Effects of differential consequences on preference assessment

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2015

First Committee Member

Graff, Richard B.

Second Committee Member

Roscoe, Eileen

Third Committee Member

Karsten, Amanda

Abstract

"Paired stimulus preference assessments were conducted with 3 children, 2 of whom had developmental and intellectual disabilities. Two tangible (A), extinction (tangible without access; B), and tangible with intermittent access (C) preference assessments were conducted with each participant. During tangible assessments (A), participants consumed the selected item, whereas during the extinction assessment (B) they did not receive the item that was approached. During the tangible with intermittent access assessment (C), participants were allowed to consume the item chosen on a variable ratio (VR) 2 schedule. If the hierarchy established using a VR-2 schedule was similar to the tangible with access assessment, additional tangible with intermittent access assessment were conducted, using progressively increasing schedules (VR-4, VR-8, VR-16, etc.). For 1 participant, the tangible with access and tangible without access yielded similar preference hierarchies. For the other 2 participants, the tangible with access assessment yielded the same hierarchy as the tangible with intermittent access assessment using a VR-8 schedule. Reinforcer assessments verified that the items identified as highly preferred functioned as reinforcers."

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