WEBVTT 0:00:18.125 --> 0:00:19.405 Look familiar? 0:00:19.405 --> 0:00:24.400 At sometime or another we've all used this stuff or something like it. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:28.486 Too often it's become the currency between a buyer and a seller. 0:00:28.486 --> 0:00:31.317 The market place is the trainer-learner situation 0:00:31.317 --> 0:00:33.924 and the name of the game is reinforcement. 0:00:33.924 --> 0:00:38.683 Most trainers rely almost exclusively on some kind of reinforcement system 0:00:38.683 --> 0:00:42.497 as the primary source of power for training people. 0:00:42.497 --> 0:00:46.677 Here we are at the beginning of the seventh film in this training series; 0:00:46.677 --> 0:00:49.237 this is almost the first time it's come up. 0:00:49.237 --> 0:00:51.980 It's no accident that I saved it for last. 0:00:51.980 --> 0:00:53.834 We're going to take a close look at reinforcement 0:00:53.834 --> 0:01:00.156 and find out what you can buy with it and what it costs. 0:01:00.156 --> 0:01:05.433 The first part of our Rule of Reinforcement says the best reinforcers are natural. 0:01:05.433 --> 0:01:07.897 Natural reinforcers are those that are found 0:01:07.897 --> 0:01:11.023 where you ultimately expect the behavior to occur. 0:01:11.023 --> 0:01:13.740 If you're working with a person in a vocational setting 0:01:13.740 --> 0:01:17.000 and you assume the place where he's going to be working most of his life 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.845 has a foreman who every few minutes is going to come along and say, 0:01:20.845 --> 0:01:25.246 "Very good I like what you're doing", and that's a natural reinforcer. 0:01:25.246 --> 0:01:28.613 Whatever will be where the person is ultimately going to do the thing 0:01:28.613 --> 0:01:31.346 that you're teaching him, that's natural. 0:01:31.346 --> 0:01:34.559 If you're teaching people who you expect to live in an institutional setting 0:01:34.559 --> 0:01:37.849 with a strong token economy and that token economy 0:01:37.849 --> 0:01:42.000 is going to be there all of their lives then that's natural. 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.243 I say natural reinforcers are the best because when they're used 0:01:45.243 --> 0:01:47.100 there's no problem transferring. 0:01:47.100 --> 0:01:51.242 If the trainer uses what's going to be there when he walks away 0:01:51.242 --> 0:01:55.274 then at least for that part of the learning the learner is already there. 0:01:55.274 --> 0:01:58.618 Another reason why I say natural reinforcers are the best 0:01:58.618 --> 0:02:02.432 is because they imply natural people. 0:02:02.432 --> 0:02:05.201 There's another to look at what natural means. 0:02:05.201 --> 0:02:09.433 There are many times where well intentioned we try to give someone a boost 0:02:09.433 --> 0:02:12.358 by saying something nice about what they're doing. 0:02:12.358 --> 0:02:15.985 A lot of times what they're doing isn't much. 0:02:15.985 --> 0:02:21.240 I wonder how many times the person is saying to himself or herself, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.020 If she thinks that's so good, then what must she think of me? 0:02:26.020 --> 0:02:30.948 When you reinforce a person for something they perceive as a low-status task 0:02:30.948 --> 0:02:33.805 you're reinforcing a low self-concept. 0:02:33.805 --> 0:02:34.824 You see? 0:02:34.824 --> 0:02:38.873 There's more than one way to look at what a natural reinforcer is. 0:02:38.873 --> 0:02:40.492 All right, let's go on. 0:02:40.492 --> 0:02:43.287 The next part of the Rule of Reinforcement says, 0:02:43.287 --> 0:02:48.616 the more artificial reinforcement you add in the more you'll have to get out. 0:02:48.616 --> 0:02:54.259 Artificial reinforcers are reinforcers that you don't expect in the criterion to condition. 0:02:54.259 --> 0:02:57.584 That is, where you ultimately expect the behavior to occur. 