Token economy

• Aim

  To promote desirable behaviour and discourage undesirable behaviour
• Tokens and target behaviour

  Tokens are secondary reinforcers and are earned from target behaviours. Can be exchanged for primary reinforcers like food or extra free time
• Fading

  Initially tokens awarded frequently in high amounts but as Ps learn desirable behaviour, opportunities to earn tokens decreases - so desirable behaviour is displayed independently. Reinforcers that would be encountered in society like verbal praise should accompany fading process
• Allyon and Azrin

  Ward of psychiatryc hospital - 45 chronic schizophrenic patients w average of 16 years hospitalisation

  Patients showed behaviours like screaming, assaulting etc and some incontinent

  Token economy for stuff like brushing teeth. Exchanged for renting private room or music

  Dramatic improvement and within 20 days each patient showed 40 desirable behaviours on average
• Hobbs and Holt

  125 adolescent males committed to a state correlational institution - token economy introduced to boys cottages

  Focussed on social behaviour, completing tasks and rule following

  Introduced to 3 cottages and not to the 4th as a comparison

  data collected for over 14 months

  Increase in mean % of appropriate target behaviour in the 3 cottages (none in 4th)

  A - 66% to 91.6% B - 46.7% to 80.8% C - 73.2% to 94.2% (appropriate behaviour)
• Strength

  Support it evidence:

  Allyon and Azrin

  Hobbs and Holt
• Strength 2

  Relatively cheap therapy - does not need to be expensive rewards - can just give them extra free time

  Don’t need specialist staff
• Weakness 1

  A form of social control - used as a way to ensure prisoners behave for prison wardens - not long term & only for prison life

  Wont acc benefit prisoners themselves
• Weakness 2

  Inconsistencies in programme - subjective as to what is seen as desirable behaviour

  Levels of expectations of staff can affect givings of tokens

  Or weakness 3: behaviours may not generalise too outside world