Document Type

Dissertation

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

PhD in Behavior Analysis

Dissertation Defense Date

2025-07-08

First Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Roscoe, Eileen

Additional Committee Member(s)

Peck, Sara

Abstract

Effective reinforcement-based treatment requires the identification of stimuli that function as potent reinforcers. In practice, reinforcer efficacy is commonly measured via stimulus preference assessments. These data are typically summarized as a percentage of trials with selection and, although they identify hierarchies of reinforcing quality, they do not clearly provide a quantitative description of the relative reinforcing effects of the stimuli assessed. Quantitative methods for scaling reinforcer efficacy may offer more precision but are less common in practice. Drawing from the preference assessment and quantitative analysis of behavior literature bases, we designed and evaluated the use of a concurrent progressive-magnitude schedule analysis by increasing the magnitude of unselected stimuli across trials of a concurrent schedule and using the switch point as a dependent measure. These methods produced orderly data in a relatively brief period while maintaining many procedural elements of stimulus preference assessments already commonly utilized by clinicians.

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