Psychology
in
the
Schools
Volume
24,
July
1987
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT
OF
INCOMPATIBLE BEHAVIOR: HAND RAISING'
MICHAEL
BRYAN
KELLY
Parsons State Hospital and Training Center
DONALD
BUSHELL,
JR.
Department
of
Human Development,
Parsons, KS University
of
Kansas
Workbook reading achievement of five second-grade girls was assessed under two
teacher-contact contingencies. Under one contingency, teacher contacts were made
during on-task behavior. Under the other contingency, differential reinforcement
of
an incompatible behavior
(DRI)
was
in
effect, with teacher contacts contingent
on
students' hand-raising behavior. Both reading achievement and time
on
task were
greater under the on-task contingency than under DRI
for
hand raising.
When the behavioral objective is to reduce the frequency of a behavior, an alter-
native to punishment is reinforcement of other behavior. This procedure is called differen-
tial reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) (Miller,
1980).
DRO is based
on
the notion
that the more a person
is
engaged in other reinforced behavior, the less the probability
that the original, undesired, and now unreinforced behavior will occur. This decrease
in the unreinforced behavior may be due to the person's being too busy to engage in
the original behavior. However, it is clear that once the reinforcement, such as con-
tingent attention, that may have been maintaining the original behaviors, becomes con-
tingent on other behaviors, the motivation for the original behavior is absent and ex-
tinction should occur.
Classroom use of DRO is relatively easy to implement. The only behavioral require-
ment for delivery of reinforcement under DRO is that the subject not be emitting the
target response. Classroom behaviors that have been studied using DRO include talk-
ing (Reynolds
&
Risley,
1968),
instruction following (Zimmerman, Zimmerman,
&
Russell,
1969),
task completion (Rowbury, Baer,
&
Baer,
1976),
and self-stimulation
(Harris
&
Wolchik,
1979).
A similar behavioral procedure is differential reinforcement of
incompatible
behavior
(DRI). DRI, however, has a more specific behavioral requirement than DRO. Under
DRI, the behavior to be reinforced must be a behavior that is incompatible with the
target behavior (Favell,
1973).
Given the target behavior of slapping others, an example of DRO would be the
reinforcement of any desirable behavior following periods of nonslapping. An example
of DRI would be the reinforcement of the behavior
of
hands in pockets. A student can-
not slap with hands in pockets.
Classroom use of DRI is relatively difficult and thus rare. It is harder to find and
to reinforce an incompatible behavior than it is to reinforce simply any other behavior
(as in DRO). One example of classroom DRI involved the reduction of aggression by
reinforcing appropriate peer interaction behavior that was incompatible with aggressive
behavior (Pinkston, LeBlanc,
&
Baer,
1973).
During work-study periods, classroom teachers may want to decrease talking out
and increase working.
So,
they may use DRO to decrease talking out behavior and to
Reprints may be obtained from Michael Bryan Kelly, now at the Bureau
of
Child Research, Box 738,
Parsons,
KS
67357.
'This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant HD 02528 to the Bureau
of Child Research, University
of
Kansas, and by a grant
to
the University of Kansas Support and Develop-
ment Center for Follow Through OEG-0-8-522422-4433.
273