Changing Behavior By Reinforcing It

The DBT Skills Challenge

Skillset

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Walking the Middle Path

Changing Behavior by Reinforcing It

Overview

Changing behavior by reinforcing it utilizes strategic consequences, known as reinforcers, to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior. This technique involves both adding positive outcomes to encourage behaviors and removing negative conditions to sustain them.

Description

This method of behavioral management centers on the use of reinforcers—consequences that boost the frequency of a behavior. Positive reinforcers involve providing rewards or pleasant outcomes to encourage the repetition of a behavior. Conversely, negative reinforcers focus on eliminating undesirable elements to create relief, thereby reinforcing the behavior. Both types of reinforcers are used to shape and guide actions toward desired outcomes.

Shaping is a technique where successive approximations toward a target behavior are reinforced. This strategy rewards incremental progress, effectively molding and achieving the final desired behavior. Through shaping, complex behaviors can be learned in manageable steps, making it a powerful tool for behavior modification and skill development.

When to Use

This approach is particularly effective in various settings:

Skill Development: Use reinforcement to encourage the acquisition of new skills by rewarding steps toward mastery.
Behavior Modification: Apply positive and negative reinforcers to modify existing behaviors in educational, therapeutic, or personal contexts.
Habit Formation: Employ shaping techniques to build new habits by reinforcing small changes that accumulate to form a new habit.

Benefits

Implementing reinforcement strategies can lead to significant behavioral improvements:

Increased Desired Behaviors: Encourages more frequent occurrences of desired actions through systematic reinforcement.
Enhanced Learning Outcomes: Facilitates learning and skill acquisition by making the process rewarding.
Effective Behavior Modification: Allows for the modification of challenging behaviors in a controlled and progressive manner.

Common Challenges

Effectively applying reinforcement strategies can present several challenges:

Identifying Effective Reinforcers: Determining what effectively motivates an individual can be complex and varies from person to person.
Consistency in Application: Maintaining consistent reinforcement to ensure behavior modification requires diligent effort and timing.
Balancing Reinforcers: Using the right mix of positive and negative reinforcement to achieve the best results without creating dependency or resistance.

By integrating the skill of changing behavior through reinforcement into educational, therapeutic, or personal growth strategies, individuals and professionals can effectively shape behaviors and encourage desired actions. This method not only promotes behavioral change but also supports the development of beneficial habits and skills.