The Token Economy

1 Principles of Operant Conditioning.- Reinforcement.- Positive Reinforcement.- Negative Reinforcement.- Punishment.- Extinction.- Maximizing the Effect of Positive Reinforcement.- Delay of Reinforcement.- Magnitude or Amount of Reinforcement.- Quality or Type of the Reinforcer.- Schedules of Reinforcement.- Shaping.- Chaining.- Prompting and Fading.- Discrimination and Stimulus Control.- Generalization.- Conclusion.- 2 Introduction and Historical Overview.- Investigation of the Influence of Response Consequences.- Extensions of Operant Methods to Human Behavior: An Overview.- Conceptual and Experimental Extensions.- Clinical Applications.- Token Economies Antedating Contemporary Behavior Modification.- Joseph Lancaster and the “Monitorial System”.- The Excelsior School System.- Alexander Maconochie and the “Mark System”.- Contemporary Foundations of Token Economies.- Reinforcement Programs in Applied Settings.- Food and Other Consumable Items.- Social Reinforcers.- Activities, Privileges, and Other High Probability Behaviors.- Informative Feedback.- Token Reinforcement.- Conclusion.- 3 The Token Economy: Program Options and Variations.- The Basic Token Program and Its Requirements.- The Token.- Back-up Reinforcers.- Specification of the Contingencies.- Examples of Token Economies in Three Settings.- Psychiatric Ward.- Home-Style Facility for Pre-Delinquents.- Elementary School Classroom.- Program Variations, Options, and Their Effects.- Types of Contingencies.- Administration of Consequences.- Range and Extent of Back-up Reinforcers.- Token Withdrawal or Response Cost.- Response Cost Programs.- Token Economies Including Response Cost.- Use of Response Cost.- Leveled Programs.- Peer Administration of the Contingencies.- Self-Administration of Consequences.- Conclusion.- 4 Review of Token Economies I.- Psychiatric Patients.- General Ward-Wide Programs.- Complex and Therapeutically Relevant Behaviors and “Symptoms”.- Social Behaviors.- Other Behaviors.- The Mentally Retarded.- Ward and Self-Care Behaviors.- Verbal Behavior and Language Acquisition.- Social Behaviors.- Work-Related Behaviors.- Other Behaviors.- Individuals in Classroom Settings.- Disruptive Behavior and Inattentiveness.- Academic Behaviors.- Other Behaviors.- Conclusion.- 5 Review of Token Economies II.- Pre-Delinquents and Delinquents.- Antisocial Behavior.- Classroom and Academic Behaviors.- Social Skills.- Adult Offenders.- Drug Addicts and Problem Drinkers (“Alcoholics”).- Applications with Drug Addicts.- Applications with Alcoholics.- Outpatient Applications.- Outpatient Therapy.- Interventions in the Natural Environment with Children and Adolescents.- Interventions in the Natural Environment with Adults.- Other Populations and Applications.- Geriatric Residents.- Stutterers.- Aphasics.- Social Extensions.- Conclusion.- 6 Major Issues and Obstacles in Ensuring Effective Programs.- Training Staff and Other Behavior-Change Agents.- Staff Training Techniques.- Instructional Methods.- Feedback.- Self-Monitoring.- Modeling and Role-Playing.- Social Reinforcement.- Token Reinforcement.- Combined Techniques.- Training Techniques: General Comments.- The Effects of Token Economies on Staff Behavior.- Unresponsive Clients.- Explanations of Unresponsiveness.- Techniques to Enhance Responsiveness.- Response Priming.- Reinforcer Sampling.- Selecting Increasingly Potent Reinforcers.- Modeling Influences.- Individualized Contingencies.- Group Administration of Consequences.- Unresponsiveness: Summary.- Economic Variables in Token Economies.- Income and Savings.- Expenditures and Back-up Events.- Economic Variables: General Comments.- Conclusion.- 7 Generalization of Behavior Change.- Maintenance of Behavior after Withdrawal of Tokens.- Transfer of Training across Situations.- Techniques to Program Maintenance and Transfer.- Selecting Behaviors That Are Likely to Be Maintained.- Substituting One Program for Another.- Fading the Contingencies.- Expanding Stimulus Control.- Scheduling Intermittent Reinforcement.- Delaying Reinforcer Delivery.- Self-Reinforcement.- Self-Instruction Training.- Programming Maintenance and Transfer: General Comments.- Conclusion.- 8 Critical Evaluation of the Token Economy.- Focus of Token Programs.- Target Behaviors.- Settings.- Populations.- Focus of Token Programs: Summary.- Analysis of the Token Economy and Its Effects.- Variables Contributing to the Token Economy.- Instructions.- Social Reinforcement and Interpersonal Interaction.- Feedback.- Modeling Influences.- Subject and Demographic Variables.- Variables Contributing to the Token Economy: Summary.- Possible Deleterious Effects of Extrinsic Reinforcement.- Comparison of the Token Economy with Other Treatment Techniques.- The Token Economy versus Standard or Routine Treatment.- The Token Economy versus Other Specific Treatments.- The Token Economy versus Pharmacotherapy.- Evaluation of the Effects of Treatment.- Important Considerations in Validating the Effects of Treatment.- Conclusion.- 9 Extensions of Reinforcement Techniques to Society.- Pollution Control and Energy Conservation.- Littering.- Recycling Wastes.- Energy Conservation.- Mass Transportation.- Excessive Noise.- Job Performance and Unemployment.- On-the-Job Performance.- Obtaining Employment.- Community Self-Government.- Racial Integration.- Military Training.- Broader Social Extensions: The Design of Communities and Society.- Walden Two.- Twin Oaks Community.- Experimental Living Project.- Evaluation of Social Extensions of Reinforcement Techniques.- Conclusion.- 10 Ethical and Legal Issues.- Ethical Issues.- Behavior Control.- Control for What Purposes and by Whom?.- Individual Freedom.- Legal Issues.- Contingent Consequences and Environmental Restraint.- Selection of Target Behaviors.- Right to Treatment.- Refusal of Treatment.- Informed Consent.- Protection of Client Rights.- Conclusion.- 11 Summing Up.- The Accomplishments of the Token Economy.- Outstanding Issues.- When and How to Use the Token Economy.- The Ethical and Legal Challenge.- References.- Author Index.