The Effects Of Supplemental Unconditioned And Conditioned Reinforcers On Resistance To Change Of Behavior

There are many variables related to reinforcers that influence a response’s resistance to change (Nevin, 1974). The type of reinforcer (i.e., conditioned or unconditioned) is one variable that may affect a response’s resistance to change. The purpose of this study was to determine if responses would be more resistant to change with conditioned reinforcers as opposed to unconditioned reinforcers when supplemental reinforcement is added on a variable time (VT) schedule. A multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment (DeLeon & Iwata, 1996) was conducted to identify food items that functioned as unconditioned reinforcers for participants aged 4 years old in a school setting. Then, following an initial baseline, where we gave reinforcement on a FR 5 schedule, we utilized a multi-element design to look at the effects of adding supplemental reinforcement using a variable time (VT) schedule. The order of the four different conditions was counterbalanced across participants. The different conditions included: (a) unconditioned reinforcement delivered on a VT 15 s schedule, (b) unconditioned reinforcement delivered on a VT 60 s schedule, (c) conditioned reinforcement delivered on a VT 15 s schedule, and (d) conditioned reinforcement delivered on a VT 60 s schedule. Results of this study showed that reinforcer type as well as reinforcer magnitude may result in differential response rates for some children.