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A Behavioral Economic Analysis of the Demand for Money in Humans

Description: This study investigated the effects of unit price structure, unit price descriptions, and unit price sequence on the demand for money in humans. Six groups of 3 participants solved multiplication problems in exchange for money under various unit prices. Consumption of money decreased as the unit price increased across all conditions. However, the data also showed that: (a) fixed price structures produced slightly more elastic demand than did variable price structures, (b) price descriptions pro… more
Date: December 2000
Creator: Reyes, Jorge R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Behavioral Economic Analysis of the Effects of Unit Price Sequence on Demand for Money in Humans.

Description: Three groups of participants were exposed to different unit price sequences. Unit prices for all groups ranged from unit price 1 to 21. Analyses of demand curves, response rates, session duration, and elasticity coefficients suggest that the sequence of exposure to unit prices can affect the elasticity of demand. In addition, the size of unit price contrast, direction of unit price change, and proximity to experimental milestones also may affect the consumption of monetary reinforcers.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Williams, Jack Keith
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Can Analyzing Infant Imitation in the Natural Environment Inform Interventions in Autism?

Description: A longitudinal study of infants and their mothers was conducted to explore the development of imitation and approximations to imitation. During a 10-minute unstructured play session, researchers observed two mother-infant dyads once per week for twelve weeks, while they played at home. The data presented represents infants between the ages 5 and 34 weeks. The methodology employed was based on the methods described by Hart and Rilsey (1999). Observations were coded based on the topography of the… more
Date: May 2009
Creator: Waltenburg, Carley
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Can Longitudinal Observations of Infant Joint Attention Inform Infant Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders?

Description: Infants 5-34 weeks of age were observed in their homes playing with their mothers as part of a longitudinal study. Two mother-infant dyads were observed once per week for twelve weeks, during a ten-minute play session. The purpose of the observation system is to describe contingencies leading to the development of attention-seeking behaviors in typically developing infants. Observations were coded using a type-based format (person engagement, object engagement, supported joint engagement, coord… more
Date: May 2009
Creator: Suchomel, Nicole G.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Captive Animal Activity Tracking System: A Systematic Method for the Continuous Evaluation of Captive Animal Welfare.

Description: Optimal animal welfare has been a long-term goal for captive animal institutions. To measure welfare a definition and identification of elements that make up welfare need to be established. Further, a method to measure welfare's elements that can be implemented into staff's daily routine is necessary to establish baseline levels and track changes in welfare. The goal of the proposed captive animal activity tracking system is to allow for the measurement of each element of welfare quickly, while… more
Date: December 2009
Creator: Kalafut, Kathryn Lynn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Choices in Reinforcer Delivery

Description: The current study consisted of two experiments, both of which were comparisons of choice conditions replicated across four participants. Four typically-developing pre-school children participated in this study. Experiment 1 evaluated participants' preference for choosing consequent stimuli prior to engaging in academic tasks (pre-session choice) versus choosing consequent stimuli each time criterion for reinforcement had been met within the session (within-session choice). In Experiment 2, pref… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Law, Sarah Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Clarifying Variables associated with Problem Behaviors Using Structured Descriptive Assessment

Description: This study evaluated the utility of a structured descriptive assessment (SDA) as an alternative method of functional assessment. Initially, an analogue functional analysis, conducted to assess the problem behavior of two adults with developmental disabilities, produced inconclusive results. Subsequently, SDAs was conducted in the individuals' natural environment with the direct-contact caregivers acting as therapists. This assessment manipulated antecedent variables similarly to the analogue fu… more
Date: August 2005
Creator: McAllister, Amanda Jo
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Comparing a discriminative stimulus procedure to a pairing procedure: Conditioning neutral social stimuli to function as conditioned reinforcers.

Description: Social stimuli that function as reinforcers for most children generally do not function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. These important social stimuli include smiles, head nods, thumb-ups, and okay signs. It should be an important goal of therapy for children with autism to condition these neutral social stimuli to function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. There is empirical evidence to support both a pairing procedure (classical conditioning) and a discrimi… more
Date: December 2009
Creator: Koelker, Rachel Lee
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Comparison of Auditory and Visual Stimuli in a Delayed Matching to Sample Procedure with Adult Humans.

