DRO Contingency Worksheet
Decide which of the following concepts are most applicable to each scenario: differential reinforcement
of other behavior, avoidance contingency, punishment by prevention of reinforcer, punishment by loss
of reinforcer, or avoidance of loss.
Defend your answer 2-3 sentences each, using citations as needed.
1. Sally, a 13-year-old teenager, is tired of having her mom nag her about her bedroom. Her mom
nags about the clothes on the floor, the bed being unmade, and the trashcan spilling over in her
bathroom. Sally comes home from school in a bad mood and the last thing she wants to hear is
her mom’s nagging voice. To get around the expected response from her mom, she cleans her
room, makes her bed, and empties her trashcan.
2. Sally makes the 7th-grade track team by finishing before another girl by less than 0.05 seconds
in her event—the 400 meter relay. Sally is proud of making the team but needs to work harder
in the practices that follow. The first track meet does not go well. Out of the four girls on the
relay team, she has the slowest time, so her track coach removes her from the team, and makes
her sit as an alternate.
3. In the weeks that follow being pulled from the track team, Sally listens to her coach’s direction
and works hard to qualify for the next meet. Running her fastest time ever, Sally is excited when
she qualifies to run the relay for the third track meet. Now that she has earned her spot on the
team, she continues to work hard every week to keep her place.
4. Chad is a 45-year-old man going back to school while working full time. A self-proclaimed
procrastinator, his job as a computer programmer can handle his laid back style and ever-
changing deadlines. In school, however, he is having difficulty turning his homework in on time.
The teacher has told him that success is impossible if he does not turn his papers in on time, yet
he fails to do so week after week.
5. Chad continues to stay in school and is a B-minus student due to the procrastination aspect of
his work ethic. He has been complaining lately about school and thinking about withdrawing. His
comments about the teacher, the class, the work and his grades are starting to get annoying so
his mom decides to only reinforce his verbal behavior every 5 minutes he talks to her without
making a negative comment about school.
