Differential Reinforcement
If I want my partner to cook dinner more often, take out the trash regularly without asking, or make the first pot of coffee in the morning, what is the best way to accomplish this? I could flat out ask them, and for some people that may work. But what if your partner needs a little more (okay, more like a lot more) encouragement? Differential reinforcement to the rescue!
What Is Differential Reinforcement?
Differential Reinforcement (DR) is when I reinforce the behaviour I want to see, and do not provide reinforcement for the behaviours I do not want to see. Reinforcement is the act of providing a reinforcer (this is different for everyone and varies from situation to situation – for some it is a preferred snack, for others perhaps it is an activity, some still it can be verbal praise) to an individual after a behaviour, to increase the future probability of that behaviour happening again under similar circumstances.
Why the future probability? Because I cannot affect something that has already happened. The client has already emitted a behaviour, I cannot after-the-fact influence that behaviour.
Differential Reinforcement (DR) also means that I do not provide reinforcement under those conditions if the desired behaviour does not occur.
How To Use Differential Reinforcement:
When using a strategy like Differential Reinforcement, you are likely to use additional ABA methods as well. One technique I like to use with differential reinforcement is shaping.
If, for example, I was working on animal sounds with a vocal client who was scrolling through responses (giving multiple animal sounds in succession), I would only provide their reinforcer (a high five and verbal praise such as “you got it!”) if their response immediately followed the SD (within 3 seconds of being asked), and not giving other responses either before or after their response.
Example:
Therapist, SD: “What does a cow say?”
Client response: “Quack, neigh, moo”
Do not reinforce
Error Correction
Transfer Trial Therapist, SD: “What does a cow say?”
Client response within 3 seconds: “Moo”
Provide reinforcement: High five and “You got it! A cow does say ‘moo’!”
