Cheating,intention, and punishment from an equity theory perspective

Male college students were given the opportunity to deliver aversive noise to a partner (confederate) contingent on the partner's “mistakes” in a learning task. Subjects were either not informed about a reward or told that they, their partner, or a charity would receive a monetary reward for speedy learning. Half of the subjects observed the confederate cheat, while half did not observe any deceptive behavior. The intensity of punitive behavior seemed to vary in accordance with predictions derived from equity theory. That is, cheating for a charity, a “good cause” resulted in less intense punishment than did cheating for selfish gain. On the other hand, mistakes, uncomplicated by cheating, which deprived a charity were punished more intensely than were mistakes whose only result accrued to the confederate himself.     

Setting Generalization during Self-Reinforcement with Educationally Handicapped Children

Eight educationally handicapped boys ranging in age form 10 to 11 years old and described as the worst behavior problems in their class participated in a series of single-subject studies carried out in their self-contained classrooms. Three served as target subjects, using self-reinforcement procedures to increase their sustained on-task behavior in a treatment setting; five served as generalization subjects. Data were collected in three settings within the self-contained classroom; an early morning treatment setting, a late morning generalization setting, and an afternoon generalization setting. The three target subjects averaged a 51% increase over their baseline median levels of sustained on-task behavior in the treatment setting. They averaged 84% and 96% generalization to the late morning and afternoon generalization settings, respectively. These results demonstrate that self-reinforcement can produce setting generalization of treatment effects in the absence of prior externally determined reinforcement. Evidence for subject and subject-setting generalization was also obtained.     

Does teaching an omnibus mand preclude the development of specifying mands?

When problem behavior is controlled by a synthesized reinforcement contingency, a simple omnibus mand that yields access to all reinforcers simultaneously has been shown to effectively replace problem behavior. The question arises as to whether teaching an omnibus mand will preclude the acquisition of specifying mands for each of the combined reinforcers. In this study, after 3 students diagnosed with autism acquired an omnibus mand (“My way, please”) that yielded all identified reinforcers simultaneously, specifying mands (e.g., “All done,” “May I have my toys?” “Play with me”) were taught to yield each individual reinforcer (e.g., escape, tangibles, attention). Problem behavior was immediately eliminated for all children, and the omnibus mand was acquired quickly. Teaching an omnibus mand did not preclude acquisition of specifying mands for any learner and instead allowed for the acquisition of specifying mands once problem behavior had been effectively reduced.     

Nonverbal Mediators of Expectancy Effects in Black and White Children1

Seventy-two white undergraduates of both sexes taught a lesson “What is psychology?” to a 10-year-old male confederate. Four confederates, two white and two black, alternated in the three conditions of induced expectancy: Subjects were told the child was bright, dull, or were given no information. Unknown to subjects, their nonverbal behavior during the lesson was videotape recorded. Results indicated that induced expectancy affected subject nonverbal behavior only when the confederate was white. Subjects smiled more, looked more, and nodded more at the white “bright” confederates than the white control or “dull” confederates. However, expectancy had no effect, positive or negative, when the confederate was black. In addition, white confederates received more positive nonverbal behavior overall than did black confederates.     

Establishing books as conditioned reinforcers for preschool children as a function of an observational intervention

We tested the effects of an observational intervention (Greer & Singer-Dudek, 2008) on establishing children's books as conditioned reinforcers using a delayed multiple baseline design. Three preschool students with mild language and developmental delays served as the participants. Prior to the intervention, books did not function as reinforcers for any of the participants. The observational intervention consisted of a situation in which the participant observed a confederate being presented with access to books contingent on correct responses and the participant received nothing for correct responses. After several sessions of this treatment, the previously neutral books acquired reinforcing properties for maintenance and acquisition responses for all three participants.     

Reinforcers,values, and vocational maturity in adults

The purpose of the present study was to test the notion that job reinforcers and occupational values are related to vocational maturity. The importance of 21 reinforcers and 11 values were rated by 207 vocational rehabilitation clients nad 59 graduate students. The dependent measure was the Adult Vocational Maturity Index. Older subjects with more education were more vocationally mature. Those subjects who considered-(a) getting a feeling of accomplishment, (b) doing work without feeling it is morally wrong, (c) having steady employment, (d) independence, (e) opportunity to use special talents, (f) challenge, and (g) self-satisfaction-important, were high in vocational maturity. Subjects who considered such things as-(a) telling other workers what to do, (b) having the position of “somebody” in the community, and (c) prestige-important, were lower in vocational maturity. The data indicated that choice of occupational reinforcers and preferences for specified values are reflected in the individual's “vocational maturity”.     

