Martens B K, Houk J L
Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, New York 13244-2340.
J Exp Anal Behav. 1989 Jan;51(1):17-27. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1989.51-17.
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate Herrnstein's law of effect as a description of socially significant behavior in an applied setting. The subject was an 18-year-old retarded girl with a history of autistic-like and aggressive behavior. Using a baseline design for two response classes and stimulus conditions, eight categories of subject and staff behavior were monitored over a 3-week period. A computerized observation system, developed for use in the present investigation, was used to obtain real-time durations of the behavior categories alone and in combination. Overlapping durations of teacher and subject behavior were then correlated to yield approximations to a functional definition of reinforcement. Plots of behavior by contingent reinforcement revealed a hyperbolic relationship for each response class, the shape of which varied as a function of extraneous reinforcement r0. In addition, estimated parameters in Herrnstein's equation did not differ significantly from those obtained through independent observation. Finally, Herrnstein's equation accounted for an average 63% of variance in response allocation. Results are discussed in terms of the relevance of matching-law theory to behavior in applied settings.
本研究的目的是评估赫尔斯坦的效果律，将其作为对应用场景中具有社会意义行为的一种描述。研究对象是一名18岁的智障女孩，有类似自闭症和攻击性行为的病史。采用针对两种反应类别和刺激条件的基线设计，在3周时间内对八类对象和工作人员的行为进行了监测。为本次调查开发的计算机化观察系统，用于单独和组合获取行为类别的实时时长。然后将教师和对象行为的重叠时长进行关联，以得出强化功能定义的近似值。由偶然强化得出的行为图显示，每个反应类别都呈双曲线关系，其形状随无关强化r0而变化。此外，赫尔斯坦方程中的估计参数与通过独立观察获得的参数没有显著差异。最后，赫尔斯坦方程平均解释了反应分配中63%的方差。根据匹配律理论与应用场景中行为的相关性对结果进行了讨论。
