Psyc 164

Antecedent Control Procedure:

In the previous module, I introduced the antecedent stimulus - the events or cues in the environment

prior to a behaviour. In antecedent control procedures, antecedent stimuli are manipulated so that they

are more likely to evoke desirable behaviours, and less likely to evoke the undesirable behaviours that

compete with the desirable response. In other words, by manipulating the antecedents, you can

manage behaviour through preventative, rather than reactive, measures.

I’d like to take a moment to share a case I worked on many years back. It involved a young family with

three children under the age of five. Not long after the birth of the first child, the father began using

alcohol and marijuana regularly. By the time the second child was born he had escalated to harder

drugs and the household became unstable. During the first trimester of pregnancy with the third child,

the instability rose so substantially that the husband was charged with assault and removed from the

home. The mother began using drugs right after the birth of her third child. She became addicted to

crystal meth and within a few months, her house became a “drug house” meaning that people would

come there to buy, sell, use and stay for short periods of time. During this time the children were

neglected quite severely, had evidence of cigarette burns and in the case of the little girl, sexual abuse.

They had access to little variety in food and eventually subsisted on bread and ketchup sandwiches, juice

and pop. The baby was fed cow’s milk and left in his bassinet so often that the shape of his head

molded to the shape of the bassinet. The children, when seized, were fearful of baths and the eldest

indicated that his mother occasionally wiped them down with wet paper towels or diaper wipes. Due to

the circumstances at the time, the eldest boy was placed in separate care with a foster family with two

teenagers. His eating and drinking habits were not healthy and as a result, he suffered from chronic

constipation, which would become very painful. His doctor ruled out any obstructions, etc. that could

account for his condition and prescribed that he drink at least 4-6 glasses of water per day and up his

fruit intake to 5 servings per day. In the house where he was currently living, the family had fruit and

other healthy snacks available on the counter and a filtered water system at the sink. These were,

however, out of sight and out of reach for a four year old. In one of the cupboards underneath the sink,

the family kept their juice, pop and other salty, unhealthy snacks. Jack, used to helping himself at home,

frequently chose chips and pretzels and pop from the cupboard, never helping himself to water or fresh

fruit. How could we use antecedent control procedures to help him?

To work through this problem using ACP (antecedent control procedure) we do the following:

 Step One: Identify the desirable and undesirable behaviours

 Desirable:

 Undesirable:

 Step Two: Identify the reinforcers for the desirable and undesirable behaviours

 Desirable:

 Undesirable:

 Step Three: Identify the antecedents for the desirable and undesirable behaviours

 Desirable:

 Undesirable

In this case, the desirable behaviour is drinking 4-6 glasses of water and eating 5 servings of fruit per

day. The undesirable behaviour is eating chips, chocolate, pop and juice.

In terms of the current reinforcers, the behaviour of eating junk food was reinforced immediately and

potently by the taste of the food and pop. The reinforcers for eating healthy food and drink is better

health and less constipation. Often when we look at the reinforcers for our ideal behaviour versus the

behaviour we’re engaging in, the behaviour we’re engaging in is more reinforcing (potent) and more

immediate. From what we’ve already learned about positive reinforcement, immediacy and potency

are important to the efficacy of reinforcement. So it makes sense he’s choosing to eat unhealthy foods

from a reinforcement perspective. (If you’re wondering why you’re on instagram/FB/Netflix instead of

studying, take a look at the reinforcers – the reinforcers for studying are grades (which may be delayed

and only moderately potent) vs. immediate update on friends, cool pictures, or an enjoyable movie that

may be far more potent as a reinforcer). I’m not making excuses, mind you, just saying that it makes

more sense why you’re binge watching a TV series on Netflix rather than learning about the mating

rituals of the contemporary tsetse fly.  Back to our example…

The antecedent for the desirable behaviour is the presence of fruit and the presence of water. The

antecedent for the undesirable is the presence of junk food and pop.

