Token Economy

• Clinicians target behaviour they believe will improve a patient‘s engagement in daily activities.

  Tokens are rewarded whenever the patient engages in one of the target behaviours.

  They are exchanged for various rewards and privilege.

  This means that patients will associate rewards with positive behaviours.
• Token economy focuses on the negative symptoms and encouraging more positive behaviours. Negative symptoms like apathy and social withdrawal mean the patient lacks interest in aspects of a normal healthy life.
• The use of a token economy is based on principles of operant conditioning
• Token economy - based on operant conditioning
• Token economy is a form of behaviour therapy
• Token economy was widely used in the 1960 s and 1970 s but is now replaced by interventions such as life skill training
• To give the neutral token some “ value “ it needs to be repeatedly presented alongside the reinforcing stimulus like watching a movie
• Neutral tokens + primary reinforcer - neutral token eventually acquires the same reinforcing properties
• Neutral tokens - secondary reinforcers, can be used to modify behaviour
• Reinforcing target behaviours - token can be exchanged for a variety of different privileges and rewards and is referred to as a generalised reinforcer
• The more items or rewards a token can be exchanged for, the more powerful the token becomes
• The trade - the exchange of token for rewards
• During the early stages of the token economy, frequent exchange periods mean patients can be quickly reinforced and target behaviour can then increase
• Effectiveness of token economy may decrease if more time passes between the presentation of the token and exchange for the backup reinforcers
• Token Economy Ayllon and Azin ( 1968 ) - used token economy on a ward of female SZ patients, many of whom had been hospitalised for many years.

  Given plastic tokens each saying “ one gift “ for behaviours such as making their bed, or carrying out domestic chores

  Tokens exchanged for privileges like watching movies

  Researcgers found that the use of token economy dramatically increased the number of desirable behaviours the patients performed each day.