Token Procedures Research Articles

Artifacts of Elegy: The Foundling Hospital Tokens

AbstractThis article explores the objects that were left as identifiers for the children abandoned to London's Foundling Hospital in the eighteenth century. Required by the hospital in order to permit a future reclaiming by a parent and to guard against a charge of infanticide, these tokens fulfilled an institutional priority. The token procedure, this article argues, resulted in a class of objects that can be aligned closely with elegy. Occasional objects, the tokens communicate maternal affection and a sense of dislocation. As distillations of grief and imaginative framings of loss, the foundling tokens constitute eighteenth-century artifacts of elegy.

The effects of item preference and token reinforcement on sharing behavior exhibited by children with autism spectrum disorder

The current studies evaluated variables affecting sharing exhibited by children with autism spectrum disorder. Study 1 evaluated the effects of manipulating item preference on the level of assistance needed to exhibit sharing behavior for 4 children with autism. Item preference clearly affected 2 participants’ percentage of independent sharing. Preference did not have as clear of an effect for a third participant. However, sharing a high-preference item generally required a higher level of prompting (e.g., vocal prompts) to share. The fourth participant's percentage of independent sharing was not influenced by preference, and his independent sharing behavior was similar across item preference. Study 2 assessed the effectiveness of a token reinforcement procedure as an intervention designed to increase independent sharing of high-preference items for the two participants who did not independently share those items during Study 1. Independent sharing increased for both participants when the token procedure was in place and decreased when it was removed.

TOKEN REINFORCEMENT: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Token reinforcement procedures and concepts are reviewed and discussed in relation to general principles of behavior. The paper is divided into four main parts. Part I reviews and discusses previous research on token systems in relation to common behavioral functions--reinforcement, temporal organization, antecedent stimulus functions, and aversive control--emphasizing both the continuities with other contingencies and the distinctive features of token systems. Part II describes the role of token procedures in the symmetrical law of effect, the view that reinforcers (gains) and punishers (losses) can be measured in conceptually analogous terms. Part III considers the utility of token reinforcement procedures in cross-species analysis of behavior more generally, showing how token procedures can be used to bridge the methodological gulf separating research with humans from that with other animals. Part IV discusses the relevance of token systems to the field of behavioral economics. Token systems have the potential to significantly advance research and theory in behavioral economics, permitting both a more refined analysis of the costs and benefits underlying standard economic models, and a common currency more akin to human monetary systems. Some implications for applied research and for broader theoretical integration across disciplines will also be considered.

Re-Examining the Overjustification Effect

The purpose of the present investigation was to extend the research related to the possible negative side effects of extrinsic reinforcement on children's compliant behavior, particularly the overjustification effect. Specifically, this study examined the effects of a token reinforcement procedure in a naturalistic environment (third grade classroom) on children's compliance with classroom rules. Three students exhibiting high compliance with classroom rules were selected. Results indicated that the introduction of a token reinforcement program contingent on the occurrence of rule compliance had no detrimental effect on their rule compliant behavior following the withdrawal of the token procedure (i.e., comparison of Baseline I and Baseline II). Thus, the overjustification effect was not supported.

Behavior Management of Client Contacts in a Real Estate Brokerage

A Project intended to increase client-contacting behavior on the part of 16 real-estate sales persons was described. Both contacts with prospective (initials) and with established clients (followups) were targeted for change. During a 20-week baseline, agent self-reports were used as a basis for posting weekly charts of contact behavior together with measured sales and listing performances. A conjunctive token-reinforcement procedure involving both contact behaviors was introduced during a 15 week intervention phase. For all agents as a group, a sustained increase in both behaviors was noted during this phase. Additional analyses revealed, however, that for low baseline performers, the intervention effect was only short-lived. During a subsequent three-week prewithdrawal stage, the increased behavion from the previous phase reverted nearly to baseline levels, despite the continued intervention, in response to instructions that program withdrawal was imminent. Contact behaviors further declined to below baseline levels during the following 4-week withdrawal stage when both posting and token procedures were actually discontinued. A tenninal 6 week reversal phase was marked by a nearly full recovery for all agents of asymptotic intervention levels of contact behavior under a reversed conjunctive token reinforcement schedule. Evidence indicating a correlation between changes in contact behaviors and changes in sales was presented. Also, other company benefits presumably derived from the program were described. Finally, the outcomes of this study were discussed in terms of several important validity concerns.

Self control through the use of a token economy

The effects of a token economy, developed and administered by an individual for his own problem behaviors, were examined through a reversal (ABAB) design. The target behaviors, relating to the subject's academic pursuits, part-time job and personal and domestic habits, were self-evaluated as being desirable. During the initial baseline period the frequency with which the subject engaged in “reinforcing” activities as well as the subject's emittance of the “target” behaviors was self-monitored. On the basis of the baseline data, point values for behavioral achievement (earnings) and for reinforcer usage (expenditures) were established and used rather than concrete tokens to set up the economy. During the initial token application period, a shaping procedure was used for developing many of the target responses. The results indicated that the token procedure effected extensive behavioral change and suggested that individuals wishing to undergo change need not be bound to a “therapist” but can be taught how to control and change their own behavior.

The effectiveness of reinforcement, response cost, and mixed programs on classroom behaviors.

