Extensive speech on preferred conversation topics may limit conversations with others. For individuals with ASD, extensive speech on a topic may be a form of restricted or repetitive behavior that may be addressed through skill building. However, previous research suggests that skill building may not be necessary if the behavior is sensitive to differential reinforcement contingencies. To evaluate the effects of differential reinforcement in the form of attention on conversation topics, we replicated the results of Stocco et al. by assessing sensitivity to conversational attention with participant-only topic initiations. Additionally, we extended the procedures by evaluating the effects of topic initiations from the participant and the experimenter (shared initiations). Similar to previous research, our results yielded that speech was sensitive to conversational attention across all participants. That is, differential reinforcement contingencies altered levels of speech on topics of conversation, indicating that differential reinforcement procedures may be sufficient in addressing performance deficits. Lastly, we assessed participant preference for participant-only initiation or shared initiation conversations.

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Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are the majority of population in residential settings. Many clients in residential settings engage in problem behavior that interferes with their daily routine and work requirements. Restricted and repetitive behavior are one of the features of ASD diagnosis, typically in the form of invariable responding and predictable responses. Differential reinforcement has been used to produce and maintain response variability. I evaluated the utility of a fixed ratio 1 (FR1) schedule on variability to increase the diversity of activity selections in the treatment of problem behavior occasioned by the interruption of routines. Chase engaged in problem behaviors in his bathroom routine, no matter by himself or with his housemate. Results demonstrated a reinforcement-based treatment increased both variable and novel selections while decreasing the rate of self injurious behavior.

When measuring social validity, many researchers rely exclusively on subjective measures, such as questionnaires or surveys; however, these measures may fail to capture the variables that control later intervention adoption by stakeholders, and objective measures may capture these variables more accurately. Moreover, few researchers have investigated the adoptability of differential reinforcement (DR) interventions to increase children’s honesty about transgressions. We taught caregivers to implement the DR procedures reported in Lehardy et al. (2023) and measured the acceptability and adoptability of procedures using three measures: (1) a social validity questionnaire and rating scale immediately following training, (2) a concurrent-chains preference assessment with the researcher, and (3) an at-home follow-up questionnaire approximately one week after training. Caregiver preferences for procedures varied, but all caregivers reported preferring DR procedures to increase honesty over an NCR procedure. Correspondence between each participant’s three social validity outcomes also varied, but only fully aligned for one participant. Our findings indicate a need for additional research into correspondence between subjective and objective social validity measures to determine whether subjective measures can accurately predict later intervention adoption.

The emerging phenomenon of Western women Islamic converts learning radicalized ideology through social media constitutes a challenge to cyber policy makers hampered by a lack of gender-nuanced radicalization research. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative case study was to develop a greater understanding of how the differential reinforcement tenet of social learning theory may help to explain the conversion and radicalization of Western women towards a fundamentalist Islamic ideology through their participation in the social media. Key research questions explored how participation in online social media may create vulnerability towards radicalization and exploitation. The blogs of 3 different Western women converts were selected from the social media website Tumblr for the period of January 2014 through September 2015. Approximately 21,700 posted entries were subjected to a deductive coding process and thematic analysis. Key findings indicated that fervent activism, strong commitment to the digital community, and a tepid response to world terrorist attacks were potential vulnerabilities for targeted radicalization. Additionally, authors increased the number of their ideology-related posts in response to increased reader interactions. Finally, reader responses did not appear to alter the bloggers' static and strongly held positions on cultural gender roles. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include a starting point for the development of a formal adolescent cyber educational program, new metadata delimiters for the identification and engagement of vulnerable women, and as an example of the use of public policy theoretical frameworks for homeland security research.

This study was designed to test the effectiveness of 2 different behavioral interventions: a high-probability request sequence and a differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DRA) procedure in a classroom setting. The aim of the interventions was to reduce the frequency of task refusal as well as increase the frequency of task compliance in adolescents in a general education setting. The study included 4 adolescents with the same teacher who were reported by their teacher as completing 50% or less of their course work since the beginning of the school year. The teacher implemented the interventions with the participants to test their potential effectiveness. Each student responded differently to the interventions. This was demonstrated using visual analysis of graphs as well as a comparison of descriptive statistics. Some were more compliant when the teacher implemented the high-probability request sequence; others demonstrated greater compliance with the DRA in place. Two participants also demonstrated higher levels of compliance beginning with placement of a camera (and operator) prior to the high-probability request sequence or the DRA implementation. These results indicate that each of these interventions may have the potential to increase compliance with classroom tasks for typically functioning adolescents through the mechanism of increased attention.

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The principle of least effort suggests that animals should minimize effort to reinforcement. Thus, not pecking should be preferred over pecking. However, pigeons often peck when it is allowed but not required (e.g., fixed time schedules) but pecking may be adventitiously reinforced. In the present experiment, to better compare a schedule of reinforcement that requires pecking with one that requires the absence of pecking, we compared a fixed-interval (FI) schedule in which reinforcement follows the first peck after the interval has elapsed and a differential-reinforcement-of-other behavior (DRO) schedule which requires pigeons abstain from pecking for a similar interval. The delay to reinforcement was matched on a trial-by-trial basis by extending the duration of the FI to match the DRO schedule that preceded it. Of 12 pigeons, 6 preferred the DRO schedule over the FI schedule and 6 did not show a schedule preference. Those that were indifferent between the schedules had acquired the contingences, as they responded appropriately to the two schedules but had a spatial preference stronger than their schedule preference. Individual differences in the preference of the pigeons may be related to their behavior during the DRO.

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