Token economy: what is it and how is it used in therapy and education?

This method of behavior modification is widely used with children and some patients.

Acquiring habits, eliminating certain behaviors or generating changes in the way of acting... Sometimes it can be complicated to modifying one's own or other people's behavior can be complicated, especially in children.especially in children.

Fortunately, psychology and other disciplines have worked from different theoretical currents techniques that allow people to introduce changes in their way of behaving. One of the techniques used for this purpose is the economy of tokens..

Token economy: A method of behavior modification

Token economy is one of the techniques of behavior modification, which aim to produce a change in the behavior of the subject to be treated or to implement or fade specific behaviors. This type of techniques are based on the belief that behavior can be modified by learning new actions, and are widely used to educate or intervene on the subject to be treated. are widely used to educate or intervene on disorders, as well as in the educational field withand also in the educational field with children.

The token economy technique is based on the concept of reinforcement of B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning. This theory indicates that the fact of emitting or not emitting a behavior depends on the perceived consequences of that action.. If these are positive, we will tend to repeat the behavior in anticipation of further reinforcement, whereas if they are negative, we will reduce their frequency or eliminate the behavior from our repertoire.

Thus, by means of token economy, the aim is to create a context in which there is a large margin of maneuver to reward certain actions and discourage others, with a high degree of precision. By creating environments that predispose people in one way or another, it helps them to adopt and internalize these behavioral patterns and reproduce them in their daily lives in other situations. In other words, a space is designed in which the person trains certain ways of behaving while receiving professional support, in order to then apply this way of behaving in other situations without direct help.

How is it used?

The procedure to be used in this technique is based on exchange. The emission of the target behavior will be rewarded with a generalized reinforcer in the form of tokens.which can subsequently be exchanged for reinforcers that are palatable to the subject.

The performance of the behavior is controlled by some kind of recording system. The tokens themselves are a neutral stimulus, of no value to the subject until he knows their link to the elicitation of reinforcers. In this way, positive reinforcement is used to reward for the realization of the behaviors that we want to encourage; it is important that this happens without allowing too much time to pass since the action occurs and is rewarded.

It should be noted that this technique is very useful to modify behaviors already present in the subject's repertoire, implement new behaviors or fade out behaviors by rewarding incompatible actionsor through the withdrawal of previously delivered tokens.

However, the token economy is only useful if we want to introduce modifications in a few specific behaviors, or otherwise that the modifications are made very gradually and negotiating in advance with the child or patient the progress to be made.

Phases of the procedure

The token economy is a technique that is easy to apply, but that requires a series of steps to be followed in order to be to be applied correctly. Specifically, there are three distinct phases, although they are sometimes considered reducible to a program implementation phase and a fading phase.

1. Program establishment phase

The first step to be able to apply this technique is to explain and establish with the individual to be treated the procedure to be carried out.

For this technique to be effective the subject must be able to understand the concept of the card and what it is used for.. We show the tokens to be used and help the person to understand that these elements are going to be used as interchangeable objects for certain reinforcers.

In this way, we make the token something desirable in itself and awaken the desire to obtain it. If necessary, this can be exemplified by giving the individual tokens so that he can exchange them for some element that can be effective as a reinforcer, showing the basic functioning and meaning of these interchangeable symbols. This procedure could be considered as a subphase, the sampling of the token as a reinforcer.

Subsequently, the subject is told that he will get a certain number of tokens for each time he performs a behavior, or if during a certain period of time he has performed or avoided a particular behavior.

It is also specified whether there is any cost for doing the opposite of what was intended. In addition, the reinforcers to be obtained with the tokens are agreed upon and the value of each one of them is the value of each one of them is established, conditioning its obtainment to the or not, to the performance or non-performance of certain behaviors.

Finally, a system is established and elaborated to record the person's actions over time.

2. Implementation of the program

Once it has been established what is to be done, it is time to put it into practice. The child's, student's or patient's performance is monitored by giving (or removing) tokens.The child, student or patient is given tokens (or is removed in the case of prohibited behaviors, depending on whether or not the response cost is applied) as the behavior is recorded.

It is recommended that at least at the beginning each behavior emitted should be rewarded immediately, so that the functioning of the system is established, although with time the rewards will be postponed. It is also advisable that only a few of the possible reinforcers are available, so that the desire for those not yet available allows the behavior to be maintained over time.

3. Finalization phase

In the last phase, which will close the program, the token economy system will be "dismantled" until its completion. system of token economy until its completion.

As the subject's mastery and practice of the target behavior increases, the number of tokens required to obtain the reinforcers will gradually increase, while the number of tokens earned for each behavior performed will be reduced, the requirements for obtaining the tokens will become stricter and/or the time it takes to deliver the tokens will increase.

Eventually, the program itself ceases to apply, with the subject having already established the behavior. However, the individual must be kept informed of the changesThe application of the treatment should be carried out in such a way that it does not produce a rejection and a reaction of elimination of the behavior sought or a worsening of the behavior that was intended to be reduced.

Areas of application

The token economy technique can be used in both individual and group format.However, it will always be necessary to adjust and agree both the behaviors to be performed and the reinforcers that can be achieved according to the needs of the individuals or group. It can be used to level and standardize a given environment, allowing its reorganization.

Token economy has a large number of areas of application. It was initially used to motivate mentally disturbed patients to act in a patients with mental disorders to act in a more competent and adaptive way. In the clinical setting, then, it can be used to teach patients with disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorders) to combat their symptomatology through behavioral change.

It can also be used in the educational field, where it is in fact frequently used, especially in primary schools, or directly in homes as a tool to educate sons and daughters. Used in schools, it allows them to strive to act in a way that achieves the reinforcer, helping to improve behavior.. But it is not only applied at school or in the clinic, but can also be used at the individual level to change habits.