What is the aim of Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)?

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) focuses on providing reinforcement when an individual does not engage in a specific undesired behavior during a designated period of time. The primary aim of DRO is to reduce the frequency of the problem behavior by offering reinforcement for the absence of that behavior.

When reinforcement is provided simply for not exhibiting the problem behavior, it encourages a cleaner break from those maladaptive behaviors, promoting an environment where the individual is more likely to engage in other, more adaptive behaviors. Thus, by reinforcing anything but the problem behavior, DRO effectively minimizes the occurrence of the undesired behavior over time.

The other options imply alternative strategies. One option suggests reinforcing an alternative behavior, which aligns more closely with Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) rather than DRO. Another option mentions chaining multiple behaviors, which is more relevant to behavior sequences and does not address the primary goal of DRO. Lastly, the encouragement of incompatible behaviors usually relates to methods such as Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI), where the focus is on reinforcing behaviors that cannot occur simultaneously with the unwanted behavior. In contrast, DRO does not require the replacement behavior to be incompatible but instead focuses solely on the absence of the problem behavior to gain reinforcement.