An evaluation of contingency strength and response suppression.
A neutral-contingency FA can itself cut severe aggression, so falling rates may signal treatment, not absence of function.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two children with developmental delay took part in a special kind of functional analysis.
The team set up a neutral contingency: every time the child hit, the adult gave the same small amount of attention.
The adult also gave that same attention when the child did not hit.
No other rewards or punishers were used.
What they found
Aggression dropped to near zero in both children while the neutral rule stayed in place.
The simple act of making reinforcement equal for hit and no-hit was enough to cut the behavior.
How this fits with other research
Lancioni et al. (2009) ran the same kind of test and saw the same drop in problem behavior.
That direct replication shows the effect is real, not a one-time fluke.
Zeiler (1968) first saw this in rats: when every response earns the same small payoff, the response fades.
Oliver et al. (2002) now prove the same rule works for severe human aggression.
Why it matters
If you run a standard FA and see problem behavior fall in the test condition, do not assume the behavior has no function.
The equal-payoff setup itself may be the treatment.
Next time you see quick drops during an FA, add a reversal or extend the condition to be sure the behavior returns when the rule is removed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Typically, functional analyses of severe problem behavior have been conducted in two ways: (a) The target response is reinforced immediately after it occurs, or (b) the target response is reinforced on some schedule thought to mimic a naturally occurring schedule. We evaluated the effects of contingency strength in reducing levels of problem behavior with 2 participants who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Results showed that under a neutral contingency, one in which the probability of reinforcement for aggression was equal to the probability of reinforcement for the nonoccurrence of aggression, rates of aggression were suppressed to low levels for both participants.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2002 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2002.35-337