A Token Economy is a system used to increase behaviours that benefit a client. They work by providing reinforcement and acting as a visual aid to help motivate behaviour and make a learner?s environment more predictable.
Before describing how to use a token economy, let?s recap on some key terminology:
An Unconditioned Reinforcer is a stimulus whose reinforcing value is related to our biological needs. For example, food, sex, warmth or oxygen.
A Neutral Stimulus is a stimulus that has neither reinforcing or punishing properties.
A Conditioned Reinforcer is a previously neutral stimulus, that comes to have reinforcing properties due to repeated pairings with Unconditioned Reinforcers or other Conditioned Reinforcers. Examples include things like smiles, grades, books or games.
A Generalised Conditioned Reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with a large variety of conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers. A GCR is usually something that can be traded for conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers e.g. money. We describe those reinforcers that generalised conditioned reinforcers can be traded for as Back-Up Reinforcers.
When using a token economy, a client earns generalized conditioned reinforcers such as stickers, tokens, points or money, that can then be exchanged for some other reinforcing item or activity (e.g. games, toys, drink, food, voucher etc.).
When do we use a token economy?
You can use token economies to teach skills related to work, communication, academics, social skills or self -help skills. A client does not necessarily need to engage in behaviours that challenge in order to benefit from the use of a token economy.
For example, when teaching a young child, you might initially reinforce responses on a thick schedule of reinforcement with tangible and activity based reinforcers. It is desirable to move away from thick schedules of reinforcement (e.g. continuous reinforcement) but the learner may continues to require frequent reinforcement. We might decide to use a token economy in this scenario, to help transition the child away from a reliance on frequent access to tangible reinforcers. Instead, the child could work to receive 3 or 5 tokens, that could be exchanged for their preferred back-up reinforcers.
When using it to reduce behaviours that challenge, we typically use it within the context of differential reinforcement systems.
For example, if you were running a DRH, you might give the learner a token each time they engaged in the behaviour you were trying to increase. They would be able to exchange the tokens for a reinforcer, when they achieved the current target rate.
Similarly, if you were using a Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviour Procedure, you might provide a token when the learner does not engage in the challenging behaviour for a set period of time. When the learner received 5 tokens, they might have the opportunity to exchange their tokens for a back-up reinforcer.
With a Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviour procedure, token reinforcement might be provided each time the learner engaged in the incompatible behaviour or each time they engaged in the incompatible behaviour for a designated period of time.
How to Implement a Token Economy
1. Identify the target behaviour that you are going to provide token reinforcement for. If using a DRO, you need to describe the challenging behaviour whose absence you are going to reinforce. Everyone who uses the token economy should be clear about what behaviours receive tokens and which behaviours do not.
2. Select a token. This should be matched to the learner you are supporting. Sometimes, it can be useful to incorporate the interests of the learner. At the other times, it may be beneficial to use generic symbols. If using numbers (i.e. points), the learner should comprehend this system.
3. Identify the backup reinforcer or reinforcers. Depending on the circumstances, you might implement an establishing operation by restricting access to these items if you have a right to do so.
4. Establish how many tokens must be earned to access the back-up reinforcers. You should consider how difficult the task is and how many opportunities the learner will have to engage in the target behaviour or behaviours. In some cases, if you are using multiple back-up reinforcers, you might assign different requirements for different reinforcers. For example, 3 tokens could be exchanged for 20 minutes of playing X-box, but 10 tokens might be required for a trip to the video game arcade.
5. Begin Token Conditioning. If the tokens have already been paired with multiple forms of reinforcement, you need to start pairing them with those reinforcers.
For example, if you had a 3-slot token board, you might begin conditioning the reinforcer, by presenting the board with 2-slots filled with tokens, and then ask the learner to do something simple. When they carry out the request, you give them the token, prompt them to put it on the board, and then present one of the back-up reinforcers.
When somebody only needs to get a single token to access a back-up reinforcement, we describe that as a Fixed Ratio 1 (Fr1) token exchange. By presenting lots of Fr1 token exchanges where the learner gets access to the different back-up reinforcers, you help establish the tokens as generalised conditioned reinforcers.
In the above example, once this has occurred, we might thin this schedule of reinforcement, by switching to an Fr2 token exchange and later a Fr 3 token exchange.
Remember, if a learner has never used a token economy before, then they may not understand how it works. You may need to teach them to use it, using reinforcement, prompting, fading and other behavioural strategies.
Advantages of Token Economies
The advantages of using token economies include
- Maintaining Motivation ? Using tokens helps to maintain a learner?s motivation without having to frequently using other forms of tangible reinforcement. This allows for more learning to occur
- Visible ? Most token economies allow a learner to see how they are progressing and when reinforcement will be available. This can help reassure learners and reduce anxiety related to unpredictability
- Portable and non-disruptive ? Tokens can be easily delivered during learning activities without disrupting the learning activity itself. They can also be used across a variety of environments and tasks
- Resistance to Satiation ? When tokens are paired with a variety of back-up reinforcers, they are resistant to satiation. The chances are that a learner will always will be motivated to access at least one of the back-up reinforcers.
- Customizable and Scalable ? When using token boards, it is possible to make small changes to reinforcement requirements.
- For example, you can change the schedule of reinforcement for receiving a token from an Fr1, to a Vr 2 while you can also change the exchange schedule from an Fr 3 token exchange to an Fr 4 token exchange.
- Similarly, if you were running a DRO where a learner received a token when they did not engage in a challenging behaviour for 5 minutes, you could potentially add in the absence of an additional behaviour as a target for receiving a token.
- Token economies can also be used at various levels of scale. You could have a token economy for an individual learner, a classroom, a department or an organisation
Tips for Using a Token Economy
- Make sure that everybody follows the rules in the skill acquisition or behaviour support plan. It needs to be run consistently in order to be effective. It should be clear what behaviours are to be reinforced and when exchanges are to occur.
- Provide tokens immediately after the behaviour meets the relevant criteria for reinforcement. The more immediately a reinforcer, the more it strengthens the behaviour being reinforced.
Make certain that the learner can see when they?ve received reinforcement. In most cases, the learner should receive the token and then place it on a board or wherever the tokens are being stored.