An experimental analysis of peer social initiations on the behavior of withdrawn preschool children: Some training and generalization effects

In this study, positive social initiations by an age-peer was evaluated as an intervention for isolate preschool children in training and generalization sessions. During baseline, the confederate made few social approaches to the target subjects. The confederate greatly increased his rate of positive social initations during the first intervention, decreased social approaches during a second baseline, and increased social approaches again in a second intervention phase. Increases in confederate initiations resulted in an immediate acceleration in the frequency of subjects' positive social behavior during training sessions. Additionally, for two of the three subjects, positive social behaviors were also observed to increase during generalization sessions. The results suggest that (a) peers may be trained successfully to set the occasion for positive social behaviors by withdrawn classmates, (b) increased social responding by withdrawn children in the presence of frequent peer social initiations may also generalize beyond the training setting, and (c) the magnitude of direct and generalization effects appears to be related to the entry-level repertoire of target children.     

A laboratory model for evaluating relapse of undesirable caregiver behavior

The success of behavioral treatments like functional communication training depends on their continued implementation outside of the clinical context, where failures in caregiver treatment adherence can lead to the relapse of destructive behavior. In the present study, we developed a laboratory model for evaluating the relapse of undesirable caregiver behavior that simulates two common sources of disruption (i.e., changes in context and in treatment efficacy) believed to affect caregiver treatment adherence using simulated confederate destructive behavior. In Phase 1, the caregiver's delivery of reinforcers for destructive behavior terminated confederate destructive behavior in a home‐like context. In Phase 2, the caregiver implemented functional communication training in a clinical context in which providing reinforcers for destructive or alternative behavior terminated confederate destructive behavior. In Phase 3, the caregiver returned to the home‐like context, and caregiver behavior produced no effect on confederate destructive or alternative behavior, simulating an inconsolable child. Undesirable caregiver behavior relapsed in three of four treatment‐adherence challenges.     

Stress-Induced Drinking in Parents of Boys with Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder: Heterogeneous Groups in an Experimental Study of Adult-Child Interactions

Research on whether parents of children with externalizing disorders are at elevated risk for alcohol problems is equivocal. To reduce this ambiguity, we examined how individual differences in stress reactivity might moderate the drinking behavior of such parents. Parents (119 mothers, 44 fathers) of ADHD sons interacted with different child confederates during each of two counter-balanced sessions. In one, the confederate portrayed a friendly, cooperative, “normal” boy; in the other, the confederate portrayed a “deviant” boy who exhibited behavior characteristic of externalizing disorders. Following each interaction, parents were given an opportunity for ad lib consumption of alcohol while anticipating a second interaction. Latent class analysis identified three subgroups of parents using distress scores and alcohol consumption: minimal stress reactivity; reacts to child deviance with increased distress, but not increased drinking; marked stress-induced drinking. Decisions about the nature and proper treatment of parents raising children with ADHD may be compromised by failure to attend to individual differences in stress reactivity and inclinations to use drinking to cope.     

Hormonal changes of intimate partner violence perpetrators in response to brief social contact with women

This study investigated whether men with a history of real-life aggressive, dominant behavior show increases in testosterone and cortisol levels after brief social contact with women. Furthermore, we tested the prediction that such changes in hormones would be larger than those observed previously in young male students. Sixty-seven male participants convicted of intimate partner violence (IPV) either had brief social contact with a female confederate (experimental condition) or a male confederate (control condition). We also performed meta-analyses to investigate whether IPV perpetrators' hormonal responses were larger than the typical responses of young male students in prior studies. All statistical analyses were preregistered. Change in testosterone did not differ across experimental conditions, and testosterone in the IPV perpetrators actually declined from baseline in the female confederate condition. Our meta-analysis showed that this testosterone decrease was different from the testosterone increase typically observed in young male students. The cortisol levels of IPV perpetrators did not change in response to contact with women. This result was consistent with our meta-analysis since young male students also did not experience a cortisol change in response to interactions with women. In sum, our findings provide no evidence that male IPV perpetrators exhibit larger hormone increases to brief interactions with women, although it is possible that the men in this sample did not perceive the social contact period as a courtship opportunity. These results suggest that hormone reactivity to social encounters may differ across subject populations and depend on how subjects perceive social situations within laboratory settings.     

