- Hi, my name is Vanessa Hendrickson,
and I am a board-certified behavior analyst
at Brett Dinovi & Associates.
I am going to talk to you today
about aggression reinforcers.
The task list topics this covers are G-05,
describe and explain behavior including private events
in behavior-analytic non-mentalistic terms,
J-10, when a behavior is to be decreased
select an acceptable alternative behavior
to be established or increased,
and FK-23, automatic reinforcement and punishment.
According to Malott and Shane in Chapter 10
of their book, Principles of Behavior,
an aggression reinforcer refers to a reinforcing stimulus
resulting from acts of aggression.
And the aggression principle states that aversive stimuli
and extinction are motivating operations
for aggression reinforcers.
It is important to note that Mallot and Shane
do warn that the analysis that follows
is a theoretical analysis and interpretation of the data,
so not everyone will agree.
The term motivating operation refers to an environmental
variable that either increases or decreases
the value of a stimulus as a reinforcer or punisher,
which in turn makes the response
more or less likely to occur.
With aggression reinforcers, the aversive stimulus
acts as a motivating operation,
specifically an establishing operation,
increasing the value of an aggression reinforcer
and making the response more likely to occur.
When the aversive stimulus is not present,
the motivating operation is not there,
and therefore the aggression reinforcer is not as valuable,
making the response less likely to occur.
So what does all this mean?
Have you ever hung up a picture or put together furniture
and slam the hammer down on your finger?
When that happened, did you yell loudly
the first expletive you could think of?
This is an example of pain motivated aggression.
In this situation the aversive stimulus
is hitting your finger with a hammer,
which acts as a motivating operation,
increasing the value of yelling
as a reinforcer in that instance.
Dr. Nathan Azrin conducted studies on various species
of animals and determined that all species
they tested would engage in aggression
when present with painful stimuli.
Have you ever been cut off by someone while driving?
And yell obscenities at them from your car?
This is an example of extinction motivated aggression.
In this example the aversive stimulus
is your fast driving.
Being placed on extinction as the individual
pulls in front of you, which acts as a motivating operation,
increasing the value of yelling obscenities as a reinforcer.
Malott and Shane discuss a Skinner box experiment
in which two pigeons were placed in the Skinner box.
One of the pigeons was restrained in a small box
in the corner with only its head sticking out.
While the other pigeon was free to roam.
The free pigeon would peck a key
and be presented with grain for three seconds
after each peck.
As long as the grain was presented
each time the pigeon pecked, he would leave
the restrained pigeon alone and continue eating the grain.
However, when the pecking behavior was placed
on extinction, meaning that when the pigeon
pecks the key the food is not presented,
the pigeon then turns to the restrained pigeon
and attacks him aggressively.
The analysis: aversive conditions,
either pain or extinction, are motivating operations
that affect learning and performance
with respect to reinforcing stimuli produced by aggression.
The aggression produced stimuli that would have
resulted from these examples include the sound of
one's own voice yelling and the pressure on
the pigeon's beak when aggressively attacking.
In our everyday practice, it is important to consider
the role of aggression reinforcers
when analyzing the behavior of our clients.
When there is not a clearly identified function of behavior,
it is often assumed that the behavior is maintained
by automatic reinforcement and perhaps in some cases
of aggression that automatic reinforcement
is in the form of aggression reinforcers.
When implementing program interventions
that may present aversive situations or extinction,
it is important to remember the aggression principle
and that these motivating operations could potentially lead
to an increase in aggressive behaviors
due to aggression reinforcers.
If this does happen,
one could provide an appropriate alternate method
for the client to gain access to these
aggression reinforcers
in a safer more appropriate manner.
One example of this would be punching
a punching bag instead of a wall.
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