We examined the claim that equivalence classes contain all positive elements in a reinforcement contingency by asking whether negative stimuli in a reinforcement contingency will also form an equivalence class, based on their shared function as S-minus stimuli. In Experiment 1, 5 subjects were tested for equivalence for positive and negative stimuli. Testing of positive stimuli preceded testing of negative stimuli. Two of five subjects demonstrated equivalence for positive stimuli, and three subjects demonstrated equivalence for negative stimuli. In Experiment 2, order of testing was reversed. Four of six subjects demonstrated equivalence for positive stimuli, and none demonstrated equivalence for negative stimuli. In Experiment 3, positive and negative stimuli were tested together. Only one of five subject demonstrated equivalence for positive and negative stimuli. These data suggest that negative stimuli may enter an equivalence class, and so Sidman paradigm should be expanded. Order of testing was found as a meaningful variable.

The effects of two consequence delivery methods on task acquisition were evaluated within a multi-element design. A typical 3 year-old child and a 4 year-old child with autism participated in this study. The task for both children was to select a picture after the experimenter said its name. The consequence in one condition consisted of the experimenter handing the edible item to the children. The consequence in the other condition consisted of the children retrieving the edible item directly from the apparatus, located in a crevice underneath each picture. Results show slightly quicker acquisition in the condition where children retrieved the edible consequence. However, it is possible that other variables had greater influence on the task acquisition.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) refers to direct and deliberate damage of one’s bodily tissue without the intent to die. Although NSSI abates over time for most young people, 8-32% of those with a history of NSSI exhibit a severe pattern of engagement characterized by high or increasing NSSI frequency (i.e., number of episodes) and versatility (i.e., number of methods). Unfortunately, despite these markers of NSSI severity conferring risk for psychosocial dysfunction and suicidal behaviour, the mechanisms that explain why NSSI increases in frequency or versatility are poorly understood. Behavioural models of NSSI propose that experiencing desirable emotional and social consequences following NSSI is a key mechanism that increases the intensity/strength of the behaviour. Yet, behavioural models of NSSI do not specify whether experiencing more desirable consequences relative to other people (i.e., between-person) or experiencing more desirable consequences relative to one’s own average (i.e., within-person) more strongly predicts future NSSI severity. To address this gap in theory, the present study investigated the influence of between- and within-person desirable NSSI consequences on the frequency and versatility of NSSI over four lags spaced three months apart. 210 adolescents and adults (93.81% female, Mage = 22.95 [SD = 7.17]) with a history of NSSI were recruited from NSSI communities on social networking websites and completed self-report surveys assessing the desirable consequences, frequency, and versatility of NSSI every three months for one year. At the within-person level, time-lagged hierarchical linear models revealed that experiencing more desirable emotional consequences following NSSI at TimeT, relative to one’s own average, was unrelated to NSSI frequency at TimeT+1, but predicted a rise in NSSI versatility at TimeT+1. Conversely, experiencing more desirable social consequences following NSSI at TimeT, relative to one’s own average, predicted a decrease in NSSI frequency at TimeT+1, but was unrelated to NSSI versatility at TimeT+1. At the between-person level, neither desirable emotional consequences nor desirable social consequences of NSSI predicted NSSI frequency or versatility during the study. While only partially consistent with behavioural models of NSSI, these results suggest that: (1) desirable emotional and social consequences of NSSI exert opposing influences on NSSI severity, (2) within-person increases in desirable emotional consequences of NSSI portend periods of elevated NSSI risk, and (3) empirical tests of behavioural models of NSSI should consider not only how many times but how many ways a person self-injures. By enhancing our understanding of why some individuals persistently self-injure, this study provides a springboard for refining behavioural models of NSSI, advancing longitudinal research on the contingencies that maintain self-injury, and ameliorating intervention efforts that draw on the principle of operant conditioning to reduce NSSI. / Graduate

