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Finding and Creating Positive Reinforcers (R+)
by
Charles Lamson
One of the questions most often asked by managers when they are first exposed to behavior analysis is, "How do you choose good reinforcers?" The next most popular question is, "What do you do if you don't have any money for reinforcers?" This post is designed to answer those questions.
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Finding Effective Reinforcers
People's varied likes and dislikes complicate the problem of finding effective reinforcers, because no two people have exactly the same reinforcers. In one of our PM seminars we asked participants to make a list of their reinforcers. Since many of us have reinforcers that are the same or similar, we can efficiently manage groups of people. However, the larger the group, the lower the probability that any single reinforcer you choose will be a reinforcer for everyone. How then do you find the reinforcers for the people at work? This section will give you some ways to simplify the task.
Wants, Desires, Values, and Reinforcers
In attempting to find an effective reinforcer, it is helpful to think in terms of what the person or group wants, desires, and values. However, people's wants, desires, or values are not identical to reinforcers. You may say you want, desire, or value something, but not willing to increase a particular behavior or performance to get it, and even if you think you would work for it, you might not.
Even though wants, desires, and values are not the equivalent of reinforcers, they are helpful to know when trying to discover reinforcers. If the wants, desires and values of other people are the same as ours, we will probably have many reinforcers in common. But in the final analysis, no matter what we call it, if it doesn't increase the behavior, it is not a reinforcer.
One of the most common errors made in choosing reinforcers for others is that we assume they want what we want, even when there are large differences in age, education, social status, and culture. Many managers, for example, offer to take a top performer and spouse to dinner at a fancy restaurant when that is the last thing the couple wants. They may prefer beer and pizza or dinner without the boss, complements of the company. Of course, the opposite mistake is also made when we assume that because of someone's background or job position they would prefer beer and pizza when in fact they would rather go to an upscale restaurant.
This highlights an important feature of the Performance Management (PM) process. It is the most individually centered management approach available today. It starts from a premise that everyone is different. You will never maximize the potential of an organization if you treat people as stereotypes of any kind.
Individuals have a rich history of reinforcement that they bring to the workplace. Many kinds of behavior patterns remain once individuals enter the work setting, because historically based reinforcers continue to occur across settings. Finding distinctive reinforcers for each person that either help to initiate new behaviors or maintain established patterns of behavior is one of the best opportunities managers have to recognize the uniqueness of every employee. While this may sound like a very complicated task, it is not very difficult. The vast majority of things that we each find reinforcing can be discovered by using the processes defined below.
Performance Management works every where. PM methods have been applied successfully in over 20 countries. All cultural practices reflect unique histories of reinforcement - and, certainly, the wonderful variations in cultural practices are important to understand. However, the reason people of all nationalities behave as they do is because they are people who learn through the selective power of particular reinforcers that sustain behavior, regardless of country, or culture, or origin.
The variety of individual wants and needs is as infinite as the variety of people. Because of this, PM will not work effectively unless the individual's reinforcers are identified. At first glance, it appears that choosing effective reinforcers for one person is difficult and for a group, impossible. Fortunately there are things that seem to transcend all of our differences. For example, most people of all ages, education, social status, and culture respond favorably to expressions of appreciation for good work. There are other reinforcers that people respond to but the question is, how do I find which reinforcers apply to the individuals with whom I work?
Three methods of identifying reinforcers are asking, observing, and testing.
1. Asking people what they like
One way to identify effective reinforcers for people is by talking to them. Ask them what non-work activities they spend time and money pursuing. Do they hunt, jog, ski, read, or play a musical instrument? The simple act of talking to people about something they are interested in is practically always a reinforcer. For example, spending some time talking to someone about her family or her hobby is usually reinforcing.
Sometimes when you ask people to tell you what they want or like, you may set up false expectations. When you ask the question, be sure to let them know that you want to know the types of things they like or enjoy. Tell them that you may not arrange for every particular reinforcer they mention, but they should not be afraid to list every reinforcer that comes to mind. Who knows? You may do something that they didn't think you could. knowing what people like, however outrageous their choices may be, will help you to know them better, and as such, will give you ideas for reinforcers that you can provide.
2. Observing people
Even though common sense seems to indicate that asking would be the best way to find reinforcers, it is not. When you begin to reinforce, it is usually better to start with one of several other methods for determining individual and group reinforcers. Once people have experienced reinforcement at work or are trained in the approach, asking is an efficient way to learn about reinforcers. In the meantime, observation is a very efficient way to discover effective reinforcers.
The observing method is officially called the Premack Principle. The Premack Principle involves observing people to see what they do when they have a choice. The Premack Principle is also the basis for a very effective time-management system. You can test this method for yourself. First, take all the tasks that you have to do and arrange them from the most preferred task to the least preferred one. Then perform each task, starting at the bottom with the least preferred task. When you start at the bottom of the list, observe what happens when you complete tasks. As you complete a lesser preferred task, you get to engage in a more preferred one - the next one on the list. Notice what happens when you start at the top where most people begin. Every time you complete a preferred task, the next one is less preferred. The first method creates a type of reinforcement system. The second is a punishment system. The first produces industriousness and the second procrastination.
3. Trial and error: Testing a consequence to see if it's a reinforcer
Probably the most frequently used method for finding reinforcers is to try something and see if it works. This works an amazingly high percentage of the time. This trial-and-error method is really a combination of asking and observing. Before trying something, people often do some observing, talking, and listening. They also usually talk to those who have used reinforcers before, or they may try something they have read about that worked in another setting similar to theirs.
You may get some negative reactions when you first start to use reinforcement. People may scoff at or even laugh at your efforts. Most of the time, a negative reaction is because they are not accustomed to reinforcement in the workplace. The good news is that such rejection doesn't happen often, and when it does occur, it is usually short lived. Believe it or not, sometimes when people protest that they don't need reinforcement, their performance still increases after they get it. This is why it is important not to rely solely on verbal behavior when finding reinforcers. You need to monitor performance data carefully to determine if you have an effective reinforcer.
*SOURCE: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: CHANGING BEHAVIOR THAT DRIVES ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS, 4TH ED., 2004, AUBREY C. DANIELS & JAMES E. DANIELS, 193-202*
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