PROGRAMMING “LOOSE TRAINING” AS A STRATEGY TO FACILITATE LANGUAGE GENERALIZATION

This study investigated the generalization of spontaneous complex language behavior across a nontraining setting and the durability of generalization as a result of programming and “loose training” strategy. A within-subject, across-behaviors multiple-baseline design was used to examine the performance of two moderately retarded students in the use of is/are across three syntactic structures (i.e., “wh” questions, “yes/no” reversal questions, and statements). The language training procedure used in this study represented a functional example of programming “loose training.” The procedure involved conducting concurrent language training within the context of an academic training task, and establishing a functional reduction in stimulus control by permitting the student to initiate a language response based on a wide array of naturally occurring stimulus events. Concurrent probes were conducted in the free play setting to assess the immediate generalization and the durability of the language behaviors. The results demonstrated that “loose training” was effective in establishing a specific set of language responses with the participants of this investigation. Further, both students demonstrated spontaneous use of the language behavior in the free play generalization setting and a trend was clearly evident for generalization to continue across time. Thus, the methods used appear to be successful for training the use of is/are in three syntactic structures.     

COGNITIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL INFLUENCES ON SPONTANEOUS COMFORTING BEHAVIOR

Most previous research concerned with comforting communication skills has studied comforting by having subjects respond to hypothetical situations. A major goal of the present study was to examine the relation of several cognitive and motivational variables to the comforting behaviors displayed by persons in a “real world” situation. Subjects (73 female college students) interacted with a female confederate who appeared to be emotionally distressed about having been left by her boyfriend. These interactions were covertly videotaped and content analyzed. Measures of interpersonal construct differentiation, emotional empathy, communication apprehension, and locus of control orientation were also obtained. As expected, interpersonal construct differentiation was positively related to qualitative features of the comforting behaviors exhibited by subjects. Also as expected, highly apprehensive subjects tended to avoid interacting with the distressed confederate and engaged in relatively little comforting behavior. Emotional empathy and locus of control orientation were unrelated to the comforting behaviors of subjects. These results are discussed in terms of a general model of comforting behavior.     

Effects of displacing aggression by annoyed and nonannoyed subjects

Low hostility-guilt subjects were either annoyed or not annoyed by an experimental confederate and given the opportunity to (a) displace aggression against a second confederate in a memory task, (b) go through a similar task but not aggress, or (c) sit quietly for a comparable period of time. All subjects were subsequently allowed to aggress against their annoyer in a “creativity” task. While displacement following annoyance did not reduce physiological arousal, it did reduce the amount of subsequent aggression against the annoyer. Conversely, the expression of aggression in subjects who were not annoyed resulted in an increase in physiological arousal, but not in subsequent aggression. No significant relationships were found between physiological arousal and subsequent aggression.     

RESPONSE INTERRUPTION AND DRL FOR THE REDUCTION OF RAPID EATING

We assessed the efficacy of several procedures for reducing the rate of eating responses during mealtime by three institutionalized mentally retarded clients. A time-based (15 s) response interruption procedure was implemented which resulted in little change in eating responses for 2 of 3 subjects. A spaced-responding DRL 15-s procedure resulted in decreases in eating responses to target levels only after a prompting procedure was added. Procedures were evaluated using a multiple baseline across subjects design with assessment of generalization to nontreated meals. A change in eating behavior during breakfast occurred only after direct training in the breakfast setting. Maintenance data were collected at 1- and 5-month follow-up periods.     

Should drivers be informed about the equipment of drivers with green light optimal speed advisory (GLOSA)?

Previous research demonstrated that green light optimal speed advisory (GLOSA) affects driving behavior at signalized intersections: On the one hand, drivers assisted with GLOSA show more energy-efficient and eco-friendly driving. Following unequipped vehicles’ drivers (UVDs) also adapt their driving behavior to the assisted one. On the other hand, safety issues can be found in encounters with UVDs who also perceive assisted driving behavior negatively. Therefore, in a multi-driver simulator study (N = 60 participants sorted in groups of n = 2 UVDs), we tested whether informing UVDs about the GLOSA of an assisted driver results in more behavioral adaptation of UVDs to the assisted driving behavior, less safety issues, and less frustration of UVDs. Two UVDs followed a lead vehicle driven by a confederate. The confederate was equipped with GLOSA and knew when traffic lights switched from green to red and, consequently, slowed down when approaching a green traffic light. The degree of information UVDs received was manipulated: The group “no information” did not receive any information. The group “information” knew about the equipment of the assisted confederate with GLOSA and the group “detailed information” received additional information about its functionality and benefit. Results show that UVDs of the group “detailed information” adapted their driving behavior to the assisted driver. However, these UVDs also showed smaller minimum time-to-collision (TTC) values indicating safety issues. Results are discussed and implications made with regard to providing information to UVDs and to further investigate these challenges in the context of autonomous vehicles.     

