Generalisation in learning theory is when a behaviour learned in one situation is transferred to another, or when learning of one behaviour is transferred to a similar behaviour. The idea is that desired behaviour, once reinforced and established in an institution, would be generalised to outside the institution so that appropriate behaviour would be established.
They found that when they introduced a token economy system in three juvenile delinquent centres there was a significant increase in the desired behaviours, compared to the control.Ħ generalisation Generalisation is part of learning theory principles and is important when talking about token economies.
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Typical negative reinforcement would be removal of privileges, such as watching TV or going to the exercise yard, while a typical punishment may be isolation.ĥ Hobbs & Holt (1976) conducted a study which involved delinquent boys. When used in prisons, many of the programmes also use negative reinforcement and punishment in order to reduce undesirable behaviour such as non compliance and aggression. They can however be exchanged for primary reinforcers which are things that are wanted by the person. These tokens have no intrinsic value and are called secondary reinforcers. This is an important part of the programme as the rewards must genuinely reward the person.Ĥ Desirable behaviour such as co-operation and compliance is reinforced with the use of tokens. Rewards are usually tokens or points, and these can be periodically exchanged for something that the individual wants. Remind yourself about positive and negative reinforcement and punishment.ģ A token economy programme involves a system of rewards being set up for desired behaviour, sometimes with punishments to discourage behaviour which is undesirable. These programmes started in the 1960’s and there was hope that this would be extremely successful, given the success of the use of learning theories in changing behaviour.Ģ TASK – Think back to what you learnt about the learning theory & generalisation & operant conditioning last year. They are a form of behaviour modification. 1 TOKEN ECONOMIES Token economy programmes are used to obtain desirable behaviour in closed institutions such as prisons, and they are used for juvenile and adult offenders.
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