Assessing relative preference for and reinforcing effectiveness of social consequences

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20001172

Although tokens and other contrived reinforcers are widely used in applied settings, social reinforcement, a more natural form of reinforcement, has been shown to maintain behaviors for developmentally disabled children including those with autism. A better understanding of an individual's preference for certain social consequences may allow for more effective use of social consequences in applied settings. The purpose of the present study, a replication of Smaby, MacDonald, Ahearn, and Dube (2007), was to identify reinforcing forms of social attention for 5 boys who attended a school for children with autism. The results of this study indicate that social consequences produced response rates higher than extinction conditions and, for 4 of the 5 participants, praise functioned as the most preferred reinforcer.