Association for Behavior Analysis International

Preference assessments were initially designed to identify potential reinforcers for use in behavioral programming. However, as these procedures have become more refined, researchers have begun asking questions of more subtle aspects of interventions that can affect the efficacy and social validity of interventions with the consumers who experience them. The current symposium provides four examples that investigate the role of client preference for reinforcer gain vs. loss, reinforcer distribution vs. accumulation, and the relative ratio of work to reinforcement (i.e., unit price). These studies combine translational and applied research approaches to inform practice applications.

We compared student preference for versions of the Good Behavior Game (Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969), in which students either earned points following infractions (positive punishment) or lost points following infractions (negative punishment) in an alternative education setting with four students during academic instruction. In the Point-Earning condition, students were required to have two or fewer points to win the game. In the Point-Loss condition, the students were required to keep at least four of six available points to win the game. We defined an infraction as the student leaving his designated space during the course of the game. We started with a phase of brief forced exposures to each condition. After each student had experienced each condition at least once, the teacher asked each student which version of the game he preferred to play at the start of each instructional period, and then implemented the selected game for the remainder of the instructional period. The teacher recorded out of area and inappropriate language. Only one student showed a strong preference for a reinforcer arrangement. There was an increase in game wins for three out of the four students when the teacher provided students with choices.

Differential reinforcement of compliance is a common treatment for children present with escape-maintained problem behavior. This treatment involves providing positive reinforcement following compliance with simple instructions. Although effective, practically this intervention is challenging in home and school settings when it is preferable for children to complete chains of responses (e.g., putting away all of their toys prior to consuming reinforcement rather than following each toy). However, engaging in multiple responses (which we will term massed work periods) results in increasing establishing operations for escape and greater delays to reinforcement relative to conditions that require a single response (which we term distributed work conditions), and thus could potentially result in greater problem behavior. In the current study, we exposed a child with escape-maintained aggression to both massed and distributed work conditions to assess the efficacy of both arrangements. We then assessed this childs preference for both arrangements using a concurrent-chains procedure. Massed and distributed work conditions both resulted in near zero levels of aggression, but the child demonstrated a robust preference for distributed work conditions.

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of unit price on self-control and impulsive choice responding exhibited by individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. In Experiment 1, unit price was altered via manipulations of reinforcement magnitude associated with the delayed option. In one condition, unit price favored the immediate option and in the second condition, unit price favored the delayed option. In Experiment 2, unit price was also altered via manipulations of reinforcement magnitude associated with the delayed option. In one condition, unit price favored the immediate option and in the second condition, unit price was equal for both options. In Experiment 3, reinforcement magnitude always favored one option, while unit price was manipulated via delay. In one condition, delay was held constant and in the second condition, the delayed option was associated with the larger reinforcement magnitude. Results of each Experiment demonstrated that self-control and impulsive choice responding was biased toward the more economical option. These results show that the application of behavioral economic principles in the form of unit price may provide a framework for the study and conceptualization of impulsivity and self-control choice responding.