PSYB45H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 25: Token Economy
Document Summary
Token: conditioned reinforcers that can be accumulated and exchanged for backup reinforcers. Token economy: a behavioural program where an individual can earn tokens for performing desirable behaviours and can cash in the tokens for various backup reinforcers. 2 major advantages: they can be given immediately after a desired behaviour and cashed in later for a backup reinforcer. Useful when there is a long delay b/w target response and backup reinforcer (occurs when reinforcing after the target b occurs is impractical or impossible: makes reinforcement easy when a group of individuals have different motivational states. Tokens paired w/ diff backup reinforcers are generalized conditioned reinforcers. So, they don"t depend on a specific motivating operation for their strength. Initial steps in setting up a token economy. Determined by (a) the type of individuals involved, (b) the short- and long-range objectives to be accomplished, and (c) specific behavioural problems that interfere with achieving those objectives.
