Schedules of reinforcement as determinants of human causality judgments and response rates.
Experiments examined the effect of relationships between a response and an outcome on human judgments of causal effectiveness. In Experiment 1, the time between outcomes obtained on a variable ratio (VR) schedule became the intervals for a yoked variable interval (VI) schedule. Response rates were higher on the VR than on the VI schedule. In Experiment 2, the number of responses required per outcome on a VR schedule were matched to that on a master VI 20-s schedule. Both ratings of causal effectiveness and response rates were higher in the VR schedule. In Experiment 3, tandem VI fixed-ratio (FR) schedules produced higher rates and judgments than equivalent conjunctive VI FR schedule. In Experiment 4, a VI schedule with a reinforcement requirement for a short interresponse time (IRT) produced higher rates and judgments than a simple VI schedule. These results corroborate the view that schedules are a determinant of both response rates and causal judgments. Few current theories of causal judgment predict this pattern of results.
Reed
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Department of Psychology, University College  London, United Kingdom. p.reed@ucl.ac.uk
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors