Behavior Analysis with Lily the Beagle

Behavioral Analysis with

Lily the BeagleKaty MunnFinal Fiesta

Fall 2017

Meet Lily! ● Beagle

● 12 years old!

● Favorite activities:○ Eating

○ Sleeping

○ Watching TV

○ Getting good pats

Analysis ● There are many contingencies affecting

Lily’s behavior.

● Some behaviors I analyzed are:○ Sitting

○ Moving after sitting

○ Begging for food

○ Panting

Lily in her natural habitat: under

the table looking for food

Let's Find an Effective Reinforcer● We will need an effective reinforcer to maintain Lily’s behavior.

● She loves human food, it doesn't matter what kind.

● For clarity I will use the reinforcer of marshmallows.

A stimulus that increases the frequency of a response it follows.

Reinforcement Contingency: Sitting ● When Lily sits she

receives a marshmallow

to reinforce her

behavior

Before:

No marshmallow

Behavior:

Lily sits

After:

Marshmallow

The response-contingent presentation of a reinforcer resulting in an increased frequency of that response.

What a good sit,

time for a

marshmallow!

Differential Reinforcement: Sitting & StayingStopping reinforcement for an inappropriate response, while shifting that reinforcement to an appropriate response.

Before:

No marshmallow

Behavior:

Lily moves

immediately after

sitting

Behavior:

Lily does not move

after sitting

After:

Marshmallow

After:

No marshmallow

● Woops! Is not moving a

behavior? Let’s use the dead-

man test to double check.

● If Lily doesn’t move she will

get a marshmallow, if she

does move she will not get a

marshmallow.

Dead-Man Test●The dead-man test states if a dead man can do it, it probably isn’t behavior.

●Not moving would fail the dead-man test because a dead man can be still i.e. not move. Let’s

roll the dead man over to find the behavior. The opposite of not moving would be moving, so to

increase the behavior of staying we will have to decrease the behavior of moving.

Punishment Contingency: Moving After Sitting

●We can’t reinforce not moving so we

must use the opposite which would be

moving immediately after sitting.

Before:

No spritz of

water and no

“no”

Behavior:

Lily moves

immediately

after sitting

After:

Spritz of water

and “no”

NO

The response-contingent presentation of an aversive condition resulting in a decreased frequency of that response.

Stimulus Discrimination: Begging/PantingThe occurrence of a response more frequently in the presence of one stimulus than in the presence of another, usually as a result of a discrimination procedure

SΔ:

In the presence

of Dad in the

kitchen

SD:

In the presence

of Katy in the

kitchen

Behavior:

Lily pants and

begs

After:

No bite of food

After:

Bite of food

Before:

No bite of food

● When I am in the kitchen Lily’s

panting and begging gets reinforced,

but when my dad is in the kitchen her

panting and begging does not get

reinforced.

Where’s Katy?

I want some

food!

Sick Social Cycle: Panting For Food Victim’s escape model: in escaping the perpetrator’s aversive behavior, the victim unintentionally reinforces that aversive behavior.

● Lily’s panting is aversive to

me so I give her food to make

her stop.

Lily has no

bite of food Lily has bite

of food

Lily pants

and begs

Katy hears

aversive panting

Katy gives

Lily a bite

of food

Katy doesn’t

hear aversive

panting

Katy doesn’t

hear aversive

panting

Katy gives

Lily a bite

of food

Katy hears

aversive

panting

Lily has no

bite of food

Extinction: Panting & Begging

●To decreases the

panting behavior, and

kick that sick social cycle,

we can use extinction.

Stopping the reinforcement or escape contingency for a previously reinforced response causes the response frequency to decrease.

Before:

No bite of food

Behavior:

Lily pants, and begs

After:

No bite of food

Wallowing

in sadness

because

she doesn't

get food

anymore

for panting.

The end! Questions or Comments?