Self-reinforcement occurs when a student
chooses a reinforcer and self-administers it when criterion
for performance is reached. For self-reinforcement to
be successful, students should anticipate providing
themselves with the reinforcer when they have reached
an acceptable level of performance (after I get all
my math homework done, I can go outside and play.) The
reinforcer must also be readily accessible for the student
to access, at least eventually.
There are four steps involved in teaching children in
self-reinforcement.
1. Determining standards and setting evaluative criteria
– Students need to be able to understand when they
have met the requirements necessary to be able to self-reinforce.
For example, a student may set a goal of writing two
pages of a report and when those two pages are complete
they can play a video game for 15 minutes. They will
need to determine their standards for writing two pages
(organization, writing, revision, editing, or whatever
it may be).
2. Selecting a reinforcer to be earned, and controlling
access to that reward, making it only attainable after
performance of the target behavior has occurred
– The reinforcer needs to be something that the
student can only receive after they perform the target
behavior and are not able to obtain it otherwise. It
cannot be readily accessible.
3. Performance evaluation to determine whether the set
criterion was met - They need to be able to evaluate
their performance against the set standards. For instance,
using the writing example, they need to be able to evaluate
their writing performance and decide if they have successfully
met the standards of writing two pages.
4. Self-administration of the reward – The
students need to be able to dispense, or provide themselves
with, the reinforcer. This is crucial if the process
is to be a successful “self”-reinforcement.
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