Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 92-105)

The operant level of inappropriate behavior was obtained for six students in a non-academic grade nine class receiving an individualized program of instruction in mathematics and science. Two conditions, educational structure and praising appropriate behavior while ignoring inappropriate behavior, were introduced successively. Both procedures reduced inappropriate behavior with five subjects. When a token reinforcement program, using back-up reinforcers readily available in the school, was introduced in conjunction with the conditions of educational structures and praising and ignoring; dramatic decline in the emission of inappropriate responses occurred with all six subjects. Withdrawal of the token program, leaving Educational structure and praising and ignoring in effect, resulted in an increase of inappropriate behavior with five subjects. The token program was reintroduced in conjunction with contingency contracts. The result was a decline of inappropriate behavior below the mean of the first token phase for all subjects. Tokens were thinned during the second token phase leaving back-up reinforcers, teacher-praise and attention, and the completion of contracts in effect. Data obtained during follow-up indicated that the thinning procedure was effective with no subsequent increase in behavior for any subject. The token program, utilized during one of the four blocks in the school time table, appeared to reduce absenteeism. Further evidence that appropriate behavior did generalize to other classes. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

One hundred and forty four college subjects were divided into twelve groups on the basis of the score on a measure of need for social approval (high and low) and a measure of connotative meaning of the concept 'hippie’ (positive, negative, and neutral). By instituting two reinforcement conditions in a Taffel type of verbal conditioning task, these twelve groups of subjects were positively reinforced on a 100% reinforcement schedule, either congruently or lncongruently with their initial meaning of hippie (2 x 2 x 3 factorial design). The reinforcing stimulus was the experimenter's saying "Good" or "Fine" for a negative or positive description of hippie, depending upon the reinforcement conditions. It was hypothesized that subjects with a high need for social approval would show a greater conditioning performance than subjects with a low need for social approval. It was also hypothesized that subjects who received reinforcement congruently with their meaning of hippie would show a greater increase in the conditioning performance than subjects who received reinforcement lncongruently with their meaning of hippie. The data showed that there was no systematic difference in the conditioning performance between subjects with a high and low need for social approval as measured by the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. In addition, the need variable did not significantly interact either with the meaning, the reinforcement condition, or the block level of the conditioning trials. However, subjects who were reinforced congruently with their meaning of hippie showed significantly greater increase in the conditioning performance as compared to those who were reinforced incongruently with their meaning of hippie. In fact, subjects who received incongruent reinforcement failed to demonstrate any consistent changes in the rate of response emission during the conditioning period. Subjects with a neutral meaning of hippie showed a conditioning performance greater than the incongruently reinforced groups, but less than the congruently reinforced groups in both reinforcement conditions. The results were interpreted as indicating the importance of the condition under which subjects receive reinforcement—congruent or incongruent reinforcement—in determining responsivity toward socially reinforcing stimuli. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Sutherland, Mackintosh, and Wolfe (1965) demonstrated that continuous reinforcement given subsequent to partial reinforcement resulted in superior resistance to extinction than did continuous reinforcement administered prior to partial reinforcement. Because the experimenters did not make compensations for different acquisition asymptotes in their analysis of the extinction data, the interpretation of their results is questionable. Thelos and McGinnis (1967) obtained results contrary to those obtained by the latter experimenters. This study was run in order to obtain additional information pertaining to the effects of shifts of reinforcement schedules on resistance to extinction. Extended acquisition trials were used with the expectation of bringing the six experimental groups up to the same terminal asymptotic levels. When Ss were approximately 45 days old, Ss were randomly assigned to one of six acquisition conditions. These conditions were: 96 partial reinforcement trials, 192 partial reinforcement trials, 96 partial reinforcement trials followed by 96 continuous reinforcement trials, 96 continuous reinforcement trials followed by 96 partial reinforcement trials, 192 continuous reinforcement trials, and 96 continuous reinforcement trials. Following training in a straight runway, all Ss received 60 nonreward trials given in blocks of 6 trials a day. Time measures were taken of runway performance on acquisition and extinction trials. The results supported the hypothesis that extended training would produce equivalent terminal asymptotic running speeds in acquisition. None of the hypotheses made by Sutherland, Mackintosh, and Wolfe (1965) or by Thelos and McGinnis (1967) were supported by the results of the experiment; no significant partial reinforcement effect was obtained. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Important advancements have been made in the identification of reinforcers over the past decade. The use of preference assessments has become a systematic way to identify preferred events that may function as reinforcers for an individual's behavior. Typically, preference assessments require participants to select stimuli through verbal surveys or engagement with stimuli as preferred or non-preferred. Not all studies go on to directly test the effects of the preferred stimuli, and even fewer studies directly test for the effects of the non- preferred stimuli. The present study systematically identified preferred and non-preferred stimuli in adult human subjects by verbal report and then proceeded to test the effects of both verbally reported preferred and non preferred events on single and concurrent schedules of reinforcement. The results are discussed in terms of contemporary concerns regarding preference and reinforcer assessments.

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