbehaving.
Non-contingent reinforcement is a form of positive reinforcement that is not associated with the occurrence of the desired behavior. According to Matson (2009), it entails giving reinforcement on a fixed schedule regardless of whether the person shows the target behavior. It means that the individual’s behavior does not influence the provision of the reinforcement. An example of non-contingent reinforcement is giving an autistic learner attention at fixed schedules to minimize disruptive behavior. An unwanted behavior of non-contingent reinforcement is extinction burst is a temporary increase in the previously reinforce behavior when the positive reinforcement is removed. One can plan for extinction burst by inserting a brief omission contingency to the treatment schedule. Some ethical considerations associated with positive and non-contingent reinforcement is manipulation. The use of reinforcement may be misconstrued as manipulation; therefore, it is important to explain to the recipient the reasons for the intervention and the desired results.
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References
Krieger, M., & OverDrive, Inc. (2011). Naughty No More . Place of publication not identified: I5 Publishing.
Matson, J. L. (2009). Applied behavior analysis for children with Autism spectrum disorders . New York: Springer.
