Bobby Newman

THE EFFECTS OF SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT ON INSTRUCTION FOLLOWING

The present study is a mixed design that examines instruction following, with the accuracy of instructions varied across phases within subjects and the schedule of reinforcement varied across six groups. A choice experiment was conducted in which subjects were provided with instructions that varied systematically in their accuracy. Across phases, the accuracy of instructions (expressed in percentages) was either 0-50-100-50-0 or 100-50-0-50-100. Across groups, the schedule of reinforcement was one of the following: continuous, Fixed Ratio 2, or Fixed Ratio 3. With continuous reinforcement, subjects showed collateral consequence control and either followed or disobeyed instructions, in keeping with the predictions of reinforcement theory. When the schedule of reinforcement was leaned, however, insensitivity was observed. The implications of the results for the controversies regarding the concept of rule-governed behavior are discussed.

Self-management of varied responding in three students with autism

One of the aspects of autism that is often held up as a hallmark of the disorder is a desire for sameness. Students with autism often show a marked lack of variability in language and play skills. The same behavioral patterns are repeated perseveratively, rather than attempting new patterns. In the current study, students diagnosed with autism were taught to self-manage varied responding. Using a multiple baseline design, three children with autism were taught to self-monitor and then to self-manage in order to increase variability in play and social language. All three students demonstrated marked increases in variability during self-management phases. These gains were maintained at one month follow-up. Copyright

Self-management of a DRO procedure by three students with autism

Three students with autism were taught to self-manage a DRO program to reduce their disruptive behavior. During baseline conditions, all students showed high rates of disruptive behavior (either out-of-seat or nail-flicking). Students were taught to self-manage a DRO program during external reinforcement and prompted self-management conditions. Student gains were maintained during unprompted self-management and follow-up conditions. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of schedules of reinforcement on instruction-following in human subjects with verbal and nonverbal stimuli

The experiment reported here represents a partial replication of an experiment by Newman, Buffington, and Hemmes (in press) and analyzes responding in college students as a function of three different schedules of reinforcement (FR 1, FR 2, FR 3) and either verbal discriminative stimuli (instructions) or nonverbal discriminative stimuli (different colored cards). All consequences (tokens) were based on behavior consistent either with the verbal discriminative stimulus (SD) or with the nonverbal SD. The schedule of reinforcement varied across subjects, and accuracy of the verbal and nonverbal SDs varied across phases from. Results showed that the behavior of all continuous reinforcement (FR 1) subjects was sensitive to the accuracy of the verbal SDs, but the behavior of subjects in the nonverbal SD conditions showed more sensitivity than the behavior of subjects in verbal conditions under intermittent schedules (FR 2 and FR 3). These findings suggest that the behavior of subjects in experiments where instructions are sometimes pitted against actual contingencies of reinforcement is a function not only of the instruction, but also of the type of reinforcement schedule used.

Self-management of Initiations by Students Diagnosed with Autism

During prebaseline observations, three students diagnosed with autism were unable to make social initiations to another individual. The ability to make initiations would be considered a “pivotal response” in that it would allow an individual to come into contact with a wide variety of social reinforcement. A multiplebaseline design was implemented to measure the effects of a using a self-management package to teach the students to make social initiations. Two interventionists worked with each student to prompt and reinforce initiations. All students acquired social initiations during externally-determined reinforcement. The initiations were maintained when reinforcement changed from externally determined to a self-management system. The prompts to initiate and self-reinforce were faded over the course of the sessions. The use of self-management by the student led to less need for staff intervention. Implications from the literature are discussed.

Why be moral: Humanist and behavioral perspectives.

Students of philosophy have struggled with the question, “Why should I be moral?” Many diverse theorists have constructed elaborate logical arguments that explain why people in general should behave morally, but have had difficulty explaining why any given individual, safe from detection or retribution, should behave in a moral fashion. To avoid this problem, the notion of a supernatural deity (one who is always watching and thus removes the notion of nondetection and nonretribution) has been introduced by numerous thinkers. Philosophical systems that pride themselves on being based only on natural phenomena, however, can make no such recourse (leading to the charge, particularly from the religious, that without a god concept there can be no morality). Naturalistic humanists and behavior analysts are two groups who have found themselves unable to invoke a deity and thus face the question “Why should I behave morally?” Parallel attempts from both camps will be described and analyzed, with the conclusion being drawn that although such naturalists may not be better off than their more religious friends, they are certainly no worse off.

Teaching Deception Skills in a Game-Play Context to Three Adolescents with Autism

Baron-Cohen (1992) found that students with autism are impaired in their ability to deceive. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was conceptualized to test the hypothesis that such students could be taught to deceive. Two conditions were presented in baseline and treatment phases. In Condition 1, the student guessed in which hand a small object was hidden when the experimenter presented two closed fists. In Condition 2, the student hid the object and presented two closed fists to the experimenter for a guess. Reinforcement was delivered contingently upon independent guessing during Condition 1 in both baseline and treatment phases. Under Condition 2, reinforcement was delivered noncontingently during the baseline phase and contingently upon successive approximations to the target behavior of deception during the treatment phase. All students displayed the acquisition of at least three of the responses included in the deception response during the baseline phase, and two students showed an erratic acquisition of the total skill during the baseline phase. Results indicate that students with autism can learn to deceive, even without formal intensive training.

Is a Reasonable Attempt Reasonable? Shaping Versus Reinforcing Verbal Attempts of Preschoolers with Autism

The effectiveness of a language-training procedure that emphasized reinforcing vocal “reasonable attempts” (any response directed at an interventionist and within a broader class of correct responses) was compared with a procedure that emphasized shaping (reinforcing successive approximations that more closely resembled the target vocalization). Three preschoolers who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders participated in the study. Data indicated that the children mastered vocal skills more rapidly when they learned through shaping than in the reasonable attempts condition. Implications for teaching children with autism spectrum disorders are discussed.

Pavlovian conditioning of the tickle response of human subjects : temporal and delay conditioning

Previous studies of the human response to a tickle have demonstrated that subjects will respond to a gesture that signals the onset of a tickle in the same way as to a tickle. Researchers have described this anticipatory response as an “expectation.” In the current study, we investigated, from the Pavlovian framework, the response to a verbal stimulus preceding the tickle stimulus. We exposed subjects to experimental phases which included the Neutral Stimulus Alone, 100% Pairing of the Neutral and Unconditioned Stimuli (tickle strokes to the foot), Random Presentation, Partial (75%) Reinforcement, and Temporal Conditioning. Pavlovian conditioning was observed in all phases, suggesting a parsimonious explanation for the expectation effect described by others.

Answering Objections to Self-Management and Related Concepts

In this paper the authors report on the early development of a cultural entity—Walden Fellowship, Inc.— which was established “to explore and encourage the development of behavior and cultural practices which maximize reinforcement and minimize coercion over the long term for all persons in a manner consistent with the survival of the human and other species.” This voluntary organization maintains three primary streams of activity: self-education, consultation services, and cultural design research in the wider community. A major goal toward which involvement in all of these converge is the development of a mutually reinforcing social and verbal community among participants. Unlike an earlier paper in which this organization was conceptualized, this article is not fictional.