Description: Five humans were exposed to a matching to sample task in which the delay (range = 0 to 32 seconds) between sample stimulus offset and comparison onset was manipulated across conditions. Auditory stimuli (1” tone) and arbitrary symbols served as sample stimuli for three (S1, S2, S3) and two (S4 and S5) subjects, respectively. Uppercase English letters (S, M, and N) served as comparison stimuli for all subjects. Results show small but systematic effects of the retention interval on accuracy and l… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: DeFulio, Anthony L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Comparison of Brief Versus Extended Paired-Choice Preference Assessment Outcomes.

Description: Few studies have systematically evaluated whether preferences can reliably be identified using brief procedures. Typically, studies have used brief procedures to select potential reinforcers for use in intervention procedures. A total of 17 food and leisure paired-choice preference assessments were administered to 10 subjects in order to evaluate the extent to which the results of a brief (i.e., single-session) assessment correspond with those from more extended procedures (i.e., 5 sessions).… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Cason, Caroline Adelaide
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Comparison of Client Attendance, Attrition, and Outcomes in 2 Class System Packages.

Description: Using the principles of systems analysis as a guide, this study compared two class schedule formats used by Behavior Management and Parenting Services (BMAPS) in order to address the following research questions: 1) What effects do 2 different class formats have on student attrition and appointment keeping? 2) What effects do 2 different class formats have on student outcomes on a pre and posttest assessment? 3) What effects do 2 different class formats have on staff procedures? BMAPS provi… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Berends, Valori
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Comparison of Discounting Parameters Obtained Through Two Different Adjusting Procedures: Bisection and Up-Down.

Description: The study compared delay discounting in adult humans using two different methods of adjustments. Both methods used hypothetical choices of monetary outcomes. One involved adjustments using a fixed sequence of ascending or descending amounts, the other used a bisection algorithm in which the changes in amounts varied as a function of the subjects' choices. Two magnitudes of delayed outcomes were used: $1,000 and $10,000. A within subject design was used to compare indifference curves and discoun… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Woelz, Thomas Anatol da Rocha
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Comparison of the Effects of Errorful and Errorless Teaching Methods on the Acquisition, Generalization, and Retention of Letter Sound Discriminations in Young Children.

Description: The present study compared the effects of an errorless stimulus shaping procedure to an errorful fluency based procedure for teaching difficult letter sound discriminations using a counterbalanced multielement experimental design. For 2 participants, letters fsteai were taught using the errorless procedure and letters bpdvou were taught using the errorful procedure. For the other 2 participants the conditions were reversed. All participants had considerably fewer errors and fewer trials to crit… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Doucette, Jessica
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Conditional Discrimination and Stimulus Equivalence: Effects of Suppressing Derived Symmetrical Responses on the Emergence of Transitivity.

Description: Symmetry suppression was conducted for five subjects who demonstrated a tendency to derive equivalence relations based on conditional discrimination training in a match-to-sample procedure. Symmetry suppression was applied in three consecutive sessions in which symmetrical responses were suppressed for one stimulus class in the first condition, two stimulus classes in the second condition, and all three stimulus classes in the final condition. Symmetry suppression slowed the emergence of transi… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Jones, Aaron A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

A Constructional Canine Aggression Treatment: Using a Negative Reinforcement Shaping Procedure With Dogs in Home and Community Settings.

Description: Aggression in dogs is a significant public health concern with 7.2 mortality cases per 100 million inhabitants and approximately 4.7 million dog bites annually. Canine aggression is typically viewed as a genetic trait and treated as pathology through the use of medical or respondent behavioral procedures. In this study the effects of the differential negative reinforcement of safe, alternative behaviors to aggression using distancing as the reinforcer were evaluated. The results demonstrated th… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Snider, Kellie Sisson
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Correspondence Between Verbal Behavior About Reinforcers and Performance Under Schedules of Reinforcement.

Description: Important advancements have been made in the identification of reinforcers over the past decade. The use of preference assessments has become a systematic way to identify preferred events that may function as reinforcers for an individual's behavior. Typically, preference assessments require participants to select stimuli through verbal surveys or engagement with stimuli as preferred or non-preferred. Not all studies go on to directly test the effects of the preferred stimuli, and even fewer st… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Bekker-Pace, Ruthie
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Developing a Function-based Treatment for Problem Behavior Using a Structured Descriptive Assessment.

