Explain the concept of response cost and give an example.

Explain the concept of response cost and give an example.

• A. Response cost removes a specified amount of reinforcement contingent on a behavior, decreasing its frequency.
• B. Response cost increases reinforcement to undesirable behavior.
• C. Response cost uses time-out to stop reinforcement completely.
• D. Response cost rewards the person for good behavior and punishes for bad.

Answer: (B)

Response cost is a punishment-based procedure in which a specified amount of reinforcement is removed contingent on a target behavior, so the overall rate of that behavior tends to decrease because the person has less reinforcement available. For example, in a token economy, a student earns tokens for good behavior. If the student interrupts class, two tokens are taken away. The loss of those tokens reduces the expected reinforcement from future behavior, making interruptions less likely. This isn’t about increasing reinforcement for undesirable behavior, nor is it simply about a timeout, and it isn’t about rewarding good behavior while punishing bad in a general sense. It specifically involves taking away already earned reinforcement to weaken a behavior.

Response cost is a punishment-based procedure in which a specified amount of reinforcement is removed contingent on a target behavior, so the overall rate of that behavior tends to decrease because the person has less reinforcement available.

For example, in a token economy, a student earns tokens for good behavior. If the student interrupts class, two tokens are taken away. The loss of those tokens reduces the expected reinforcement from future behavior, making interruptions less likely.

This isn’t about increasing reinforcement for undesirable behavior, nor is it simply about a timeout, and it isn’t about rewarding good behavior while punishing bad in a general sense. It specifically involves taking away already earned reinforcement to weaken a behavior.