Schedule-induced aggression : the effects of changes in reinforcement on force of responding in college students

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dc.contributor.authorPolson, David Arthur Donalden_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-15T17:16:27Z
dc.date.available2024-08-15T17:16:27Z
dc.date.copyright1985en_US
dc.date.issued1985
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Psychology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThe present investigation was an exploratory study with the purpose of examining new measures of Schedule-Induced Aggression (SIA), and determining the ideal procedural conditions to maximize the treatment effect, i.e., changes in response force resulting from both decreases and increases in reinforcement. Experiment 1 studied the effects of individual loss trials (a negative change in reinforcement) and win trials (a positive change in reinforcement), resulting from the outcome on a roulette wheel, on the force of an operant immediately preceding the outcome (Rl) an operant immediately following the outcome (R2), and an escape response. The prediction was that response force would be greater following both loss and win outcomes relative to baseline trials in which neither losses .nor wins occurred. Although some isolated incidences were suggestive of an effect, overall it was concluded that chance-based losses and wins on a trial-by-trial basis were not sufficient to consistently enhance response force following tl1c outcome. However, five of six subjects increased force on R2 during the theoretically most aversive loss trials (i.e. , after big losses, after three or mere losses in a row) relative to all other loss trials. In experiment 2, subjects played a guessing game against a computer, the outcome of which was controlled by the experimenter. It was hypothesized that a string of losses (a Taking condition) after a series of wins and losses (a Reinforcement condition) would increase the aversiveness of the situation to the point that mean response force would be greater during Taking than during Reinforcement. The results of Method C--which was the accumulation of efforts to maximize the treatment effect--showed that mean response force was greater during Taking for seven of the eight subjects on Rl, six of the subjects on R2, and six of the subjects on the escape response. These latter results are consistent with previous SIA studies with humans as well as response vigor studies with children. Methodological and theoretical considerations for future SIA experimentation with humans based upon problems encountered in the present investigation are discussed.
dc.format.extent160 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/19324
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleSchedule-induced aggression : the effects of changes in reinforcement on force of responding in college studentsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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