Changing preference from tangible to social activities through an observation procedure.
A two-minute peer video can flip kids from picking goodies to picking people.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with three kids with autism. All kids first picked toys or snacks over playing with an adult.
Next they watched a short video. In the video a peer picked the adult game every time. After viewing, the kids chose again.
What they found
All three kids switched. They now picked the social game more than the goodies. One child needed a quick top-up a week later.
The change lasted up to eight weeks with no extra rewards.
How this fits with other research
Milby (1970) first showed that giving attention after social acts makes isolated adults talk more. The new study flips the idea: kids watch, then value social time itself.
Sasson et al. (2022) later blended peer buddies and video clips at recess. They got big gains for students with autism plus ID. The 2016 method is simpler—just a peer clip—yet still shifts choice.
Roscoe et al. (2024) used prompts and rewards to make kids play with new toys. Both papers change what kids want, but one moves them toward toys, the other toward people.
Why it matters
You can loosen edible or toy dependence in minutes. Show a short clip of a peer picking the social option, then let the child choose. The shift sticks without extra tokens or iPads. Try it before group work, recess, or peer tutoring to boost social value fast.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have qualitative impairments in social interaction and often prefer food or tangible reinforcement to social reinforcement. Thus, therapists who work with children with ASD often use food or tangible items as reinforcers to increase appropriate behaviors or decrease problem behaviors. The goal of the present study was to shift children's preferences from a highly preferred tangible item to an initially nonpreferred social reinforcer using an observational conditioning procedure. Participants observed a known peer engage in a simple task and select the social reinforcer that was not preferred by the participant. This procedure resulted in a shift of preference toward the social reinforcer by all participants. Maintenance data showed that although the preference change did not maintain for 1 of the participants, it was quickly reestablished with additional observational trials. Results provide further support for the use of observational procedures to alter preferences.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2016 · doi:10.1002/jaba.276