Self injurious behavior (SIB), such as self-biting and head-banging, has been reported to occur in approximately 10% of captive, individually housed primates (Novak, Kinsely, Jorgensen, and Hazen, 1998). Accounts of the causes of SIB range from environmental to physiological. However, to date, no researchers have investigated the possible influence of social consequences, delivered by handlers and keepers, in the maintenance of SIB. There is only one research report showing that self-injury can be shaped in primates by the manipulation of food as a reinforcing consequence for the animal's behavior. The current study investigated the effects of social contact as potentially reinforcing consequences for the SIB displayed by an olive baboon (Papio hamadryas anubis). Results indicated that the behavior was maintained by attention from humans. As treatment, reinforcement was arranged for an appropriate alternative attention-getting behavior, resulting in increases in the appropriate alternative behavior and decreases in SIB.

The present study examined operant extinction in a controlled setting using a human operant paradigm. Participants watched a preferred video. During the video, either the video or audio portion of the video was selectively removed, on average every 15 s. Participants could restore the video by pressing a force transducer. In one group, relatively low forces were required (250 g) and in the other relatively high forces were required (750 g). At the 20th and 30th minute during the session, the video or audio was removed but the participants could not restore the component for 30 s. The results showed that responding during the probe increased relative to 30-s periods prior and following the probe, characteristic of an extinction burst. The results also showed that overall we saw increases in force under high force conditions during extinction when presses no longer produced sound or video, and force changed little during the low force conditions. We conclude that extinction bursts are a robust phenomenon that can be demonstrated in humans. Additionally, the topographies, i.e. force, established during baseline and the modality of the consequence appear to be two variables determining the short-term course of extinction.

Three severely developmentally delayed institutionalized adolescent individuals were treated for severe self-injurious behavior over a three month period. Treatment consisted of positive practice overcorrection, restraint delivered as a reinforcer for an absence of self-injury, and increased interaction during task training sessions. Treatment was faded for two of the individuals in successive steps involving decreased restraint and interaction. Self-injurious behavior was reduced in all cases. Prosocial behaviors increased with reductions in self-injurious behavior.

Studies have shown that operant procedures can be successfully used in physical rehabilitation. This study was an attempt to develop standing and walking behaviors in a 47-year old male who was confined to a wheelchair. A multiple baseline design across settings was used to demonstrate the effects of verbal, physical and edible reinforcers on three sub-behaviors of standing. The first two sub-behaviors were trained and training had begun on the third sub-behavior when the study was abruptly terminated. Thus, no training sessions for walking took place.

In recent years, behavioral approaches for the treatment of essential hypertension have received considerable research attention. Biofeedback and relaxation training have been the behavioral treatments most often used for lowering high blood pressure. The present study compared the separate use of EMG and skin temperature biofeedback in treating essential hypertension, with a combined approach utilizing both types of feedback. Twenty-one hyper- tensive subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions: (a) EMG biofeedback, (b) skin temperature biofeedback, or (c) both EMG and skin temperature biofeedback. In addition, a control group consisting of patients randomly chosen from a local cardiology clinic was utilized. After an eight week treatment period, a statistically significant pretest-posttest main effect was found for treatment groups for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, there was no significant difference between the three treatment groups. The results did yield a significant interaction effect in comparing the treatment groups to the control group for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure reductions.

Two subjects exhibiting drug-induced hand tremor received EMG feedback from electrode sites above the forearm extensor muscles . EMG feedback resulted in reductions in muscle potentials for both subjects. However, self-report measures of tremor severity showed only general improvement in Subject l and little or no improvement in Subject 2. Behavioral measures of hand steadiness taken immediately after each treatment session showed slight changes across treatment conditions for both subjects. As indicated by a rapid increase in EMG measures during reversal, treatment effects appear transitory.

This investigation is concerned with demonstrating the effects of an easily managed classroom contingency-management treatment package on increasing arithmetic performance while decreasing disruptive behavior for whole classes of students. The study proposed, among other things, that programs differ in the degree to which each student must depend upon other students for reinforcement