Summary: Differential reinforcement is the family of procedures where you reinforce one thing and stop reinforcing another. This page walks through the main types you'll use on the job and see on the exam: DRA, DRI, DRO, and DRL, plus the rate-based variants. You'll learn what each one actually does, how to pick the right one, and the specific distinctions that trip people up on test day.
Here's the simplest way to think about differential reinforcement. You're not just trying to make a behavior go away. You're shifting reinforcement from one behavior onto another, so the client gets a better deal for doing the thing you want.
Every version of this has two moving parts. You reinforce one response, and you withhold reinforcement (extinction) from another. That's it. The differences between the procedures come down to what exactly you're reinforcing. A specific replacement? Any behavior except the problem one? A lower rate of the problem behavior? Once you can answer that question for each type, the acronyms stop being confusing.
As an RBT, you won't design these. Your BCBA writes the behavior plan. But you'll run them, and you'll be the one deciding in the moment whether to deliver that reinforcer or hold it. Knowing why the plan says what it says makes you far better at that.
The two halves of every DR procedure
Pull any differential reinforcement procedure apart and you'll find the same two pieces:
That's the free preview of Differential Reinforcement. The complete guide, plus all 851 practice questions and 3 full exams, is in the study pack and the book.