Principles of Behavior
The principles of behavior describe the functional relation between behavior and relevant environmental variables, and are considered to be generalizable across all specieis, settings, behavior, and temporal occurrences (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). Therefore, these principles are essential to developing effective programs for behavior change, and allow managers to continually assess the validity and effectiveness of those programs.
Definition: A contingency that involves the removal or prevention of a stimulus following a behavior that increases the future rate of the occurrence of that behavior.
Example: An employee asks to not work with another employee and the manager schedules the employees on different days for the next schedule. The employee then asks to not work with the employee in the future. |
Definition: A contingency that involves the removal of a stimulus following a behavior (that is maintained by positive reinforcement) that decreases the future rate of that behavior.
Example: A manager removes hours from an employee’s schedule following each time the employee is late to work. The employee then stops being late. |
Definition: The discontinuation of reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior that results in a decrease in the frequency of the behavior to low levels.
Example: A manager stops delivering points for employees promoting new sales to customers, and employees don’t promote new sales in the future. |