title: The application of Herrnstein's law of effect to disruptive and on-task behavior of a retarded adolescent girl.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, New York 13244-2340.
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Houk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012931:Social Environment