Categories of preference and their reinforcing efficacy

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2014

First Committee Member

Graff, Richard B.

Second Committee Member

Ahearn, William H.

Third Committee Member

Karsten, Amanda M.

Abstract

"Preference assessments effectively identify reinforcers for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Although well-established procedures have been shown to identify preferences for individual items that can be used in skill acquisition and behavior reduction programs, little research has been conducted on identifying categories of preferred items. In this study, paired-stimulus preference assessments were conducted with four individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Researchers classified the edible stimuli as belonging to 1 of 4 categories: chocolate (e.g., chocolate chips, M&Ms ®), salty/crunchy (e.g., chips, crackers), gummy (e.g., Swedish Fish ®, Starburst ®), or fruit/vegetable (e.g., grape, apple). Preference hierarchies were identified for individual stimuli and for categories of stimuli. For all participants, at least 3 of the 4 most-preferred items came from the same category. Novel unassessed items identified by the researchers as belonging to the high-preference category functioned as effective reinforcers during subsequent reinforcer assessments for all four participants. This finding suggests that clinicians could identify likely effective edible reinforcers based on an individual’s categorical preference without explicit testing."

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