Angela Kulcsar explains the difference between bribery and reinforcement. Bribery offers a reward before the behavior to try to get it; reinforcement gives the reward after the behavior happens, making it more likely to repeat. Bribery can teach kids that tantrums get them what they want.
Hi Facebook and Instagram, I'm on both. If it looks like I'm not looking at you, it's because I'm not. Anyways, wanted to jump on here really quick to share my new free download that I think you all should grab because it's a little quick 3-page download that I think gives a lot of value. So this is my new 10 Quick Wins for Behavior Change, and I'm gonna jump on here every few days and share one of them. So let's start with number 1. So So the first quick win for behavior change is going from bribery to reinforcement. And if you listen to my podcast, you've definitely heard me talk about this, um, because I've talked about this a lot because I see this misused a lot, and actually I misuse this a lot. So there's an important difference between bribery and reinforcement. So bribery is something you give, something cool, a cool treat, something exciting that you give to anyone before the desired behavior in hopes that the desired behavior will happen. So you're like, "Hey, here's the iPad, but please promise me you're gonna be quiet," right? The desired behavior of being quiet hasn't happened yet. You're hoping it will. Reinforcement comes after the desired behavior. So, "Hey, you've been really quiet, so you get the iPad." Where I think about this all the time— Leanne Page from Parenting with ABA gave a great example of like your kids in the grocery store, because we've all been there, right? Your kids are— you're taking your kids grocery shopping, it's 5 o'clock, there's a million people there, your kids are cranky. So you say, "Hey guys, if you're really good in the grocery store, if you stay in the cart, I've got these 2 lollipops for you. And if you're really good the whole trip, you're gonna get them when you're done." So if your kids are really good the whole time and you give them the lollipops, that's reinforcement. But if when you're walking into the grocery store you're like, "Hi guys, I'm gonna give you these lollipops," "Hey, you better promise to be good the whole time because I'm giving you guys these lollipops." That's bribery. So you haven't seen the desired behaviors yet. Reinforcement has to come after the desired behavior. I think something that confuses us sometimes is the whole talking about the reinforcer or potential reinforcer. You can talk about it. You can say, "Hey, I'll give you the iPad. I'll give you my attention. I'll give you the lollipops." You just can't actually give it until after you've seen those great behaviors. And this is like, guys, this really is how we all function. Let's think about if your principal said, hey, this weekend I need everyone to come in on Saturday, and if you come in on Saturday, you're gonna get paid time and a half. He's telling you about the reinforcer, a potential reinforcer. He's not gonna pay you until after you come, but he's letting you know that it's available. So I think that's sometimes where we get confused between bribery and reinforcement. Like, can we tell them it's coming? Yes, tell them what's in it for them. I always want to know what's in it for me. If my boss is asking me to come in on a Saturday, I better be getting paid time and a half, right? Like that would ever happen in schools, but you get what I mean. This whole idea of reinforcement is something that is naturally occurring in the real world. If I say a joke and everyone laughs, I am much more likely to say that joke again in the future because I got reinforcement from that. I received reinforcement reinforcement from telling that funny joke. But if I tell a joke and no one laughs and it's kind of that awkward silence, then I'm not saying that joke again because that joke— me telling that joke— was not reinforced. So reinforcement isn't always this like contrived weird thing that we add to situations. It's how all of our behaviors continue. Reinforcement is anything that comes after a behavior that increases the possibility of that behavior happening again in the future. So increases the likelihood. I want to tell that joke again because everyone thought it was hilarious. My kids are gonna want to be good in the grocery store again because last time they got a lollipop. Johnny's gonna want to sit and do his work quietly because last time the teacher was really excited and he got tokens for his token board. So you want to look at where you're giving these potential reinforcers to make sure you're not unintentionally engaging in bribery instead of reinforcement. The tricky part is, is that in the moment, sometimes bribery works. If your kid is throwing a complete tantrum and you're like, "Hey, get off the floor. I will give you whatever you want. We just need to stop this right now," that behavior will likely stop. That tantrum will stop. But what have you taught that child? You gotta tantrum to get what you want. So we want to be careful when we're throwing kind of these quick fixes in because really they might have some long-term consequences that we aren't ready for. So, quick win number 1 is to look at how you're using "reinforcers." I'm using that in quotes because if you're giving it before the desired behavior, it's actually not reinforcement, so we can't even call it that. So, start looking at when you're giving praise, tokens, iPads, special treats, all that good stuff to make sure you're using it as a reinforcer and not as a bribe. If you want to get the rest of my quick wins, I've got 9 more. I put the link on both Instagram and Facebook, but it's just theautismhelper.com/10wins, and it's 10 like the number, to download the rest of these. I think this would be awesome to give to your staff, to give to gen ed teachers, and really just as a reminder or refresher to yourself of some ways you can tweak your classroom management plan. I will come back on in a few days, maybe tomorrow, and share number 10. Number 2, which is one of my favorites.
