Luther Behavior Is Socially Positive Reinforcement

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Automatic negative reinforcement - occurs when the target behavior is automatically reduces or eliminates an aversive stimulus as a consequence of the behavior and the behavior is strengthened (Miltenberger, 2016).

Socially Positive reinforcement - When a positively reinforcing consequence is delivered by another person after the target behavior, and as a result the behavior is more likely to occur.

In order to form my hypothesis of Luther behavior, I had to do an indirect assessment by interviewing staff from the nursing home. At first I thought Luther behavior was solely based on his illness, Alzheimers. However, based on my hypothesis, the function of luther behavior is Socially Positive reinforcement. In the Miltenberger text, it states that Luther use to be receiving a ton of attention from nurses and nurses assistant throughout the day (Miltenberger, 2016). Being in the nursing
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When Luther is not presented with the attention he desires he elopes outside to the courtyard, drawing attention from staff. The staff then run after Luther giving him more attention by providing cookies and coffee while telling him what he did wrong (Miltenberger, 2016). Luther could be escaping to gain the desired attention he is seeking.

The functional analysis conditions would be to manipulate each session conducted with Luther. Luther spent his life living on a farm. Luther has had to adapt to the daily routine of living in the nursing home. Luther enjoys walking around the nursing home socializing with staff (Miltenberger, 2016).However, recently Luther has been going outside to the courtyard by hisself and staff has safety concerns with Luther going outside by