Document Type
Dissertation
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Degree
PhD in Behavior Analysis
Dissertation Defense Date
2023-06-21
First Committee Member
MacDonald, Rebecca P.F.
Second Committee Member
Ahearn, William H.
Third Committee Member
Pinkston, Jonathan W.
Additional Committee Member(s)
Thompson, Rebecca H.
Abstract
Social referencing is a social communicative response that emerges within the first year of life (Feinman, 1992). Defined as a two-component behavior chain (Dequinzio et al., 2016), social referencing consists of a gaze shift from an ambiguous stimulus to a familiar adult (i.e., an observing response) and a conditional discrimination toward the ambiguous stimulus. To date, there are few studies that have evaluated the impact of ambiguity as a variable that exerts control over the observing response. In this study, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effect of a brief contingency exposure protocol on the probability of the observing response across five participants. A multielement design was used to evaluate the impact of ambiguous and familiar stimuli on the observing response for each participant. Results of this study indicate that brief exposure to consequences is sufficient to increase the probability of an observing response in neurotypical infants and toddlers and may be an effective strategy by which researchers can set the occasion for future assessment of social referencing. Results for three of five participants provide support for the role of ambiguity as a motivating operation.
Recommended Citation
Peterson, Pamela N., "A Contingency Analysis of Social Referencing" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations - College of Arts and Sciences. 72.
https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/casdissertations/72