Description: This study evaluated the utility of structured descriptive assessment (SDA) to generate a hypothesis regarding the operant function of problem behavior when the analogue functional analysis (FA) failed to evoke problem behavior for an adult with developmental disabilities. The effectiveness of interventions based on that hypothesis was evaluated in the natural environment. The SDA succeeded in producing a relatively controlled baseline of problem behavior where the FA and direct observation cou… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Harris, Curtis Joe
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Do Shared S-minus Functions Among Stimuli Lead to Equivalence?

Description: We examined the claim that equivalence classes contain all positive elements in a reinforcement contingency by asking whether negative stimuli in a reinforcement contingency will also form an equivalence class, based on their shared function as S-minus stimuli. In Experiment 1, 5 subjects were tested for equivalence for positive and negative stimuli. Testing of positive stimuli preceded testing of negative stimuli. Two of five subjects demonstrated equivalence for positive stimuli, and three su… more
Date: August 2005
Creator: Kassif-Weiss, Sivan O.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Does Stimulus Complexity Affect Acquisition of Conditional Discriminations and the Emergence of Derived Relations?

Description: Despite the central importance of conditional discriminations to the derivation of equivalence relations, there is little research relating the dynamics of conditional discrimination learning to the derivation of equivalence relations. Prior research has shown that conditional discriminations with simple sample and comparison stimuli are acquired faster than conditional discriminations with complex sample and comparison stimuli. This study attempted to replicate these earlier results and extend… more
Date: December 2009
Creator: Martin, Tiffani L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

Effect of a Stimulus Shaping Procedure on Fluent Letter Sound Acquisition.

Description: Numerous studies have evaluated and confirmed many benefits of errorless learning and fluency-based procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of combining an errorless learning procedure, stimulus shaping, and fluency-based procedures to teach see/say letter sound discriminations to three preschool children. Participants were taught 6 letter sounds using a hear/point stimulus shaping procedure followed by a see/say fluency-based procedure. A second letter set was taught… more
Date: August 2009
Creator: Maxwell, Larisa Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Effect of Response Preclusion on Stereotypy and Play in a Child with Autism.

Description: This study investigates the effectiveness of response preclusion on stereotypic behavior (climbing and licking) and on play for a child with autism. Data were collected on stereotypic responses, play behavior, and the types of play materials the participant contacted. Implementation of response preclusion was followed by both a decrease in stereotypic behavior as well as an increase in play behavior. Play behavior did not return to baseline levels of responding during reversals to baseline, a… more
Date: December 2004
Creator: Delgado, Veronica
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation

The Effects of a Conflicting Instruction on a Fr 5 Performance

Description: The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of a conflicting instruction on FR-5 performances by an ABABC design. After all four college students were consistently pressing 1-5-3 followed by sound-clips, the schedule value changed to FR-5 (A). Then they were presented with the written instruction "Press 426" (B) in addition to the previous condition. In the last condition (C), 1-5-3 responses were then scheduled for extinction in three participants and the reinforcer was changed … more
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Date: May 2001
Creator: Koremura, Yuka
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Effects of a Feedback Package on the Facial Orientation of a Young Girl with Autism During Restricted and Free Operant Conditions

Description: A multiple baseline design across activities and people was used to assess the effectiveness of a feedback package on the facial orientation of a young girl with autism. During baseline, observations indicated low rates of facial orientation and high rates of gaze avoidance during conversation (restricted operant) and play (free operant) conditions. After treatment, facial orientation rates increased and gaze avoidance rates decreased to levels similar to typically-developing peers and maintain… more
Date: August 2000
Creator: Jacobs, Wendy Lynn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
open access

The Effects of a Human Resources Information Technology Intervention on Background Check Processing in a Financial Institution: a Process Level Analysis.

Description: The human resources department of a financial institution implemented a multi-component intervention to replace a paper-based hiring system. Organization-wide impacts included changes in the background check operations. To support changes, training was conducted and procedure manuals distributed. Turn time for background checks decreased, but a combination of factors may be responsible. Other metrics are either inconclusive or suggest a confounding variable, yet quality of work did not suffe… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Mallari, Alexander David
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
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