Six elementary school children served as subjects in an experiment comparing the relative effectiveness of (1) token reinforcement, in which children received tokens for attending and for correct arithmetic performance; (2) response cost, in which children received “free” tokens at the start of a period but lost them for inattention and for arithmetic performance below a specified level; and (3) a combination of both token reinforcement and response cost. During training, the six subjects received all three procedures in counterbalanced sequence. The effects of the three procedures were assessed by a within‐subject comparison divided into three phases: (i) baseline, (ii) training, (iii) withdrawal of tokens. Introduction of the three token procedures markedly increased the two dependent measures. However, there were no differences across the procedures in the amount of change produced in either attending behavior or arithmetic performance. During baseline, the subjects averaged 29% attending behavior and 6.4 correct problems. These levels increased to 85% for attending behavior and 11.4 correct problems for arithmetic performance during training. Removal of all token procedures significantly decreased attending behavior (to an average of 65%), but produced a nonsignificant reduction in arithmetic performance (to an average of 7.6 correct problems). There was evidence that this lack of differential effects of the three token procedures was not due to an inability to discriminate among them. Furthermore, the subjects were evenly divided in their preference for the three procedures.

Differential Effects of Token Reinforcement to Increase Class Participation in Constructing Questions over Science Films

The use of audio-visual materials has been well documented for elementary school classrooms. The effectiveness of such materials should increase to the extent that pupils actually work with and attend to such materials. Since token-reinforcement procedures have been shown ro be effective in dealing with a wide variety of classroom behaviors (O'Leary & Drabman, 1971), it was decided to employ such a procedure to increase class participation during films in science. Ss were members of a fifth- and a sixth-grade class. The classroom was managed by a token-reinforcement program to control a variety of classroom behaviors (McLaughlin & Malaby, 1972). The mean number of questions constructed over science films in each of four experimental conditions was the dependent variable. During baseline conditions (Films 1 to 6, 41 to 46) the class was asked to construct questions but did not receive points (tokens) for doing so. In the token-reinforcement conditions (Films 7 to 40, 47 to 60), pupils were awarded a point for each question constructed. For the first baseline condition, the mean number of questions constructed was 5.8 (range 3 to 7). An increase in construction of questions was recorded with the introduction of the tokenreinforcement procedure (M = 11.8; range 7 to 27 ). A return to baseline conditions decreased the mean number of questions constructed (M = 3; range 2 to 5). A replication of the token-reinforcement procedure increased the mean number of questions constructed (M = 12.86; range 7 to 22). These results suggest that the introduction of a contingency for constructing questions in an ongoing token program was effective in increasing such behavior. Results for three selected Ss further suggested that Ss with average or high rates of constructing questions during the first baseline condition were affected the most by the token procedures.

Reward versus cost token systems: an analysis of the effects on students and teacher.

The effects of reward and cost token procedures on the social and academic behavior of two groups of elementary special-education students were assessed using a reversal design. Behavioral observations of three target subjects in each group revealed that both procedures were about equally effective in reducing rule violations and off-task behavior. Records kept on the daily arithmetic performance of all subjects showed that output doubled in both groups during the token phases, although accuracy remained unchanged. When students were allowed to choose either contingency, no pattern of preference was established. Small differences were found in teacher behavior: the reward procedure led to an increase in approval comments but cost procedures produced no changes in teacher behavior.

A token reinforcement system for large wards of institutionalized adolescents

Problems associated with the application of token systems to large public institutions for male and female adolescents are discussed. The present experiments demonstrate that two specific behavior problems on an adolescent ward of a state hospital could be controlled through the use of contingent points via a rapid-delivery token procedure and backed up by reinforcers already available in the hospital setting. Sixty male and female patients were maintained by a staff of five aides. Experiment I examined the effects of verbal demands and contingent points on room maintenance behavior. Experiment II examined the effects of verbal demands and contingent points on ward maintenance behavior. Contingent points produced substantial effects on both types of behavior. Several design criteria are elaborated which facilitate working within the limitations of a setting with low priorities on research.

THE EFFECTS OF TOKEN PROCEDURES ON A TEACHERS SOCIAL CONTACTS WITH HER STUDENTS1

The effects of a token system on a teacher's rate of social contacts with her students were investigated in a public school kindergarten. A group of six children were observed daily during a 20-min handwriting lesson. The children were divided into two groups (A and B) of three children each. Five conditions were imposed sequentially: (1) baseline without tokens, (2) contingent tokens for Group A, noncontingent tokens for Group B, (3) contingent tokens for Group B, noncontingent tokens for Group A, (4) reinstatement of condition 2, and (5) contingent tokens for both groups. It was consistently observed that the teacher's rate of social contact was higher with the children receiving the contingent tokens than with those who received noncontingent tokens.

MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS BY A TOKEN REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM1

A token reinforcement system for the reduction of institutionalized behavior in a chronic psychiatric ward is described. Quantitative assessments were made of the effects of the system on five types of positively reinforced behavior, two types of unreinforced behavior, and two types of fined behavior. To assess whether these effects were a function of the token procedures, three experiments were carried out, the first removing tokens for a brief period, the second making tokens non-contingent on behavior, and the third removing fines in one area while maintaining them in another. The token procedures were found to be the source of the observed improvements.