The influence of reinforcer quality on self-control.
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Authors
Peters, H. L.
Hunt, M.
Harper, D. N.
Keywords
Reinforcers
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Issue Date
2006
Peer-reviewed status
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
This study used a self-control paradigm designed as an analogue of choice situations in which individuals choose between two competing immediately available reinforcers each associated with a different delayed reinforcer. The immediate reinforcers were of equal amount and unequal quality; the delayed reinforcers were of unequal amount and equal quality. An impulsive choice was choosing the alternative that delivered the most-valuable immediate reinforcer and the least-valued delayed reinforcer. A self-controlled choice was choosing the alternative that delivered the least -valuable immediate reinforcer and the most-valuable delayed reinforcer. Increasing the delay between the init ial and terminal links increased subjects' responding on the impulsive choice. Behaviour allocation was well described by the CCM when the temporal context scaling parameter was allowed to vary.
Citation
Peters, H. L., Hunt, M., & Harper, D. N. (2006). The influence of reinforcer quality on self-control. In New Zealand Association of Behaviour Analysis Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand.