As we know from previous lessons and modules, behaviours that are followed by reinforcers increase.
If we want to see a behaviour increase, we should try to ensure that it is followed by some form of reinforcement.
The Premack Principle is related to this principle of reinforcement. It is more commonly referred to as ?Grandma’s Rule?.? When you were a child, you may remember being told by your Grandmother to ?Eat your vegtables and then you?ll get dessert?.
A technical definition of the Premack Principle states that making the opportunity to engage in high-frequency behavior (fun activities) contingent upon the occurrence of low-frequency behavior (difficult tasks) will function as a reinforcer for the low-frequency behavior.
For example, a client may choose to spend much of their free time playing video games (a high-frequency behaviour). They might not do their chores very often. A parent would be using the Premack Principle if they told their child, ?First do your chores, then you can play X-box?.
Why is this an Antecedent Intervention?
The Premack Principle is classed as an antecedent intervention because when using it, you tell your client what contingency is. You are effectively saying ?First do this unpleasant activity, then you will be able to do that pleasant activity?.
Because telling the client about the contingency happens before the behaviour, we classify as an antecedent intervention. This statement or “rule” serves to make it more likely that the client will engage in the less preferred activity.
Using the Premack Principle
The Premack Principle is a simple technique to use. However, it may not always work. Activities that typically high frequency or high probability behaviours, can be subject to abolishing operations. That is, over-exposure to the reinforcer, may reduce its reinforcing effectiveness. When this happens, describing the ?First-Then? contingency may not reduce the probability of behaviours that challenge.
When using the Premack Principle, you should be conscious of challenging behaviour chains. As you know from earlier lessons, in a behaviour chain, each step is an SD for the next step in the sequence, and a reinforcer for the previous step. The chain ends with a terminal reinforcer.
If you wait for a client to engage in challenging behavior before letting them know that the reinforcer is available, then they may come to act as though the challenging behaviour is the first step in a chain that produces the ?Frist-Then? rule, and ultimately, the terminal reinforcer.
Combining the Premack Principle with other Techniques and Supports
As we?ve noted, the Premack Principle is an antecedent intervention because when we use it, we state the ?First-Then? rule to the client, and this should increase the probability of them carrying out the demanding task. When we deliver the promised consequence, we are reinforcing the behaviour, which is a consequence based intervention which increases the chances of the client engaging in the target behaviour in the future.
We can combined the Premack Principle with other consequence based interventions (e.g. extinction for the behaviour that challenges) or antecedent interventions such as Behavioral Momentum.
Visual supports such as First Then Schedules, Daily Schedules, token boards or diaries can be used to represent the ?First Then? rule. This has the added benefit of not necessarily requiring the presence of a carer to state the ?First Then? rule if the client is already capable of using these supports independently. As ever, if you are making access to something contingent on a person carrying out a task, you must take care that the reinforcer is something you can legally and ethically restrict access to. Always ensure that you consider the social validity of an intervention before implementing it.