0:02:57.584 --> 0:03:02.748 Those are reinforcers that the trainer systematically utilizes to gain control. 0:03:02.748 --> 0:03:05.999 Now artificial reinforcers are very useful. 0:03:05.999 --> 0:03:10.000 They're not bad if they are explicitly temporary; 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:15.287 if they're used to establish a relationship or to get behavior going. 0:03:15.287 --> 0:03:19.715 But if you use artificial reinforcers for long periods of time, 0:03:19.715 --> 0:03:21.870 then they're debilitating. 0:03:21.870 --> 0:03:25.853 Remember I said natural reinforcers imply natural people. 0:03:25.853 --> 0:03:29.000 Long term use of artificial reinforcers 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.241 isn't something you'd use on your friends. 0:03:32.241 --> 0:03:34.309 Take token economies as good examples 0:03:34.309 --> 0:03:38.040 of the use of organized artificial reinforcement systems. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:42.115 There are three parts to a good token economy system. 0:03:42.115 --> 0:03:46.268 First you establish it and make sure that everyone understands 0:03:46.268 --> 0:03:47.888 and operates within it. 0:03:47.888 --> 0:03:51.175 Secondly, having established control the system 0:03:51.175 --> 0:03:54.027 is used to teach people certain things. 0:03:54.027 --> 0:04:00.204 And three, you plan an absolutely explicit systematic set of operations 0:04:00.204 --> 0:04:04.606 for getting people out of the token economy. 0:04:04.606 --> 0:04:10.000 Token economy that is open ended where people are on it for long periods of time 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:14.637 without a systematic way of getting them out is a fascist plot. 0:04:14.637 --> 0:04:20.819 It's designed to solve staff problems not client or resident or student problems. 0:04:20.819 --> 0:04:25.836 A token economy that has in fact some very clear procedures 0:04:25.836 --> 0:04:28.143 for moving people through the token economy 0:04:28.143 --> 0:04:33.315 and into a natural reinforcement system can be a very useful and valuable thing. 0:04:33.315 --> 0:04:37.800 Okay, let's get back to the third part of the Rule of Reinforcement which says, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.753 when the learner knows the trainer is attending, 0:04:41.753 --> 0:04:44.531 No news is good news. 0:04:44.531 --> 0:04:46.400 If I'm working with you 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.477 and you know that I'm paying attention to what you're doingthere's no question. 0:04:50.477 --> 0:04:54.291 I'm not off smoking or drinking coffee or answering telephone calls; 0:04:54.291 --> 0:04:56.246 I'm right here. 0:04:56.246 --> 0:05:00.012 Occasionally I'm reaching in and putting your hand in a particular position, 0:05:00.012 --> 0:05:03.756 or touching your shoulder, or saying something to you. 0:05:03.756 --> 0:05:06.935 What are you saying to yourself while I'm sitting there silent 0:05:06.935 --> 0:05:08.842 and virtually motionless? 0:05:08.842 --> 0:05:10.644 I must be doing fine. 0:05:10.644 --> 0:05:15.006 That feels good, and that's reinforcement. 0:05:15.006 --> 0:05:20.753 No news is good news is sort of the opposite of what I see so often, 0:05:20.753 --> 0:05:26.814 and that is where people make reinforcement junkies out of learners. 0:05:26.814 --> 0:05:30.000 Where a heavy emphasis is on reinforcement procedures, 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.979 the trainer is making the learner very dependent. 0:05:32.979 --> 0:05:36.871 The trainer is saying, "I'll let you know when you're right". 0:05:36.871 --> 0:05:39.144 No news is good news says, 0:05:39.144 --> 0:05:44.028 "I'll let you know when you're wrong and in a way that doesn't hurt". 0:05:44.028 --> 0:05:49.279 If you're going to use No News is Good News; what are the conditions? 