Alternate Title

Social vs. non-social ephemeral conditioned reinforcers

Advisor(s)

D. Daniel Gould

Contributor(s)

Karen E. Gould, William L. Holcomb

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

7-2011

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Applied Behavior Analysis

Department or Academic Unit

Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology.

Keywords

psychology, behavioral, autism, conditioned, ephemeral, non-social, reinforcers, social

Subject Categories

Reinforcement (Psychology)

Disciplines

Cognitive Psychology

Abstract

A preference assessment was conducted to identify highly preferred edible stimuli, followed by a reinforcer assessment to verify that the highly preferred edible stimuli functioned as reinforcers. The reinforcer assessment also evaluated the reinforcing properties of social ephemeral stimuli (verbal praise) and a non-social ephemeral stimulus (TAG). A pairing procedure was then evaluated to determine if social ephemeral and/or non-social ephemeral stimuli could be successfully conditioned as positive reinforcers. Three children diagnosed with autism participated in the study. The initial reinforcer assessment verified that neither praise nor TAG functioned as reinforcers. Results of a post-pairing reinforcer probe indicated that the pairing procedure was unsuccessful in establishing or strengthening social ephemeral and non-social ephemeral stimuli as conditioned reinforcers for two of the three participants.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights Holder

Michael E. Insalata


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