Correspondence Between Verbal Behavior About Reinforcers and Performance Under Schedules of Reinforcement.

• Main Author: Bekker-Pace, Ruthie
• Other Authors: Rosales-Ruiz, Jesus
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2006
• Subjects: Reinforcement (Psychology); Verbal behavior.; reinforcer; preference; assessment
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5389/

Important advancements have been made in the identification of reinforcers over the past decade. The use of preference assessments has become a systematic way to identify preferred events that may function as reinforcers for an individual's behavior. Typically, preference assessments require participants to select stimuli through verbal surveys or engagement with stimuli as preferred or non-preferred. Not all studies go on to directly test the effects of the preferred stimuli, and even fewer studies directly test for the effects of the non- preferred stimuli. The present study systematically identified preferred and non-preferred stimuli in adult human subjects by verbal report and then proceeded to test the effects of both verbally reported preferred and non preferred events on single and concurrent schedules of reinforcement. The results are discussed in terms of contemporary concerns regarding preference and reinforcer assessments.