The role of adventitious reinforcement during differential reinforcement of other behavior: A systematic replication

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is commonly used to decrease problem behavior by presenting reinforcers contingent upon the absence of a target response. Although it is well demonstrated that DROs decrease response rates, the processes producing these decreases are not well understood. The present study systematically replicated previous research assessing whether adventitious reinforcement of alternative behavior contributes to the effectiveness of DRO. We presented university students with two options on a computer and reinforced target responding on a variable-ratio schedule. Next, we compared decreases in target-response rates and any increases in alternative responding during DRO schedules versus yoked variable-time schedules or extinction probes. DRO schedules resulted in the lowest target-response rate and highest alternative-response rate. These findings generally provide some support for the adventitious reinforcement of “other” behavior.     

RESISTANCE TO EXTINCTION AND RELAPSE IN COMBINED STIMULUS CONTEXTS

Reinforcing an alternative response in the same context as a target response reduces the rate of occurrence but increases the persistence of that target response. Applied researchers who use such techniques to decrease the rate of a target problem behavior risk inadvertently increasing the persistence of the same problem behavior. Behavioral momentum theory asserts that the increased persistence is a function of the alternative reinforcement enhancing the Pavlovian relation between the target stimulus context and reinforcement. A method showing promise for reducing the persistence‐enhancing effects of alternative reinforcement is to train the alternative response in a separate stimulus context before combining with the target stimulus in extinction. The present study replicated previous findings using pigeons by showing that combining an “alternative” richer VI schedule (96 reinforcers/ hr) with a “target” leaner VI schedule (24 reinforcers/hr) reduced resistance to extinction of target responding compared with concurrent training of the alternative and target responses (totaling 120 reinforcers/hr). We also found less relapse with a reinstatement procedure following extinction with separate‐context training, supporting previous findings that training conditions similarly influence both resistance to extinction and relapse. Finally, combining the alternative stimulus context was less disruptive to target responding previously trained in the concurrent schedule, relative to combining with the target response trained alone. Overall, the present findings suggest the technique of combining stimulus contexts associated with alternative responses with those associated with target responses disrupts target responding. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this disruption is a function of training context of reinforcement for target responding, consistent with assertions of behavioral momentum theory.     

COMMUNICATIVE EFFECTS OF GAZE BEHAVIOR

This experiment was undertaken to test two contrasting explanations of the effects of eye gaze on social perceptions and outcomes. A social meaning model holds that differing levels of gaze have such clear meaning that gaze alone accounts for the reactions to it. A nonverbal expectancy violations model holds that normative behaviors are expected in social interactions with strangers and that violating these expectations produces different results depending on whether the violator is deemed highly “rewarding” or “nonrewarding.” This experiment, the third in a series, proposed to extend the violations model by incorporating the concept of positive and negative types ofviolations. Subjects (N = 145) interviewed one of four confederate interviewees who manipulated one of three levels of eye gaze (nearly constant, normal, andnearly constant aversion) and who were assigned one of two levels of reward (highly qualified for the job or highly unqualified). Differential gaze behavior resulted in varied impressions of attraction, credibility, and relational communication, with gaze aversion producing consistently negative effects. Interpretations and communication consequences were mediated by reward, gender, and confederate differences.     

THE EFFECTS OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL “ENRICHMENT” PROGRAM ON THE BEHAVIOR OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHILDREN

This study determined the effects of procedures designed to “enrich” the physical and social environment of an institutional ward on the “adaptive” and “maladaptive” child, adult, self, and object-directed behaviors of five profoundly retarded ambulatory females. Behavior observed in two treatment conditions, an environment “enriched” with toys and objects and an “enriched” environment coupled with differential reinforcement of adaptive behavior, was compared to behavior occurring in corresponding baseline or “austere” conditions and during a period of noncontingent reinforcement. The results generally revealed: (1) little change in adaptive and maladaptive child and adult-directed behavior across conditions, (2) an overall higher incidence of adaptive object-directed behavior and reduced self-directed maladaptive behavior in each treatment condition from that observed in corresponding control conditions, and (3) the use of an “enriched” environment and differential reinforcement of adaptive behavior resulted in maladaptive self-directed behavior being reduced and adaptive object-directed behavior being increased beyond that observed in the “enriched” environment alone. These behavioral gains were largely maintained during a follow-up condition by continuing the “enriched” environment and transferring the responsibility for differential reinforcement to direct-care staff.