Howie P M, Woods C L
J Appl Behav Anal. 1982 Spring;15(1):55-64. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1982.15-55.
The value of token reinforcement in the instatement and shaping of fluency was examined in an intensive treatment program for adult stutterers. Experiment 1 examined the effect of removing the tangible back-up reinforcers for the token system and found that clients' performance in the program was equally good with or without these back-up reinforcers, suggesting that a strict token economy may not be crucial to rapid progress through treatment. Experiment 2 compared contingent and noncontingent taken reinforcement, while controlling for some variables that may have confounded the results of earlier research, and found no difference in clients' performance. Experiment 3 examined the effect of the entire removal of token reinforcement. Performance was found to be no worse under a "no tokens" system than under a system of tokens with back-up reinforcers. It is argued that in a highly structured treatment program where many other reinforcers are operating, token reinforcement may be largely redundant. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
在一项针对成年口吃者的强化治疗项目中，研究了代币强化在流畅性确立和塑造方面的价值。实验1检验了去除代币系统中实物强化物的效果，发现无论有无这些强化物，客户在项目中的表现都同样出色，这表明严格的代币经济对于治疗中的快速进展可能并非至关重要。实验2在控制了一些可能混淆早期研究结果的变量的同时，比较了有条件和无条件的代币强化，发现客户的表现没有差异。实验3检验了完全去除代币强化的效果。结果发现，在“无代币”系统下的表现并不比有实物强化物的代币系统下更差。有人认为，在一个有许多其他强化物起作用的高度结构化治疗项目中，代币强化可能在很大程度上是多余的。讨论了这些发现的临床和理论意义。
