Analysis of establishing operations for self-injury maintained by escape

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) can be maintained through negative reinforcement when, in the context of training or task requirements, it produces escape as a consequence. Several studies have demonstrated methods for identifying and treating SIB maintained by negative reinforcement; however, few analyses of the establishing operations associated with demand situations have been conducted. The current series of studies illustrates a method for identifying some establishing operations for escape by systematically altering certain dimensions of the demand context while maintaining an escape contingency for SIB. Dimensions assessed in these studies included task novelty, duration of instructional sessions, and rate of task presentation. Data indicate that these variables can have establishing properties for behavior maintained by escape. Implications of the results are discussed, as are potential refinements and extensions of the assessment procedures.     

DISCIPLINED DECISION MAKING IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENT: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL

This paper explores some of the implications the statistical process control (SPC) methodology described by Pfadt and Wheeler (1995) may have for analyzing more complex performances and contingencies in human services or health care environments at an organizational level. Service delivery usually occurs in an organizational system that is characterized by functional structures, high levels of professionalism, subunit optimization, and organizational suboptimization. By providing a standard set of criteria and decision rules, SPC may provide a common interface for data-based decision making, may bring decision making under the control of the contingencies that are established by these rules rather than the immediate contingencies of data fluctuation, and may attenuate escalation of failing treatments. SPC is culturally consistent with behavior analysis, sharing an emphasis on data-based decisions, measurement over time, and graphic analysis of data, as well as a systemic view of organizations.     

Framed writing of argumentative monologues by sixteen-and seventeen-year-old students

When 16- and 17-year-old students are required to write a framed argumentative text which first supports position A and then supports an opposing position B, the familiarity of the debated topic seems to determine the argumentative quality of the texts produced. Indeed, the possibility of getting personally involved in the discourse leads to more effective writing strategies and to the use of typical marks of argumentation.     

Measuring Situation Awareness in Virtual Environment-Based Training

We evaluated the efficacy of a computer-based situation awareness (SA) measurement system for training dismounted infantry SA in an urban terrain virtual reality (VR) simulation. Based on past research, we hypothesized that the SA measures would be sensitive to individual (squad leader) differences, and that the frequency of specific probes would reveal differences in critical SA requirements among scenarios. Three infantry squads performed multiple trials across two different scenarios. A confederate platoon leader posed probes to squad leaders during trials and experts made ratings afterward. Results revealed squad leaders had similar responses to probes, despite differences in combat experience. Analysis of probe frequency revealed different high priority SA elements and decisions for each scenario. The SA behavior and communication ratings revealed differences among squads, which trended with experience. Measures of SA were also consistent across the test scenario as a result of similar mission types and task difficulties. We discuss the implication of our findings for future research and theory within this area.     

ABOLISHING AND ESTABLISHING OPERATION ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ATTENTION AS POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT FOR PROBLEM BEHAVIOR

Three participants whose problem behavior was maintained by contingent attention were exposed to 45‐min presessions in which attention was withheld, provided on a fixed‐time (FT) 15‐s schedule, or provided on an FT 120‐s schedule. Following each presession, participants were then tested in a 15‐min session similar to the social attention condition of an analogue functional analysis. The results showed establishing operation conditions increased problem behavior during tests and that abolishing operation conditions decreased problem behavior during tests.     

The differential effects of age and first grade schooling on the development of infralogical and logico-mathematical concrete operations

Using the “between-grade levels” regression discontinuity design, this study examined the hypothesized differential sensitivity of logico-mathematical (LM) and infralogical (IL) operational tasks to the effects of chronological age and first grade schooling in a sample of 580 1st and 2nd grade Israeli children. The results indicate that the development of logico-mathematical operational skills (classification, class inclusion and transitivity) is mainly attributable to schooling. In contrast, the effect of schooling on the development of conservation of mass, liquid quantity and number (clearly an infralogical task) is negligible; acquisition of conservation is almost exclusively due to maturation and out-of-school experiences. The results support the theoretical predictions derived from French-Swiss research of the last two decades and are inconsistent with claims regarding the specificity of schooling effects to tasks that are taught in school.     

Teaching children with autism to request help with difficult tasks

We taught three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to request help using an interrupted chain procedure during which we manipulated task materials such that the child was either incapable or capable of independently completing a link of a behavior chain. We initially observed undesirable generalization of requests for help during capable trials when teaching was introduced during incapable trials for two participants and to a lesser extent for the third participant. However, with repeated exposure to differential prompting and reinforcement across incapable and capable trials, differential responding was observed across EO‐present and EO‐absent trials for all three participants during both teaching sets and one generalization set that was never exposed to teaching procedures. These findings suggest that it is important to consider the antecedent conditions under which the response should occur when teaching children to request help.     

The influence of contrived motivating operations on social discounting: Relative economic hardship affects choice

Thirty‐six participants were given three social discounting surveys, and each survey was preceded by one of three contrived hypothetical scenarios. In each scenario, the participant was asked to consider situations in which either the participant (SELF), a hypothetical other (OTHER), or both the participant and the hypothetical other (BOTH) were experiencing economic hardship (i.e., needed money to avoid a negative outcome). Results replicate previous research suggesting that the probability of participants foregoing the money decreased across social distance in the BOTH and OTHER conditions; however, no discounting was observed for median responses in the SELF condition. In addition, the highest area under the curve and lowest s values were associated with the OTHER condition, and the inverse results were observed for the SELF condition. Taken together, these results suggest that relative economic hardship may act as a motivating operation affecting social discounting with the potential for further translational utility.     

Relative influences of establishing operations and reinforcement contingencies on self-injurious behavior during functional analyses

In the typical functional analysis in which the antecedent and consequent events associated with problem behavior are manipulated, the control condition involves elimination of both the relevant establishing operation (EO) and its associated contingency through a schedule of noncontingent reinforcement (usually fixed-time [FT] 30 s). In some functional analyses, however, antecedent events are manipulated in the absence of differential consequences, and a common test condition in such analyses also involves the delivery of reinforcement on an FT 30-s schedule. Thus, the same schedule of reinforcement (FT 30 s) is not considered to be an EO in the former type of analysis but is considered to be an EO in the latter. We examined the relative influences of EOs and reinforcement contingencies on problem behavior by exposing 6 individuals who engaged in self-injurious behavior (SIB) to four combinations of functional analysis conditions: EO present/contingency present, EO absent/contingency present, EO present/contingency absent, and EO absent/contingency absent. Results indicated that the only condition in which high rates of SIB were observed consistently was one in which the EO and the reinforcement contingency were both present. Implications of these results for the design of functional analysis test and control conditions are discussed.