Intrusiveness of interventions: ratings by psychologists

A survey was conducted of opinions of 24 psychologists in South Australia about the intrusiveness of 89 interventions including methods that might be used to reduce challenging behaviour. Interventions arose from a variety of sources, including behavioural psychology and medicine. Interventions might infringe on 8 different rights. Respondents rated the degree to which interventions were perceived to intrude on clients\u27 rights, using a 4-point scale: abusive, very intrusive, intrusive, and not intrusive. A reasonable degree of consistency in ratings was found. Respondents did not rate all interventions that infringed on the same right as being equally intrusive. A number of interventions were rated as being intrusive but not abusive. Intrusive methods may be legitimate if properly authorised. The question arises of how decisions should be made to authorise intrusive methods when clients arc unable to make decisions on their own behalf

The effects of advance notice of activity transitions on stereotypic behavior

Using an A-B-A-B design, two procedures for requesting a change of activity were compared for their effect on the stereotypic behavior of a man with autism. One procedure requested immediate change of activities, whereas the second procedure gave advance notice of a change. Less stereotypy occurred when advance notice of change was given

The Perception and Efficiency of Labour Supply Choices by Pigeons.

Hunter and Davison (1982) observed.how pigeons supplied labor by pecking on discs connected to devices allowing access to food. Both the devices and the forces needed to depress the discs were varied widely. This paper models the pigeons' choice problems as a neo-classical type of labor allocation problem. It estimates the paths containing the least effortful allocations of pecks for given total rates of access to food and compares the subjects' actual choices for proximity to the efficient choices. The estimated efficiency levels are high, supporting the neo-classical model. Also shown is that the neo-classical model predicts that the subjects' behavior should be consistent with the melioration model of choice, an alternative model of choice advocated by some psychologists. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.

Preference for reinforcers under varying schedule arrangements: A behavioral economic analysis

The field of behavioral economics combines concepts from economics and operant conditioning to examine the influence of schedules or price on preference for reinforcers. Three case studies are reported in which behavioral economic analyses were used to assess relative preference for reinforcers shown by people with intellectual disabilities when schedule requirements varied. The studies examined (a) preference for different reinforcers, (b) substitutability of reinforcers, and (c) changes in preference as a function of schedule requirements