Date of Graduation
2003
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
Committee Chair
Philip N. Chase
Abstract
This experiment analyzed the effects of different methods of rule acquisition on sensitivity to changing contingencies of reinforcement. Subjects were asked to guess the best way to earn points on two alternating schedules of reinforcement that had produced differentiated pressing rates in a group of subjects not asked to guess. Subjects were divided into groups whose guessing was either shaped, instructed, or was provided with non-differential points for guessing. Different methods for producing guesses did not have an effect on sensitivity to changes in schedules of reinforcement, but did affect guessing across groups. Instructed guessing subjects demonstrated independence between guesses and performance on the schedules, while the shaped and non-differential points subjects demonstrated correspondence between guessing and schedule performance in all conditions. The results are discussed in the context of say-do correspondence, hypothesis testing, and the conditions that produce correspondence versus verbal behavior that is independent of other behavior.
Recommended Citation
O'Shields, Elizabethann M., "The effects of shaping and instructing verbal behavior on human schedule performance." (2003). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10777.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10777