Now that we have this information, we can use it to manipulate his environment to bring about

increased healthy eating and decreased unhealthy eating. Here are the steps:

a) Present antecedents or cues for desired behaviour:

b) Arrange establishing operations for the desired behaviour:

c) Decrease the response effort for the desired behaviour:

d) Remove antecedents or cues for undesirable behaviour:

e) Remove establishing operations for undesirable behaviour:

f) Increase the response effort for the competing behaviour:

a. first, we need to present some cues (antecedents) for the desired behaviour: we’ll put freshly cut

fruit in containers and water or water/juice combo in child-sized sippy cups in the cupboard that he used

to access the junk food. On the door of the cupboard we’ll put pictures of children of all ages eating

fruit and drinking water. Throughout the house we might put up pictures reminding him to eat fruit and

drink water. All of these will come to cue the desirable behaviour. (This is similar to you putting up a

note to remind you of an exam date/assignment date to remind you to do school work)

b. Establishing operations refer to anything that increases the reinforcement value of the reinforcer and

therefore makes it more likely he will be motivated to engage in water or fruit seeking behaviour. For

example, a snack of whole wheat crackers and peanut butter will motivate him to seek out water or fruit

with high water content to satiate his thirst. In addition, we found out that he absolutely LOVED the

movie Cars and so we bought fruit and water containers with Cars characters all over them so make it

more likely that he would seek them out. Running around outside also increased motivation to drink

and eat fruit. (In our studying example, we might increase our motivation to study by studying with

friends, listening to our favourite music while working, allowing ourselves to only eat chocolate or drink

our favourite beverage while studying, getting new “study gear” like new high-lighters, pens, notepads,

etc. (hey, don’t judge – some people appreciate the fine dopamine rush that comes with a new, neon

green highlight) Others might make studying into a game (for example, I’ve helped students review for

mid-terms in the past by doing an in-class game show – the friendly competition tends to amp up

motivation to do well. )

c. Decreasing the response effort for the behaviour: This involves arranging the conditions so that he

has to go to very little effort to engage in the behaviour. Cutting the fruit up into bite-sized pieces in

containers easily accessed, bringing fruit and water to the snack table to quickly grab when he was

thirsty and taking them outside so he only had to move a short distance to access them cut down on the

effort he had to go to gain access (Think about starting an exercise program at 5AM every morning. If

you have to hunt around for your shoes, then charge your ipod, then find some gym clothes to wear, it

makes it far less likely that you’ll actually exercise. If you have everything you need (gym clothes, water,

music, running shoes) right at the end of your bed ready to go, it makes it more likely you’ll get out to

exercise.)

d. Decreasing or eliminating antecedent for the undesirable: Here you want to remove cues for eating

junk food. In this case, not having junk food at a height that is visible to a 4 year old is a good start. Due

to the teenagers in the house, some junk food was kept, but it was stored in a cupboard above the

fridge so all cues for junk food were removed. In addition, commercials, print ads, etc. showing

consumption of these items were temporarily removed. (For our studying example, we want to

temporarily eliminate reminders of Netflix, Facebook or Instagram – it might mean hiding the icons on

our phones, on our computers)

e. Decreasing or eliminating establishing operations for undesirable behaviour of eating junk food.

Okay, so here we want to decrease his motivation for eating junk food. One way to do this is to initially

satiate his desire for junk food. Anyone who has ever tried to quit something “cold turkey” by stopping

it all together, whether it is junk food, caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, etc., knows that in the

initial stages, the withdrawal is intense and deprivation makes you crave the substance even more,

setting you up for failure. So in this case, 4 times a day he was given 2-3 chips and 1 ounce of pop, to

keep his body’s desire for salt, sugar and caffeine minimally satiated. This was faded out over a period

of weeks until he wasn’t receiving any of this. (in our studying example this means that you want to have

exposure to instagram/FB/Netflix throughout the day so that you don’t go into withdrawal – because it

is so potently reinforcing, you could set it as your reinforcer for studying – study for 1 hour, have 30

minutes of Netflix (or however long your program is – it’s hard to stop in the middle of a program.) 

f. Increasing the response effort for the undesirable (eating junk food): As mentioned, the junk food

was put in a cupboard above the fridge. When it was discovered that he was an agile climber, the family

eventually put a lock on the cupboard. This meant an impossible level of effort for him to engage in the

undesirable behaviour (let’s say you want to increase response effort for accessing your phone during

study time – you might turn it completely off, and place it in another room, in the car, with your

roommate – all of this will depend on how much self-control you have.  . You could also have a friend

change your password and only give it to you once a certain amount of studying has taken place – it all

depends on how much external help to control the situation you need.

Through these efforts, it made the desirable more likely and the undesirable less likely. On a happy

note, he is now a teenager, well adjusted and in good health. He still lives with the family who originally

took him in – they eventually adopted him.