Cheryl L. Ecott & Thomas S. Critchfield (2004).
Noncontingent reinforcement, alternative reinforcement, and the matching law: A laboratory demonstration.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
37, 249-265.
Basic researchers, but not most applied researchers, have assumed that the behavior-decelerating
effects of noncontingent reinforcement result at least partly from adventitious reinforcement of
competing behaviors. The literature contains only sketchy evidence of these effects because few
noncontingent reinforcement studies measure alternative behaviors. A laboratory model is
presented in which concurrent schedules of contingent reinforcement were used to establish a
“target” and an “alternative” behavior. Imposing noncontingent reinforcement decreased target
behavior rates and increased alternative behavior rates, outcomes that were well described by the
standard quantitative account of alternative reinforcement, the generalized matching law. These
results suggest that adventitious reinforcement of alternative behaviors can occur during
noncontingent reinforcement interventions, although the range of conditions under which this
occurs remains to be determined in future studies. As an adjunct to applied studies, laboratory
models permit easy measurement of alternative behaviors and parametric manipulations needed
to answer many research questions.
DESCRIPTORS: adventitious reinforcement, alternative reinforcement, college students, noncontingent reinforcement, response-independent reinforcement