Greer R Douglas, Singer-Dudek Jessica
Box 76, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2008 Jan;89(1):15-29. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2008.89-15.
We report an experiment in which observations of peers by six 3-5-year-old participants under specific conditions functioned to convert a small plastic disc or, for one participant, a small piece of string, from a nonreinforcer to a reinforcer. Prior to the observational procedure, we compared each participant's responding on (a) previously acquired performance tasks in which the child received either a preferred food item or the disc (string) for correct responses, and (b) the acquisition of new repertoires in which the disc (string) was the consequence for correct responses. Verbal corrections followed incorrect responses in the latter tasks. The results showed that discs and strings did not reinforce correct responses in the performance tasks, but the food items did; nor did the discs and strings reinforce correct responses in learning new repertoires. We then introduced the peer observation condition in which participants engaged in a different performance task in the presence of a peer who also performed the task. A partition blocked the participants from seeing the peers' performance. However, participants could observe peers receiving discs or strings. Participants did not receive discs or strings regardless of their performance. Peer observation continued until the participants either requested discs or strings repeatedly, or attempted to take discs or strings from the peers. Following the peer observation condition, the same performance and acquisition tasks in which participants had engaged prior to observation were repeated. The results showed that the discs and strings now reinforced correct responding for both performance and acquisition for all participants. We discuss the results with reference to research involving nonhuman subjects that demonstrated the observational conditioning of reinforcers.
我们报告了一项实验，在该实验中，六名3至5岁的参与者在特定条件下对同伴的观察起到了作用，将一个小塑料圆盘，或者对一名参与者来说是一小段绳子，从非强化物转变为强化物。在观察程序之前，我们比较了每个参与者在以下两种情况下的反应：(a) 在之前习得的表现任务中，孩子因正确反应而获得一份喜爱的食物或圆盘（绳子）；(b) 在新技能的习得中，圆盘（绳子）是正确反应的结果。在后者的任务中，错误反应后会有言语纠正。结果表明，圆盘和绳子在表现任务中不能强化正确反应，但食物可以；在学习新技能时，圆盘和绳子也不能强化正确反应。然后，我们引入了同伴观察条件，参与者在一名同样执行任务的同伴面前参与一项不同的表现任务。一个隔板挡住了参与者观看同伴的表现。然而，参与者可以观察到同伴获得圆盘或绳子。无论参与者的表现如何，他们都不会得到圆盘或绳子。同伴观察持续进行，直到参与者要么反复索要圆盘或绳子，要么试图从同伴那里拿走圆盘或绳子。在同伴观察条件之后，重复参与者在观察之前所参与的相同表现和习得任务。结果表明，现在圆盘和绳子对所有参与者的表现和习得中的正确反应都起到了强化作用。我们参照涉及非人类受试者的研究来讨论这些结果，这些研究证明了强化物的观察性条件作用。
