A01

• What are 3 psychological therapies for schizophrenia?

  1. Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp)
  2. Family Therapy
  3. Token Economies
• What is a token economy?

  A form of therapy where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement
• How do token economy systems work?

  • Rewards (tokens) are given as secondary reinforcers when socially desirable behaviours are carried out
  • The tokens can then be exchanged primary reinforcers - food or privileges
• Which type of symptoms do token economies aim to alleviate?

  Negative symptoms
• Which principle are token economies based on?

  Operant conditioning
• What is the primary reinforcer?

  Privilege
• What is the secondary reinforcer?

  • Token
  • Alone they have no value, it needs to be paired with a reinforcing stimulus, a tangible reward (primary reinforcer) in order for it to have value for the patient
  • Patients learn that it can be exchanged for a primary reinforcer (food, movie etc.)
• Where were token economies mainly used?

  Psychiatric hospitals
• What is the aim of token economies?

  To target maladaptive behaviour that patients have picked up due to being institutionalised
• What are the behaviours that token economies target?

  • Personal care - e.g. washing, eating and maintaining physical appearance
  • Condition-related behaviours - e.g. apathy
  • Social behaviour - e.g. seeing friends
• What was the first use of token economy systems?

  • Carried out by Allyon and Azrin (1968)
  • Trialled token economy system in a ward of women with schizophrenia
  • Every time one of them carried out a task (making the bed or cleaning) they were given a plastic token embossed with the words ‘one gift’
  • These could then be swapped for ward privileges such as watching a film
  • They found that the number of tasks carried out increased significantly