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.100 First of all, No News is Good News works very well 0:05:53.100 --> 0:05:56.855 when you're teaching someone something that they find valuable. 0:05:56.855 --> 0:06:01.504 When the task provides motivation you don't have to. 0:06:01.504 --> 0:06:06.938 It's also interesting that for most of those tasks once the person has learned them 0:06:06.938 --> 0:06:10.408 and moves into the real environment the task 0:06:10.408 --> 0:06:13.286 or the people around him provide all the reinforcement 0:06:13.286 --> 0:06:17.099 that's needed for him to keep right on going. 0:06:22.011 --> 0:06:26.373 There's another whole set of tasks that I call zero-order tasks. 0:06:26.373 --> 0:06:30.944 Zero-order tasks are things that if a person doesn't do them, 0:06:30.944 --> 0:06:32.851 they bring negative attention. 0:06:32.851 --> 0:06:36.639 If they do do them, they bring nothing. 0:06:36.639 --> 0:06:41.341 In the natural environment, they operate on No News is Good News. 0:06:41.341 --> 0:06:44.985 If you're teaching someone to get dressed, or brush their teeth, 0:06:44.985 --> 0:06:48.446 you can only really know you've taught them if they do all those things 0:06:48.446 --> 0:06:51.868 in the absence of anybody telling them anything about it. 0:06:51.868 --> 0:06:53.828 That's No News is Good News. 0:06:53.828 --> 0:06:58.347 It's doing things so that in effect there won't be anybody saying anything 0:06:58.347 --> 0:07:01.299 instead of asking you, 'why didn't you get dressed?' 0:07:01.299 --> 0:07:04.982 Or 'why didn't you brush your teeth', or 'congratulations that you did.' 0:07:04.982 --> 0:07:08.761 For those same tasks however No News is Good News 0:07:08.761 --> 0:07:11.722 doesn't work very well when you're teaching them. 0:07:11.722 --> 0:07:14.400 For many people there just isn't anything reinforcing 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:18.618 or useful about learning how to brush their teeth, or learning how to get dressed. 0:07:18.618 --> 0:07:20.290 For those kinds of tasks 0:07:20.290 --> 0:07:24.626 the trainer usually has to come up with something external to the task; 0:07:24.626 --> 0:07:27.804 often in the form of some kind of artificial reinforcement 0:07:27.804 --> 0:07:32.515 to encourage or get the person to work at the task in order to learn it. 0:07:32.515 --> 0:07:35.353 When that's the case the biggest problem 0:07:35.353 --> 0:07:38.000 is getting rid of all that artificial reinforcement 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.492 so that the person ends up doing the task on his own 0:07:41.492 --> 0:07:44.166 without anybody having to tell him. 0:07:44.166 --> 0:07:47.374 Another important condition for using No News is Good News 0:07:47.374 --> 0:07:50.875 is that learners shouldn't be allowed to work at tasks 0:07:50.875 --> 0:07:55.572 that they're still making errors on in the absence of a trainer. 0:07:55.572 --> 0:07:58.146 If the learner hasn't reached criterion yet 0:07:58.146 --> 0:08:00.723 if he hasn't shown you that he knows the task, 0:08:00.723 --> 0:08:02.295 and you walk away and he makes an error 0:08:02.295 --> 0:08:04.846 and your not there to provide him with some correction, 0:08:04.846 --> 0:08:06.835 then No News is Bad News. 0:08:06.835 --> 0:08:11.115 If you have to get up and walk away while a person is still making errors on a task, 0:08:11.115 --> 0:08:13.941 either take the task or the learner with you. 0:08:13.941 --> 0:08:15.931 It's only fair. 0:08:15.931 --> 0:08:19.944 The last condition that I'd to mention for using No News is Good News 0:08:19.944 --> 0:08:24.028 is that if you're relying on silence on a very quiet interaction 0:08:24.028 --> 0:08:25.962 between the trainer and the learner, 0:08:25.962 --> 0:08:34.373 when you have to correct an error do it in a way that doesn't hurt. 0:08:34.373 --> 0:08:37.769 Now let's take a look at something that in some respects is very much different 0:08:37.769 --> 0:08:42.327 and in some ways very much like what we've been talking about so far. 0:08:42.327 --> 0:08:46.594 I'd like to talk about influence. 