PODCAST EPISODE

Session 212: Token Economy 101: Considerations for Research and Practice

Instructor: Tim Hackenberg, Ph.D.

CE Offering: 1.5 (note: the first portion of this podcast is a discussion of the instructor’s background, feel free to skip ahead to about the 20-25 minute mark).

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube

This was a fun episode. Dr. Tim Hackenberg joined me to discuss both what we know, and what we don't know about token economies. This conversation was inspired by my interview with Dr. Matt Brodhead in Session 205, where in listening to that show, Tim picked up on a misstatement of mine.

We get into the specifics of this in our interview, but in brief, I made an off-the-cuff comment about token economy research. Thankfully, Tim reached out to me and offered to discuss this issue in more detail, and more importantly, correct my point of view on this matter. 

And I'm so glad he did just that. I learned a lot in this episode. In it, we discuss the basics of what constitutes a token economy, the importance of generalized reinforcers, early research in this area, troubleshooting ineffective token economies, and perhaps most interestingly, directions for future research. 

Our discussion centered around Tim's 2018 JABA paper, Token Reinforcement: Translational Research and Application. As I mention in the interview, it's simply an impressive work of scholarship, and I highly recommend taking the time to read through it. Whether you're a newly-minted BCBA, or a seasoned pro, I think there's something here for everyone. 

Tim also shared that he, along with Dr. Francesca Delgi Espinosa, created two token economy courses. One is a brief overview course that's free, and there's an advanced course titled, "Token economies: Bridging the gap from research to practice." You can find out more about them here. 

Instructions for this event:

1. Listen to Session 212 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast.
2. Purchase the CE. This will require creating an account for first time purchases or logging in for returning customers.
3. Check your email for a link to a quiz.
4. Take the quiz to demonstrate attendance of the event. NOTE: prior to taking the quiz, you will be prompted to enter your name and BACB Certificant #. Please enter your name in the way you want it to appear on your CE attendance certificate. This is important because some customers will occasionally enter their usernames into this field, and in the event of a CE audit, the BACB will likely refuse to accept documentation with incorrect names.
5. Download the certificate of completion.
6. Save all materials, including emails confirming purchase.
7. Optional: complete C.E. feedback survey, again you may need to cut and paste this URL into your browser: (https://goo.gl/forms/vA1Uyd5hsCcCdzAG2)

Thank you so much for participating in this BACB Continuing Education event. If you have any questions about this event or anything else related to the podcast, please feel free to email me at Matt@behavioralobservations.com!