Faculty Articles
The Effects of Constant versus Varied Reinforcers on Preference and Resistance to Change
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
ISSN
0022-5002
Publication Date
5-2010
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that factors such as reinforcer frequency, amount, and delay have similar effects on resistance to change and preference. In the present study, 4 boys with autism made choices between a constant reinforcer (one that was the same food item every trial) and a varied food reinforcer (one that varied randomly between three possible food items). For all 4 boys, varied reinforcers were preferred over constant reinforcers, and they maintained higher response rates than constant reinforcers. In addition, when a distraction (a video clip) was introduced, responding maintained by varied reinforcers was more resistant to distraction than responding maintained by constant reinforcers. Thus, the present experiment extended the generality of the relation between preference and resistance to change to variation in reinforcer quality.
DOI
10.1901/jeab.2010.93-385
Volume
93
Issue
3
First Page
385
Last Page
394
NSUWorks Citation
Milo, J.,
Mace, F. C.,
Nevin, J. A.
(2010). The Effects of Constant versus Varied Reinforcers on Preference and Resistance to Change. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 93(3), 385-394.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/448
