Principal Investigator(s):
Rose Morlino
Grant Type:
Graduate Research
Funding:
2,000
Organization:
University of Georgia
Year Awarded:
2021
Status:
In Progress
Location:
Athens, Georgia
Topics:
Education and School Aged Children
Abstract
Current interventions to decrease problem behavior and increase appropriate behavior often include extinction as a component (e.g., differential reinforcement procedures; Cooper et al., 2020). Although extinction may reduce problem behavior, adverse side effects such as extinction bursts may occur. For dangerous behaviors (e.g., aggression, self-injury), extinction may not be safe or practical. It is then necessary to determine effective treatments that do not include extinction as a component. Without the use of extinction, schedules of reinforcement must be arranged to bias responding toward appropriate behavior. One way to accomplish this is to change the magnitude of reinforcement. This refers to the duration or quantity of the reinforcer (Trosclair-Lasserre et al., 2008). Instead of arbitrarily manipulating reinforcer magnitude, researchers can utilize the behavioral economic concept of unit price. Unit price refers to the ratio between response requirement and reinforcer magnitude (Francisco et al., 2009). Changing this ratio for appropriate behavior and problem behavior may allow researchers to create a schedule of reinforcement that is more favorable for appropriate behavior. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between reinforcement magnitude during concurrent schedules arrangements using the unit price ratio described in behavioral economics to arrange interventions that (a) increase academic behavior, or (b) decrease challenging behavior.
