Differential reinforcement: what it is and how it is used in psychology

Within behavior modification techniques, we find a wide variety of strategies to increase, reduce, or eliminate behaviors. A key strategy is reinforcement, which encompasses all those procedures that increase the probability of occurrence of a behavior.

In this article We will talk about a type of reinforcement, differential reinforcement, aimed at eliminating or reducing behaviors while others are promoted. We will know the five types that exist, their characteristics, how they are applied and examples of each of them.

• Related article: "Operant Conditioning: Main Concepts and Techniques"

Differential reinforcement: what is it?

Differential reinforcement is a type of learning characteristic of behavior modification techniques (behavioral psychology), which consists of reinforcing only some behaviors while putting others under extinction (they stop being reinforced so that they become extinct), or in reinforcing certain behaviors after certain periods of time, etc.

As we will see, there are five types of differential reinforcement, depending on the objective we have, and their characteristics are very diverse.

What is reinforcement?

It is important, in order to understand differential reinforcement, that the concept of reinforcement be clear. Reinforce implies administer a positive stimulus or withdraw a negative one when a certain action is performed, which increases the probability of occurrence of a certain behavior. For example, a reinforcer can be a compliment (verbal reinforcement), a cookie (primary reinforcement), a caress (social reinforcement), an afternoon at the movies, more time watching television, more time with friends, etc

Types, with examples

There are several types of differential reinforcement., depending on its characteristics and what you are trying to achieve:

1. High Rate Differential Reinforcement (RDA)

In this type of reinforcement the response will be reinforced if less than a certain time has elapsed since the previous response. In other words, what is sought is for the response to increase its appearance rate, and to appear more often.

RDA Example

An example that illustrates an RDA is an adolescent who has a hard time being assertive (ie, she has a hard time saying what she thinks, saying “no”, defending her rights, etc.). In this case, the way to apply high-rate differential reinforcement will be to reinforce the adolescent if in "X" period of time she has been assertive certain times, that is, if a short time has elapsed between assertive behaviors.

Thus, in relation to this case, an assertive behavior would be, for example, saying "no" when asked for a favor that is not we want to make or say a personal opinion contrary to what the majority thinks, in order to defend an interest staff etc

limited response RDA

RDA has the next subtype, called limited-response differential reinforcement. In this process the subject is reinforced if the answer appears at least “X” times during a certain period of time.

• You may be interested in: "Behaviorism: history, concepts and main authors"

2. Low Rate Differential Reinforcement (RDB)

This second type of reinforcement is opposite to RDA. In this case, the response is reinforced if a certain amount of time has elapsed since the previous response. That is to say, what is intended is that the behavior reduces its frequency, decrease and appear more spaced in time.

Thus, this type of reinforcement is indicated for cases where the objective is not to eliminate the behavior, but to reduce its frequency. These may be cases where the behavior itself is not harmful (but rather its frequency of occurrence), or cases where the behavior simply cannot be eliminated in its entirety (or it is difficult to achieve complete disappearance of the behavior).

RDB Example

Let's see an example to illustrate the RDB: think of a child with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) who gets up many times from the table, throughout the class. In this case, we would reinforce him every time “X” period of time elapsed (for example, 15 minutes) without him having performed the get up action.

In line with what we said before, what is sought here is for the child to get up fewer times throughout the class. In this example, getting up by itself is not inappropriate behavior, but doing it too often is.

Limited Response RDB

Like RDA, low-rate differential reinforcement also has the following subtype: limited-response RDB. In this case, less than “X” response is allowed in a certain period of time, and it is reinforced if it is achieved. That is, the subject is reinforced for emitting less than a certain number of behaviors in a specific space of time.

3. Differential reinforcement of other behaviors (RDOC)

Differential reinforcement of other behaviors, unlike the previous two, has a double and simultaneous objective: decrease the occurrence of certain behaviors and increase the occurrence of others. It is indicated for those cases where it is necessary to replace the original behavior with a more adequate or functional one.

In this case, the "other behaviors" to which the name of the reinforcement refers, refer to behaviors that are functionally equivalent to the behavior that we want to reduce, but more adaptive.

RDOC Example

For example, this type of reinforcement could be applied to a child who, instead of speaking, uses screams to ask for things; In this case, we would reinforce the child every time he asks for things well, when he asks for them by speaking and without raising his voice, and on the contrary, we would not reinforce him when he asks for things by shouting. Thus, we would be applying differential reinforcement, since we reinforce some behaviors and not others.

4. Differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors (RDI)

This type of differential reinforcement is very similar to the previous one; in this case, we have a behavior that we want to reduce or directly eliminate (misconduct). How would we apply the procedure? Not reinforcing that inappropriate behavior, and reinforcing behaviors that were incompatible with the inappropriate behavior (the latter being appropriate behaviors).

ROI Example

An example of this type of procedure would be reinforcing a child who, instead of hitting, makes a craft. These are behaviors that you cannot perform at the same time, because both involve the use of your hands (ie, they are incompatible behaviors). Furthermore, while the first (gluing) is inappropriate, the second (making a craft) is appropriate.

On the other hand, an advantage of the RDI is that the incompatible behaviors can be more than one (thus we also increase the behavioral repertoire of appropriate behaviors); in this way, the objective will be to increase the frequency of appropriate responses and extinguish inappropriate responses.

5. omission differential reinforcement (RDO)

In omission differential reinforcement, the subject is reinforced if in a certain interval of time the answer has not appeared. That is, the absence of the answer or the omission of it is rewarded. The goal is for the behavior to decrease in terms of its frequency of occurrence.

RDO Example

To illustrate this type of differential reinforcement, we can think of certain aggressive behaviors, self-harm, etc. In this case, the non-issue of said behaviors will be reinforced (for example, hitting, self-harming, insulting, etc.). That is to say, It is applied to those inappropriate behaviors that we want to eliminate.

If the application of the RDO is effective, we will have an ideal scenario to establish an alternative and adaptive behavior, since the maladaptive behavior will have disappeared.

Bibliographic references:

• DeVega, M. (1990). Introduction to cognitive psychology. Psychology Alliance. Madrid.
• Vallejo, M.A. (2012). Behavior Therapy Manual. Volume I and II. Madrid: Dykinson.