Modification of Extreme Social Isolation by Contingent Social Reinforcement

Abstract

Two socially isolated patients were placed on a program where social reinforcement from staff members was made dependent on social interaction with other patients or staff members. This procedure was imposed in a setting where only limited control was possible. The level of social interaction and a concomitant alternate behavior in each patient was increased when the contingency for social reinforcement was imposed. The study provides another example of the efficacy of social reinforcement where there is little control over other reinforcers. Implications for use of similar procedures to increase generalization in the community are discussed.Many recent studies of operant conditioning treatment for severe psychological disorders have made use of tokens that could be used to purchase meals, beds, and other events and have been conducted on wards where much control was possible (Ayllon and Azrin, 1965;Ayllon and Azrin, 1969;Ayllon and Haughton, 1962). However, initial efforts at operant conditioning treatment made effective use of social reinforcement (Ayllon and Michael, 1959), and more recently, the ubiquity of unscheduled social reinforcement has been implicated as a powerful source of reinforcement for maladaptive behavior in the typical psychiatric hospital (Gelfand, Gelfand, and Dobson, 1967 2The investigator wishes to thank the members of the psychiatric treatment teams on ward 8-S for their cooperation and specifically Messrs. Crawford, Brown, Rivers, Sims, Stevenson, Tucker, and White, without whose efforts this study would have been impossible.

The Integrity of Independent Variables in Behavior Analysis

“…Observation of the dependent variable alone will allow unambiguous conclusions about changes in the target behavior, but it will not allow conclusions about the source of those changes (Billingsley, White, & Munson, 1980 (Milby, 1970;Reisinger, 1972;and Kazdin, 1973, respectively), but no such rigor is applied to the same behaviors when they appear as antecedents or consequences to the target behavior, as independent variables (Strain, Shores, & Timm, 1977;Dorsey, Iwata, Ong, & McSween, 1980;and Hasazi & Hasazi, 1972, respectively Romanczyk et al, 1973). Finally, Hersen (1981) (Reid, 1970 Stallings, 1975), noted that many of Stallings' findings would be uninterpretable without the examination of the actual (not the planned) application of the independent variable.…”

Issues in Social Interaction/Withdrawal Assessment

“…The three most commonly used methods of identifying withdrawn children and measuring interactive behavior are based upon (a) sociometric (peer rating) measures (Marshall, 1957;Amidon, 1961;Bonney, 1971;Gottman, Gonso, & Rasmussen, 1975); (b) behavioral observation measures of social interaction frequency or duration (Allen, Hart, Buell, Harris, & Wolf, 1964;Kirby & Toler, 1970;Milby, 1970;O'Connor, 1969O'Connor, , 1972Walker & Hops, 1973); and (c) teacher nominations or ratings (Walker, 1970;Walker, 1973;Greenwood, Walker, Todd, & Hops, 1976), respectively. To the authors' knowledge, few, if any, studies have been conducted in which the validity, efficiency, and/or accuracy of these three measures have been compared directly in their ability to predict outside criterion measures of social competence.…”

Effects of phenothiazines and social skills training in a withdrawn schizophrenic

“…In recent years considerable attention has been given to increasing the social skills of withdrawn psychiatric patients. A large variety of operant techniques have been used to foster and stimulate social interaction in these patients (2,13,14,16,17).…”

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PROBLEMIn recent years considerable attention has been given to increasing the social skills of withdrawn psychiatric patients. A large variety of operant techniques have been used to foster and stimulate social interaction in these patients (2,13,14,16,17).In most of the studies reported efforts were at the experimental level and were conducted primarily for demonstrational purposes. Thus, the specific behavioral strategies used clinically in a comprehensive approach to the development and maintenance of social functioning in the withdrawn patient have not been documented as yet.

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