The Most Misunderstood Aspect of ABA
Article by Jeffrey Young
President and FounderInnovative Piano, Inc.
One of the most common misunderstandings, when it comes to concepts associated with ABA, is the idea of negative reinforcement. This may not be surprising considering the widespread notoriety of positive reinforcement and the natural assumption that they are opposites. Many individuals I have met, who are doing their best to navigate the sometimes complex world of ABA, have insisted that they are actually practicing negative reinforcement when confronted with behavioral challenges. Typically, the conversation includes something to the effect of, “I just couldn’t get him to stop doing that, so I used negative reinforcement and sent him to bed without dessert.” While removing a reinforcer can be a powerful way to effect behavioral change, this is not an example of negative reinforcement. Negative Reinforcement is defined as removing an aversive stimulus in response to a behavior which then leads to an increase in the likelihood that the behavior will occur again. Let’s break that down – first you need to be removing an aversive or undesirable situation. In the example above, the individual is sent to bed early, which is most likely removing a positive stimulus, i.e. staying up and having dessert. Therefore, that consequence is actually punishing a behavior. This is not necessarily bad or wrong, since the situation and the individual’s history should determine the best course of action to take. The second part of the definition, “…leads to an increase in the likelihood…” involves whatever behavior you want to see more of. Remember that any discussion of reinforcement involves the goal of increasing a behavior not diminishing one (which would be a punisher). Again, in the example above, the statement, “I just couldn’t get him to stop...” infers that he is seeking to reduce a particular behavior, not increase one."I just couldn’t get him to stop doing that, so I used negative reinforcement and sent him to bed without dessert.”
So then, what is negative reinforcement? One of the most common examples of this is the practice of having an individual stand up at the dinner table if they, for instance, don’t eat all of their vegetables. When they do, they can sit back down or be excused. Here, you are seeking to increase a behavior, i.e. eating vegetables, by removing the aversive stimulus of standing up. Notice how the parent created the undesirable situation and is subsequently allowing the individual to remove it by completing the task. This is important because it allows the desired behavior of eating the vegetables, to be completed as opposed to punishment which often removes the individual from the situation. Ideally, the individual will quickly realize that life is better when they are eating their vegetables and will able to sit down. This is good but the way to gauge if this is an effective technique is to see if they eat their vegetables tomorrow as well. After all, the goal is to increase the behavior, not produce it each time through the use of negative reinforcement. 
| ||||
Help our students succeed
