Differential Reinforcement

We are all doing things for a reason. We just aren’t always aware of it. Differential reinforcement is a technique used to reinforce desired behavior while not reinforcing undesirable behavior. There are five types of differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI), Differential reinforcement of lower rates of behavior (DRLR), Differential reinforcement of higher rates of behavior (DRHB).

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior

This intervention assumes that the person is using the undesirable behavior to accomplish a goal. The person is then given a socially acceptable behavior to use an alternative and that new behavior is reinforced. It can be reinforced by the goal being achieved. It can also be reinforced through additional reinforcement.

Your 10-year-old wants the 5-year-old to stop breaking his toys in his room. Your 10-year-old hits the 5-year-old, whenever the 5-year-old touches his toys. An alternative is that the 10-year-old can lock the door to his room. The reinforcement occurs when the 10-year-old feels calm as a result of the 5-year-old not being able to break his toys.

Your husband yells at the children when they are too loud. He wants them to stop being loud. An alternative is for your husband to send the children to their room. The reinforcement occurs when the husband feels calm as a result of the children going to their room and becoming quiet.

Your daughter is overstimulated and she hits her younger siblings in an attempt to make them stop talking. An alternative is for her to leave the room and be by herself. This is reinforced when she feels calm after she leaves the room.

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior

The goal of DRI is to reinforce behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. The behavior that is being reinforced is often the opposite of the behavior that you want to stop.

 If you want your wife to shut the cupboard door, don’t yell at her when she leaves it open, thank her when she shuts it.

 If you want your child to not wear shoes in the house, give them a hug when they leave their shoes at the door.

If you want your husband to stop yelling, express appreciation when he uses a calm voice.

Differential Reinforcement of Lower Rates of Behavior

In this reinforcement schedule, the person is being reinforced at a lower interval rate so that the person will exhibit the behavior at a lower interval rate.

 Your child is hugging you every 2 minutes. Your child is doing this because he is anxious and hugging you makes him feel better, but it also reinforces the compulsion. You don’t want to illuminate the hugging, but you also want him to not hug because he is anxious. You ask the child to hug out of love and not out of anxiety. You ask the child to pause and wait for the anxiety to 100% decrease before he hugs you. As the child pauses and calms his body, you visually see his muscles relax, his breathing calm, and his skin turn to normal tones. When the child gets up and hugs you, you give him an extra long and close hug. This reinforces the pause. Because the child was calm before he hugged you, he is not reinforcing the compulsion.

Differential Reinforcement of Higher Rates of Behavior

In this reinforcement schedule, you are reinforcing behavior that you want to happen more often.

This reinforcement schedule is the one that usually causes problems for people.

If a child throws a fit and you hug the child during the fit, you will reinforce the fit and increase the behavior. If you hug and love a child when he calls himself names, you will reinforce and increase the behavior. If you engage in an argument with the child and the child likes to argue, you will reinforce arguing. If your child feels better after shouting and you engage in shouting, you will reinforce the frequency.

If your husband is cranky and you calm everyone down, you will reinforce the frequency of him being cranky. If your husband demands and you comply, you will reinforce the demanding behavior. If your husband threatens to harm himself and you capitulate to his demands while simultaneously increasing affection, you will reinforce the frequency.

This reinforcement schedule can also be helpful.

If your child uses positive self-talk and you hug your child, you will reinforce the behavior. If your child successfully completes a time-out and you hug him afterward, your child will increase the frequency of successful time-outs. If your child disagrees with you in a calm voice and you engage back, his frequency of using a calm voice will increase.

If you engage with your husband, after he calms himself, he will likely increase the frequency of calming himself. If your husband makes a polite request and you willingly help, you will increase the probability that he will make polite requests. If you connect emotionally with your husband, after he successfully regulates his own mood, his frequency of self-regulating will likely increase.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

This reinforcement is used when there is an absence of behavior. In this reinforcement schedule, you do not need to know why the child is exhibiting the undesirable behavior. You are simply reinforcing the absence of the undesirable behavior.

To use this method, first pick a behavior that you don’t want the person to exhibit. Then determine how long the person can go without exhibiting the behavior. For example, Sally can go 5 minutes without getting out of her seat.  Next, reinforce the absence of the behavior. Sally gets a reinforcer every 4 & ½ minutes if she hasn’t gotten out of her seat. You want the person to feel successful so you don’t want to wait past the time they will fail before you reinforce them. You also want them to work for it, so you don’t want to reinforce the behavior too soon. You can always increase the time interval, as it becomes easy for the person to not exhibit the behavior.

You want your child to stop throwing fits. Your child throws fits at an average rate of every three hours. You give your child a reinforcer every 2 &1/2 hours when he doesn’t throw a fit.

You want your husband to stop yelling at your kids. He yells at your kids at a rate of every 20 minutes. You express appreciation for his self-control at an interval of every 15 minutes.  The next week, he is yelling at the kids at a rate of every hour. You express appreciation at the rate of 45 minutes.

You want your husband to stop yelling at your kids. He yells whenever he is in the same room as the children. You do not want to use a timer. Instead, you wait for your husband to leave the room. If your husband leaves the room after exhibiting an absence of yelling at the children, you reinforce the behavior by expressing appreciation.