Derby, K. M., Fisher, W. W., & Piazza, C. C. (1996).
The effects of contingent and noncontingent attention on self-injury and self-restraint.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
29, 107-110.
Self-restraint and self-injurious behavior (SIB) are two
responses that can sometimes be members of the same functional
response class (i.e., maintained by the same contingency). In
such cases, a single treatment should be effective for both
responses. In this investigation, we examined the effects of
providing attention (the presumed reinforcer) both
noncontingently and contingent upon either SIB or self-restraint.
Results were consistent with our hypothesis that both responses
were maintained by attention and suggested that noncontingent
reinforcement was a potentially effective treatment.
DESCRIPTORS: self-restraint, self-injurious behavior,
noncontingent reinforcement