DYNAMIC CHANGES IN REINFORCER EFFECTIVENESS: THEORETICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

Reinforcers lose their effectiveness when they are presented repeatedly. Traditionally, this loss of effectiveness has been labeled satiation. However, recent evidence suggests that habituation provides a more accurate and useful description. The characteristics of behavior undergoing satiation diff...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied behavior analysis 2003, Vol.36 (4), p.421-438
Main Authors: Murphy, Eric S., McSweeney, Frances K., Smith, Richard G., McComas, Jennifer J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animals
Applied Behavior Analysis
applied research
Behavior modification
Behavior Therapy - methods
Behavioral sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Conditioning
establishing operations
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Habituation
Habituation, Psychophysiologic
Human
Humans
Learning. Memory
Motivation
Psychology, Applied - methods
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
reinforcement
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Satiation
Social research
Stimuli
terminology
Token Economy
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Reinforcers lose their effectiveness when they are presented repeatedly. Traditionally, this loss of effectiveness has been labeled satiation. However, recent evidence suggests that habituation provides a more accurate and useful description. The characteristics of behavior undergoing satiation differ for different stimuli (e.g., food, water), and these characteristics have not been identified for the noningestive reinforcers often used by applied behavior analysts (e.g., praise, attention). As a result, the term satiation provides little guidance for either maintaining or reducing the effectiveness of reinforcers. In contrast, the characteristics of behavior undergoing habituation are well known and are relatively general across species and stimuli. These characteristics provide specific and novel guidance about how to maintain or reduce the effectiveness of a reinforcer. In addition, habituation may lead to a better understanding of several puzzling phenomena in the conditioning literature (e.g., extinction, behavioral contrast), and it may provide a more precise and accurate description of the dynamics of many different types of behavior.
ISSN:0021-8855
1938-3703
DOI:10.1901/jaba.2003.36-421