0:08:46.594 --> 0:08:51.239 The word influence describes very nicely just about everything 0:08:51.239 --> 0:08:53.495 that a trainer does to a learner. 0:08:53.495 --> 0:08:57.247 Influence can take place before the learner acts; 0:08:57.247 --> 0:09:01.227 while the learner is acting, or after he has acted. 0:09:01.227 --> 0:09:06.373 But I'd like to center in here on a different aspect of influence. 0:09:06.373 --> 0:09:07.757 On two kinds. 0:09:07.757 --> 0:09:12.520 One kind of influence is where the trainer intends to focus 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:19.225 on the knowledge of the task, and I'd like to call that Content Influence. 0:09:19.225 --> 0:09:23.291 The other is where the trainer intends to focus on feelings 0:09:23.291 --> 0:09:27.547 that the learner has about the task or about doing the task 0:09:27.547 --> 0:09:32.626 and I call that Process Influence. 0:09:35.500 --> 0:09:40.541 When you focus on Process Influence you support the long standing tradition 0:09:40.541 --> 0:09:46.000 in our society that there must be a superior/inferior relationship 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.587 between trainers and learners. 0:09:48.587 --> 0:09:52.113 Process Influence is manipulation. 0:09:52.113 --> 0:09:55.620 It's buying and selling behaviors and feelings. 0:09:55.620 --> 0:10:00.285 One of the two parties in the transaction always has the control. 0:10:00.285 --> 0:10:05.222 That obviously means you've got something that he needs you're on top, 0:10:05.222 --> 0:10:06.873 and he's on the bottom. 0:10:06.873 --> 0:10:10.504 Somebody's got to win and somebody's got to lose. 0:10:10.504 --> 0:10:14.213 How can we expect people to take their place beside us in society 0:10:14.213 --> 0:10:18.279 when most of the ways we have for supposedly helping to get them there; 0:10:18.279 --> 0:10:23.565 force them to recognize in one way or another their subservient position? 0:10:23.565 --> 0:10:26.220 How can you have a balanced relationship with someone 0:10:26.220 --> 0:10:30.278 when all the transactions are purchased or sold? 0:10:30.278 --> 0:10:35.615 Another practical consideration about process influence is that it's very distracting. 0:10:35.615 --> 0:10:38.559 If the trainer is constantly rewarding or punishing 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:43.104 or trying to tell somebody how happy they are or what they want; 0:10:43.104 --> 0:10:45.795 it's pretty hard to focus on the task. 0:10:45.795 --> 0:10:50.662 And all of those attempts to get a person to do it cost credibility. 0:10:50.662 --> 0:10:54.999 If you're handing that stuff out so easily; it must be pretty cheap. 0:10:54.999 --> 0:10:57.968 One other thing, it's exhausting. 0:10:57.968 --> 0:10:59.823 Exhausting for the trainer 0:10:59.823 --> 0:11:02.200 it's exhausting for the learner to be constantly trying 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.195 to play on someone's emotions and motivations 0:11:05.195 --> 0:11:07.500 or to have them played upon. 0:11:07.500 --> 0:11:12.806 Now let's look at the other side of the coin. 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:21.269 When your focus of attention; when the intent of your focus is on Content Influence, 0:11:21.269 --> 0:11:25.371 and that is providing the person with knowledge about the task 0:11:25.371 --> 0:11:27.931 the training is so much less cluttered. 0:11:27.931 --> 0:11:32.554 All that stuff gets out of the way, and the task can be dealt with. 0:11:32.554 --> 0:11:35.245 It's a shorter distance to independence. 