A behavioral intervention for improving verbal behaviors of heroin addicts in a treatment clinic.
A sticker lottery can flip the verbal climate of an addiction clinic in one afternoon.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wilkinson et al. (1998) ran an ABAB reversal in a heroin clinic.
Adults earned stickers for appropriate talk and lost them for swearing or yelling.
Each sticker gave a small chance to win a $25 gift card at day's end.
What they found
When stickers were on, polite talk rose and cursing dropped.
When stickers stopped, old habits returned.
Bringing stickers back fixed the gains again.
How this fits with other research
THOMPSON et al. (1965) first showed tokens can shape psychotic adults' behavior; this study copies the logic in addiction care.
Matson et al. (2008) later scaled the idea to 90 opioid users, but paid for clean urine instead of good talk.
Woodman et al. (2025) now swap stickers for an app and bigger cash, showing the field keeps the same engine while upgrading the shell.
Why it matters
You can run a token board tomorrow with a pack of stickers and a coffee-shop gift card.
Pick one prosocial talk skill, set clear rules, and deliver stickers on the spot.
The low-cost setup gives immediate control of clinic tone without extra staff or tech.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Positively reinforcing appropriate behaviors improved verbal behaviors of opioid-dependent patients in a buprenorphine treatment clinic. During B phases of an ABAB design, clients received stickers for engaging in appropriate verbal or nonverbal behaviors. Each sticker provided a chance of winning $25. No reinforcement was provided during the A phases. Appropriate verbal behaviors increased during reinforcement periods, and inappropriate verbal behaviors decreased.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1998 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1998.31-291