Advisor(s)

William H. Ahearn

Contributor(s)

Chata Dickson, Jason C. Bourret

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

8-2011

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, automatically maintained behavior, behavioral momentum, motivating operations, stereotypy

Subject Categories

Stereotyped behavior (Psychiatry), Reinforcement (Psychology), Change (Psychology)

Disciplines

Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Child Psychology

Abstract

Ahearn and colleagues (2003) demonstrated an effect predicted via the behavioral momentum metaphor with individuals who engaged in automatically-maintained stereotypic behavior. Rapp (2007) assessed the establishing and abolishing effects of matched and unmatched stimulation on the rates of stereotypic behavior with two participants. In the current study, the persistence of stereotypic behavior was analyzed in terms of behavioral momentum theory (Ahearn et al., 2003) and motivating operations (Rapp, 2007) as it pertains to the response deprivation hypothesis. Participants were four boys with an autism-spectrum diagnosis, who attended the same school and were referred for their excess of stereotypic behavior. During a competing items assessment, stimuli were selected on the basis of whether or not the stimulation produced by engaging with them matched (or did not match) the topography of the stereotypic behavior exhibited by the participants and whether the items competed with stereotypy. Two stimuli were selected for inclusion in the multiple schedule arrangement (one matched and one unmatched). Results varied within and between participants in the demonstration of behavioral persistence and in an analysis of motivating operations. With respect to behavioral momentum metaphor there was no difference between the persistence produced by matched and unmatched stimuli. The obtained motivative effects were not consistent with the response deprivation hypothesis.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights Holder

Sarah Scamihorn


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