They encourage positive behaviours to encourage positive behaviour
They use operant conditioning to encourage positive behaviour
Which type of operant conditioning do token economies use?
Positive reinforcement
How are token economies used to manage patient behaviour in the hospital?
Patients are given reward tokens when they engage in positive, adaptive behaviour.
Tokens can be exchanged for rewards.
The patient learns to repeat positive, adaptive behaviours through positive reinforcement.
What type of conditioning does token economies?'
Operant conditioning - The patient learns to associate their actions with the token, through operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning - The patient learns to associate the token with the reward, through classical conditioning.
Token economies are a behavioural intervention, used to help nurses and doctors manage patients’ behaviours.
Token Economies: Dickerson et al
Dickerson et al’s, reviewed 13 studies in which token economies had been used to manage patient behaviour, and found that 11 of the studies reported improvements in patient behaviour. Aswell as token economies were especially useful in combination with other therapies.
What are the limitation of token economies?
Many studies lacked a control group, ans so cannot establish cause and effect between token economies and improvements in behaviour.
Token economies have limited use outside of a hospital setting.
Could be considered unethical - patients could by treated like children and be humiliated
Might encourage patients to become over dependant on being rewarded for their behaviours