Shirley, M. J., Iwata, B. A., & Kahng, S. (1999).
False-positive maintenance of self-injurious behavior by access to tangible reinforcers.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
32, 201-204.
Results of a functional analysis indicated that the hand mouthing
of a woman with developmental disabilities was maintained by
multiple sources of control (sensory stimulation and access to a
leisure item). Further assessment revealed that access to several
other items also produced high rates of hand mouthing. However,
direct observation conducted in the woman’s home indicated that
none of these items was delivered contingent upon hand mouthing.
When the consequence observed most frequently in the home was
incorporated into the functional analysis, rates of hand mouthing
were no higher than they were during an alone condition. We
concluded that hand mouthing, although maintained by automatic
reinforcement, was also susceptible to social contingencies when
exposed to them during assessment, thereby producing a partially
false-positive outcome.
DESCRIPTORS: functional analysis, incidental reinforcement,
self-injurious behavior