Kevin C. Luczynski & Gregory P. Hanley.
Do children prefer contingencies? An evaluation of the efficacy of and preference for contingent versus noncontingent social reinforcement during play.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
42, 511-525.
Discovering whether children prefer reinforcement via a contingency or
independent of their behavior is important considering the ubiquity of these
programmed schedules of reinforcement. The current study evaluated the
efficacy of and preference for social interaction within differential reinforcement
of alternative behavior (DRA) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) schedules
with typically developing children. Results showed that 7 of the 8 children
preferred the DRA schedule; 1 child was indifferent. We also demonstrated a
high degree of procedural fidelity, which suggested that preference is influenced
by the presence of a contingency under which reinforcement can be obtained.
These findings are discussed in terms of (a) the selection of reinforcement
schedules in practice, (b) variables that influence children’s preferences for contexts,
and (c) the selection of experimental control procedures when evaluating the effects
of reinforcement.
DESCRIPTORS: concurrent-chains arrangement, contingency strength, differential reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement, preference assessment