0:11:35.245 --> 0:11:37.456 The person comes through the learning process 0:11:37.456 --> 0:11:41.906 without having to rely very much on outside motivation. 0:11:41.906 --> 0:11:46.112 He can confidently move into the doing part of the task 0:11:46.112 --> 0:11:50.762 where the trainer isn't around without having to give all that stuff up. 0:11:50.762 --> 0:11:53.709 Another thing that happens when you focus on content influence 0:11:53.709 --> 0:11:58.938 is that much more useful information will be communicated. 0:11:58.938 --> 0:12:01.367 Now comes the punchline. 0:12:01.367 --> 0:12:06.165 When you focus on content influence it provides an environment 0:12:06.165 --> 0:12:12.365 and an opportunity for the trainer and the learner to develop a balanced relationship. 0:12:12.365 --> 0:12:17.276 Respect. Dignity. In both directions. 0:12:17.276 --> 0:12:20.175 The learner has the opportunity to appreciate the task 0:12:20.175 --> 0:12:24.721 instead of being barraged with why he should appreciate the task. 0:12:24.721 --> 0:12:27.829 The learner comes to perceive the trainer as someone who is there 0:12:27.829 --> 0:12:33.132 to work with him, and provide him with information not to act as an overlord. 0:12:33.132 --> 0:12:37.155 The trainer gets at least as much out of it as the learner. 0:12:37.155 --> 0:12:40.368 With the focus on content influence the trainer can discover 0:12:40.368 --> 0:12:43.895 that the learner is a genuine receiver of knowledge 0:12:43.895 --> 0:12:48.962 not something that information is stuffed into like dressing in a turkey. 0:12:48.962 --> 0:12:53.743 When the trainer focuses on Content Influence a much higher level of real, 0:12:53.743 --> 0:13:00.143 natural, deep, valued reinforcement comes into play. 0:13:00.143 --> 0:13:04.610 You try it, and you'll experience it for yourself. 0:13:08.542 --> 0:13:12.002 Now is a good time to ask ourselves where we've been, 0:13:12.002 --> 0:13:14.380 and how far we've come. 0:13:15.906 --> 0:13:18.063 We started out with Try Another Way. 0:13:18.063 --> 0:13:21.041 A philosophy statement that said there are people out there 0:13:21.041 --> 0:13:25.560 that are capable of learning so much more than anybody ever thought. 0:13:25.560 --> 0:13:28.721 It also said really what this last few minutes have said 0:13:28.721 --> 0:13:34.000 and that is that the relationship between the trainer and the learner can be balanced, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:35.800 and can be lovely. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.743 Then as we moved into the training series 0:13:38.743 --> 0:13:41.155 you were given an organizational structure; 0:13:41.155 --> 0:13:46.371 that bag of tricks, for organizing the different pieces of the system. 0:13:46.371 --> 0:13:49.749 Then we spent the rest of the films talking about those pieces 0:13:49.749 --> 0:13:52.257 about the operations within the systems; 0:13:52.257 --> 0:13:55.999 the format; the feedback, and the rules. 0:13:55.999 --> 0:14:00.251 We saw wonderful people doing some very inspiring things. 0:14:00.251 --> 0:14:07.539 And here we are back at philosophy again, tying all of that stuff to value structures. 0:14:07.539 --> 0:14:12.280 To the relationships between people and the feelings of people. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.950 You can't have a technology outside of a set of values, 0:14:15.950 --> 0:14:21.496 outside a set of beliefs about who people are, about what the good life is. 0:14:21.496 --> 0:14:26.226 If this training series has been successful than it's been able to define 0:14:26.226 --> 0:14:31.515 and emphasize the crucial relationship between what we know as trainers 0:14:31.515 --> 0:14:35.200 and what we feel as individuals, and how those two things combine 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:41.341 and interact to result in important things happening to important people. 0:14:41.341 --> 0:14:43.957 Thank you.