Chapter 17 Antecedent Control Rules and Goals Study Questions 1 Define rule and give an example that is not in this chapter A rule describes a situation in which a behavior will lead to a consequence Speaking loosely it is a statement that a specific behavior will pay off in a particular situation For example if I smoke cigarettes in my apartment I will be fined 50 2 Describe an example of a rule that was stated by the figure skater just before competing An example of a rule stated by the figure skater would be I ve landed all of my jumps in practice and I can land them all here 3 A teacher of a second grade class complains to you When I tell the children to stay at their desks and work they never listen to me Describe the contingencies that are likely operating with respect to that rule given by the teacher to the kids in the class The children s good behavior staying at their desks and working is contingent on the reinforcer that would be given by the teacher 4 Describe an example of a partial rule that is not in this chapter What aspects of the three term contingency does your partial rule identify What are the missing parts that the partial rule implied For example a sign outside of a building that says No smoking is a partial rule The antecedent is the no smoking sign while the behavior not smoking and the consequence avoid getting fined are implied 5 Define contingency shaped behavior and give an example Contingency shaped behavior is behavior that develops because of its immediate consequences Suppose that Bobby whispers funny comments to his teammates on the pee wee hockey team while his coach is trying to explain how to execute a play Bobby s teammates laugh and his whispering is strengthened in that setting 6 Define rule governed behavior and give an example Rule governed behavior is behavior controlled by the statement of a rule Suppose at the start of the next practice Bobby s coach says Bobby if you listen carefully and don t whisper when I m talking to the team we ll have an extra 5 minutes of scrimmage at the end of practice During the practice Bobby frequently repeats the rule makes it through the practice without whispering and earns the reinforcer 7 Describe two common differences between rule governed and contingency shaped behavior Contingency shaped behavior involves immediate consequences and is typically strengthened gradually through trial and error or to be more precise through immediate reinforcement and nonreinforcement Rule governed behavior in contrast often involves delayed consequences and frequently leads to immediate behavior change 8 Give an example of an indirect effect of a reinforcer for your behavior Recall the case of Fernando in Chapter 3 When Fernando was told that he would be given a slip of paper that could be exchanged for 2 pesos contingent upon arriving at work on time he was never again late for work throughout the duration of the study This was not an example of the direct effects of reinforcement because the reinforcer of 2 pesos occurred well after the behavior of leaving earlier for work Instead it was likely 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Fernando s rehearsal of a rule e g If I leave earlier I will arrive on time and I will earn 2 extra pesos that controlled his behavior of leaving half an hour earlier in the morning Using examples briefly describe four situations in which the addition of rules to a behavior modification program might be especially helpful Trying to make the behavior of smoking cigarettes extinct Teaching a child how to say new words Teaching a child how to label objects Shaping a child s behavior of wearing his glasses Describe using examples three explanations for why we might follow rules that identify very delayed consequences Suppose that a parent wants to encourage a child to study for an hour or so each evening during the week A suitable reinforcer might be allowing the child to stay up late on the weekend to watch a movie However movie watching on Friday night is long delayed from studying for an hour on Monday By adding the rule If you study for an hour each night this week you can watch the late movie on Friday night the parent has increased the chances of the delayed reinforcer having an effect on the desired behavior Another example might be a child doing all of his her chores throughout the week and then receiving an allowance on Sunday or a student studies for a test a week in advance every day and then receives an A on the test Explain in terms of contextual stimulus control as described in Note 3 of Chapter 8 why the tone of voice of someone giving you instructions might determine whether you will follow the instructions How might we explain the behavior of someone who fails to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle even though that person know that wearing a helmet would prevent brain damage from an accident Rules can help people learn appropriate behavior when learning the hard way not wearing a helmet could be costly getting brain damage How might we account for the relative ineffectiveness of such rules as I m going to stop eating sweets A rule that describes behavior specifically is more likely to be followed than a rule that describes a behavior vaguely In a couple of sentences distinguish between rules that are often effective versus rules that are often weak or ineffective in controlling behavior Rules that describe specific circumstances and deadlines for specific behavior that will lead to sizeable and probable outcomes are often effective even when the outcomes are delayed Conversely rules that describe the behavior and the circumstances for it vaguely that do not identify a deadline for the behavior and that lead to small or improbable consequences for the behavior are often weak or ineffective In general what do we mean by the word goal Describe an example of a behavioral goal that is not in this chapter Describe an example of an outcome goal that is not in this chapter A goal is a level of performance that an individual or group attempts to achieve Is goal setting different from using rules Discuss 17 18 19 20 21 Although goal setting might be viewed as making and using a rule the circumstances in which one might apply goal setting are often somewhat different than those described in the previous section We previously suggested that it is possible to capitalize on stimulus control by using rules to bring about instant behavior change The sport psychologist for example was concerned with