Rost Kristen A
Troy University.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2018 Sep;110(2):201-212. doi: 10.1002/jeab.449. Epub 2018 Jul 1.
Under concurrent-chains schedules of reinforcement, participants often prefer situations that allow selection among alternatives (free choice) to situations that do not (forced choice). The present experiment examined the effects of reinforcement probability on choice preferences. Preferences for free versus forced choice were measured under a condition in which participants' choices were always reinforced (reinforcement probability of 1.0) and a condition in which outcomes were uncertain (reinforcement probability of 0.5). Forty-four college students participated and preferences were examined under a concurrent-chains schedule of reinforcement. Participants preferred free choice under uncertain reinforcement, but a bias toward free choice was not observed when reinforcement was certain. These results align with previous findings of preference for free choice under conditions of uncertainty, but suggest that preference may be dependent upon probabilistic reinforcement contingencies in the terminal links of the concurrent-chains arrangement. Thus, reinforcement probability is an important variable to consider when conducting similar studies on the value of choice.
在并发链强化程序安排下，参与者通常更喜欢允许在多种选择中进行挑选的情况（自由选择），而不是没有这种选择的情况（强制选择）。本实验研究了强化概率对选择偏好的影响。在参与者的选择总是得到强化的条件下（强化概率为1.0）以及结果不确定的条件下（强化概率为0.5），测量了对自由选择与强制选择的偏好。44名大学生参与了实验，并在并发链强化程序安排下对偏好进行了研究。在强化不确定时，参与者更喜欢自由选择，但在强化确定时未观察到对自由选择的偏好倾向。这些结果与先前在不确定条件下对自由选择偏好的研究结果一致，但表明偏好可能取决于并发链安排终端环节中的概率性强化条件。因此，在对选择价值进行类似研究时，强化概率是一个需要考虑的重要变量。
