Chapter Eleven – Chaining
Many situations call for complex behaviours that have multiple component responses.
Behavioral Chain- a complex behaviour consisting of many component behaviours that occur together in a sequence
Examples of Behavioral Chains
When you want a piece of gun:
1) Reach in your pocket
2) Pull out the pack of gum.....
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Getting apiece of gum involves atleast 5 behaviours which must occur together in correct sequence
You can engage in a particular behaviour in the sequence only if the previous behaviour in the sequence has been
completed.
Analyzing Stimulus-response Chains
Each behavioural chain consists of a number of individual stimulus-response components that occur together in a sequence. Hence,
a behavioural chain is called a stimulus-response chain.
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The first response produces an S for the second response in the sequence and so on until all the responses in the chain occur in
order.
The stimulus-response is under stimulus control. Hence, the first response in the chain occurs when a particular S is presented.
A behavioural chain continues only if the last response in the chain results in reinforcing consequence.
Each response in the chain depends on the occurrence of the previous response.
Each response creates the stimulus situation that is the S of the next response. Hence, the next response in the chain depends on
the occurrence of the previous response.
Each subsequent response in the chain occurs because the previous response created S that has stimulus control over that
response.
The outcome of the chain become more reinforcing by means of an establishing operation.
The establishing operation increases the likelihood that you will start the behavioural chain.
** Better to look for stimuli or events that may function as establishing operations rather than simply “I want gum”
Task Analysis
Task analysis: The process of analyzing a behavioural chain by breaking it down into its individual stimulus-response components.
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If goal to teach a complex task involving two or more component responses 1 step: identify all behaviours that are necessary to
perform the task and write them down in order.
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2 step: identify the S associated with each behaviour in the task.
Because teaching the task to the person involves discrimination training with each stimulus-response component of the
behavioural chain one must give a detailed task analysis.
How can a task analysis be conducted?
 Observe the person engage in the task and record each of the stimulus-response components
 Ask the person who performs the task well to explain all of the components of the task
 By performing the task yourself and recording the sequence of responses in the task
The advantage of performing the task yourself when developing a task analysis is that it provides the best information about each
responses involved in the task and the stimulus associated with each response- you can get the most info on a task from your own
experience with the task.
One might have to revise the task analysis after training—might be able to break some behaviours down into component
behaviours. Or that you can combine two or more behaviours into a single behaviour.
Whether you revise your task analysis depends on how well your train is progressing.
If the learner is having difficulty with a certain behaviour in the chain, it might help to break down the behaviour into two or more
component behaviour.
But if the learner can master larger units of behaviour, two or more component behaviours can be combined into one.
In a 3-step task analysis vs 5-step, the size of the response is different.
The only way to determine whether you have the correct number of steps is to determine how well the task analysis works for a
particular learner.
After task analysis of a completed skill has been developed, the next step is to choose a strategy for teaching the skill.
Chaining procedures- are strategies for teaching complex tasks.
Involve the systematic application of prompting and fading strategies to each stimulus-response component in the chain
3 diff chaining procedures:
1) back ward 2)forward 3) total task presentation
Backward Chaining
-an intensive training procedure typically used with earners with limited abilities
.-use prompting and fading to teach the last behaviour in the chain first.
By starting with the last behavior, the learner completes the chain every single time
Once the last behavior is mastered, one teaches the next to last behavior
It must display the last behaviour without any prompts
This continues until the learner can exhibit the whole chain of beahviours