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How should periods without social interaction be scheduled? Children's preference for practical schedules of positive

Kevin C Luczynski1, Gregory P Hanley

  • 1University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute.

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
|June 4, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Children prefer practical reinforcement schedules, choosing a multiple schedule over delayed or noncontingent reinforcement. This indicates a preference for contingent reinforcement in social interaction settings.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Child Development
  • Reinforcement Schedules

Background:

  • Previous research indicates children prefer contingent reinforcement (CR) over noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) when continuous reinforcement is used.
  • However, children's preferences for practical CR schedules have not been extensively evaluated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess children's preferences for different practical schedules of social interaction.
  • To identify the variables influencing these preferences.

Main Methods:

  • Study 1: Assessed preference of 5 children for social interaction via a multiple schedule, a delayed reinforcement schedule, and an NCR schedule.
  • Study 2: Evaluated controlling variables for one child's preference for the multiple schedule.

Main Results:

  • The multiple schedule resulted in the most efficient responding.
  • Children generally preferred the multiple schedule and avoided the delayed and NCR schedules.
  • A strong positive contingency was identified as the primary variable influencing preference for the multiple schedule.

Conclusions:

  • Children prefer multiple schedules for arranging practical social interaction, demonstrating a preference for contingent reinforcement.
  • The efficiency and clear contingency of the multiple schedule are key factors in children's choices.

Keywords:
choiceconcurrent-chains schedulecontingent reinforcementdelayed reinforcementmultiple schedulenoncontingent reinforcementpreference

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