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Instructions, multiple schedules, and extinction: Distinguishing rule-governed from schedule-controlled behavior
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|September 1, 1986
Summary
This study investigated schedule sensitivity in college students. Rule-governed behavior, even when seemingly schedule-sensitive, may not truly adapt to reinforcement schedules without genuine contingency awareness.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral psychology
- Experimental analysis of behavior
Background:
- Schedule sensitivity is typically studied using multiple schedules or post-steady-state schedule changes.
- The role of instructions in shaping schedule-sensitive behavior requires further clarification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effects of multiple schedules versus extinction procedures on schedule sensitivity.
- To examine how varying instructions influence schedule-sensitive responding under different reinforcement schedules.
Main Methods:
- Fifty-five college students participated in a study involving a multiple fixed-ratio 18/differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 6-s schedule.
- Participants underwent sessions with varying instructions (none, slow, rapid, both) and an extinction phase.
Main Results:
- Schedule sensitivity observed in the multiple schedule was minimal in extinction when instructions were minimal or inaccurate.
- Apparent schedule sensitivity in the multiple schedule did not consistently transfer to extinction if responding was rule-governed.
Conclusions:
- Rule-governed behavior mimicking schedule sensitivity may not be truly sensitive to reinforcement contingencies.
- Genuine schedule sensitivity requires responding to the actual contingencies, not just following experimenter-provided rules.
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