Borrero, J. C., Vollmer, T. R., & Wright, C. S. (2002).
An evaluation of contingency strength and response suppression.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
35, 337-347.
Typically, functional analyses of severe problem behavior have
been conducted in two ways: (a) The target response is reinforced
immediately after it occurs, or (b) the target response is
reinforced on some schedule thought to mimic a naturally
occurring schedule. We evaluated the effects of contingency
strength in reducing levels of problem behavior with 2
participants who had been diagnosed with developmental
disabilities. Results showed that under a neutral contingency,
one in which the probability of reinforcement for aggression was
equal to the probability of reinforcement for the nonoccurrence
of aggression, rates of aggression were suppressed to low levels
for both participants.
DESCRIPTORS: _contingency, contingency strength, functional
analysis, aggression