G-18 Use group contingencies

• If the students won't respond to peer pressure, interdependent and dependent group coningencies will not be effective in this case as they involve other members of the group. These 2 teens are trying to gain attention , so BCBA should use independent group contingencies for each teen to access reinforcement contingent upon their own successful completion of the bx/performance criterion. If the individual teen does not meet criterion, they do not get the attention. 
• Dependent group contingencies occur when reinforcement for all members of the group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group or the behavior of a select group of members within the larger group.
• Independent group contingencies occur when reinforcement for each member of a group is dependent on that person's meeting performance criterion that is in effect for all members of the group
• In the Good Behavior Game, individuals work together to obtain reinforcers. The whold group divides into teams. The interventionist then counts the number of challenging behaviors in the day. The goal is to have the lowest number of behaviors at the end of the day and that group earns a reward. In this example, the goal is for groups to obtain the most sales to obtain the reward-it is still the good behavior game, only the mastery criterion have changed. 
• Interdependent group contingency where all members of a group must engage in the behavior/performance criterion in order for reinforcement to be obtained by the whole group.
• Dependent group contingencies occur when reinforcement for all members of the group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group.
• When using any group contingencies, you shoud monitor group AND individual performance. 
• In interdepedent and dependent group coningencies, the members of the group increase their chances of reinforcement by encouraging their peers engagement in the behaviors also(peer pressure). This can be done by:modeling/teaching other students how to engage in the bx, support/praise fore their peers, or coercion/bullying peers into completing the bx. 
• The class clown is usually engaging in the problem behaviors to gain attention from his peers(social reinforcement) , so if a reward for the entire class is contingent upon the behavior of the student, the other students would not want toe class clown to engage is problem behaviors. The class clown would then behave well to gain their peers' approval. Dependent group contingencies occur when reinforcement for all members of the group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group.