title: Human causality judgments and response rates on DRL and DRH schedules of reinforcement.
abstract: The effect of various relationships between a response (an investment made in the context of a game) and an outcome (a return on the investment) on judgments of the causal effectiveness of the response was examined. In Experiment 1, response rates and causal judgments were higher for a differential-reinforcement-of-high-rate (DRH) schedule relative to a variable-ratio (VR) schedule with the same probability of outcome following a response. Response rates were also higher for a DRH than for a variable-interval schedule matched for reinforcement rate. In Experiment 2, response rates and causal judgments were lower for a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule relative to a VR schedule with the same probability of outcome following a response. These results corroborate the view that schedules are a determinant of both response rates and causal judgments, and that few current theories of causal judgment explicitly predict this pattern of results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University College London, London, England. p.reed@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reed
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D003071:Cognition; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule