Effects of category and choice on preference

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2018

First Committee Member

Karsina, Allen

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Graff, Richard

Abstract

"We conducted a series of preference assessments (PAs) and reinforcer assessments with 4 individuals diagnosed with autism and 1 individual diagnosed with Angelman’s syndrome to evaluate the effects of category on preference and to evaluate preference for choice within and across categories. First, single-category PAs were conducted for edibles, leisure items, and social activities. Then, across-category PAs were conducted with the highest preference items from each single-category assessment. For 3 participants, edibles displaced preference for leisure and social stimuli. We then conducted progressive ratio reinforcer assessments with all 5 participants using the highest preference item from each category and a control condition; for each participant, results were consistent with their PAs. Finally, we evaluated preference for choice using an 8-item paired-stimulus PA that included choice between the highest preference item of each category, choice between the highest preference items within a category, the highest preference item from a category (no-choice), and a control. For all participants, during the choice PAs access to an item from the highest preference category was a more reliable predictor of preference than access to choice. For 2 participants, progressive ratio reinforcer assessments were conducted using a choice condition that included the highest preference category, a choice condition from the second highest preference category, the highest preferred item, and a control; for each participant, results were consistent with their PAs. These results suggest that some individuals prefer choice when the outcomes of choice and no-choice are similar, but all participants prefer no-choice over choice when the outcomes for no-choice resulted in access to a more preferred category."

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