Ch. 2 previews of coming attractions

Revised on 1/4/14

On p. 16, 2nd column, we get a preview of what's sometimes called "thinning the schedule." Right before this Malott described how, in addition to grandmother reinforcing certain of grandfather's behaviors, Juke was reinforcing grandmother's behavior of reinforcing grandfather's behaviors. This gives us a peek at how complex real life is, with many intertwined and interacting behavioral contingencies in operation at every moment. Anyway, on p. 16 we see Juke reinforcing grandmother's behavior less and less frequently. This was possible because the more grandmother practiced reinforcing grandfather's behaviors, the more her own behavior of reinforcing was, itself, reinforced by its consequences. This is what's known as a "behavior trap," which you can look up in the index if you want to read ahead. And we'll learn more about "thinning the schedule" in several places, including the chapters on extinction (6), intermittent reinforcement (17 and 18), and maintenance (27).