Storytime! Let’s talk about a vending machine scenario.

Everyone wants a little treat sometimes.

• You are hungry so you seek out a vending machine (The context in which this could take place).
• You put the money in the vending machine and push the button (The action).
• The result: You always get your snack OR You sometimes do, depending on whether the vending machine is working properly.

Let’s explore this example of using a vending machine further… If the vending machine works every time you put money in it and push a button, you get a snack or drink. This is reliable 1:1 reinforcement, because it happens every time.

Now, consider the vending machine on the fritz. You know from experience with this vending machine, that it does not always dispense the snack/drink when you do the action of putting in the money. So, what happens when you put the money in and push the button and nothing happens?  Do you immediately feel disappointed and give up/walk away? No, because usually instead of here, we’ll try to push the button again (repeating the behaviour).

If that does not work, we will probably try to get the machine to return the money.  If the machine returns the money, we will put the money in again and push the button again. If that does not work, we might try another button. If that does not work, we might bang on the machine, shake the machine, or go find a manager to complain to. This can happen anytime.  A machine can break.

BUT…. If this is the first time that the machine has ever acted up, you will probably give up quickly, and find that manager or go to another machine.

If the machine does this all the time, and you know that if you keep putting in the money and pushing the button and kicking the machine it will probably work eventually, you will stay trying to get that machine to give the treat for a much longer time.

Why? When your behaviour of putting in the money, pushing the button, kicking only works some of the time, you need to try harder and longer to make sure that they are not going to work this time.

If the behaviour always works and then stops working, you will see an increase in button-pushing, kicking, complaining, and then you will give up and not try to buy things from that machine anymore. This is important because all adults give in some of the time, creating behaviour patterns that are harder to eliminate than when they give in all of the time, and then switch to none of the time.

But there is a positive to this behaviour. If kids get praise for good behaviour some of the time, the behaviour will actually become more persistent than if they get positive feedback all of the time and then the feedback is removed altogether.

If we look back to the vending machine scenario, while we consistently receive our snack from the machine after performing the behaviour of putting the money into the machine, but then the machine suddenly and repeatedly stops working after we put in our money, we’ll stop trying to use the machine.

If we receive our snack from the machine only some of the time after we insert our money into the machine, we will most likely keep trying to use the machine, because we sometimes get the result we want, and we don’t know if this is one of those times until we try.

This is where we can see behaviour that is harder to eliminate, when our children are getting the results they desire from their actions only some of the time, in a way they cannot predict.

Being a parent is the best and hardest job in the world, impossible to do “perfectly,” while still incredibly done humanly. Remember to offer yourself compassion and grace, as you would your favourite people, and know that you’re fantastic, growing, and capable. We believe in you.

References

Intermittent Reinforcement–The One Mistake Every Parent Makes