In this video, Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Jessica Leichtweisz , understand what a dependent group contingency is.
Dependent Group Contingency
According to Cooper, Heron and Heward, a Dependent Group Contingency is, “A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group or the behavior of a select group of members within the larger group.”
Simply put, a dependent group contingency is when an entire group gets rewarded when one person or a small group of people hits a goal. This is known as the hero procedure because one person is the hero for the entire group. If that person hits the criteria specified, the whole group is rewarded and if the person missed the criteria, nobody in the group is rewarded.
You would use this when most people in the group are hitting the goal but there is one person or a small group of people who are not hitting the goal. The point of this is that if the entire group is dependent on them, it will increase their motivation to perform.
A risk of using this in real practice is it can cause tension between that person and the small group if they do not hit the criteria. This is especially true in a school setting among kids. Imagine the bullying a child may receive if an entire class does not get to have recess because of their performance.
As a result, this is not often used in practice. It is a procedure in which I would personally not ever use in practice.
Example 1 of dependent group contingency:
Marsha attends tutoring sessions. At the tutoring sessions, the class is constantly asking for a webinar on test taking strategies. Marsha regularly does not show up to tutoring sessions because she is addicted to Downton Abbey. Jessica, the BCBA wants to promote Marsha attending tutoring so she tells the group that if Marsha attends at least 4 tutoring sessions that week, next week she will do a webinar on test taking strategies for the whole group.
Example 2 of dependent group contingency:
Timothy is frequently calling out in class and it is very disruptive. Timothy is well liked by his peers and the BCBA determined that Timothy calls out to get attention and approval from his peers. The BCBA recommends that the teacher offers a free homework pass to the entire class if Timothy can go an entire day without calling out.
Example 3 of dependent group contingency:
Susan is very strong in sales. She is the best sales person on her sales team. The team recognizes that Susan is not performing at her highest potential since she is already out performing her team. Her supervisor decides that if Susan can increase her sales by forty percent for the next month, the entire team will receive a $500 bonus.
References
APA Citation: Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd Edition). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.
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