Great Example of Natural Reinforcement In Action

The Fun Theory is a clever marketing campaign from Volkswagen that has caught the attention of behavior analysts because it shows how to change behavior (in this example increase exercise) by building positive reinforcers into the process of walking up the stairs.  This is a great example of how to create natural reinforcers that don’t require human presence for the purposes of providing social reinforcement for the new behavior.  The creators call it the “fun theory” but we know it as building PICs into a process or more specifically, applying the science of behavior analysis to change the ways the world works.