How immediate is immediate?

Revised on 1/4/14

Besides the dead man test, the thing that we may remind ourselves of more than anything else, as we go through the semester, is that we should always be looking at the immediate consequences of whatever target behavior we're interested in. On p. 4 Malott reminds us that immediate means 60 seconds or less, and even that is stretching things. As you construct contingency analyses, always keep in mind that whatever you think is the consequence of the target behavior (e.g., a reinforcing or aversive stimulus, event, or condition) must follow the target behavior immediately.

Additional comment, posted on Jan. 21, 2011: Malott puts a lot of emphasis on the proposition that a behavior's frequency changes as a result of its immediate consequences, & I agree with him. This may make you wonder about the many situations in which a behavior seems to be reinforced or punished by a consequence that is not immediate. For instance, seeing an "A" on your quiz paper might seem to reinforce the studying you did last night. Understanding why situations like this don't contradict what I said above is tricky. But Malott explains it by the end of the book.

In the meantime, for purposes of learning the fundamental principles of behavior, it's important for us to stick to examples & scenarios in which it's very obvious that the target behavior's frequency is changed because of its immediate consequences. That's why I'll probably say to you, when you turn in some of your contingency analyses, that they need to be revised because the reinforcing or punishing consequence doesn't follow the target behavior immediately.