In pursuit of general behavioral relations.
Stack reinforcement before hard tasks to boost persistence, then test if the same relation holds across clients and settings.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Williams (1996) wrote a theory paper. It asked one big question. Can we treat behavioral momentum like a law that works everywhere?
The paper listed ways to test this. Run the same procedure with new people. Swap settings. Change reinforcers. See if the relation holds.
What they found
The review found no final answer. Instead it gave a road map. More reinforcement should make behavior stick better. We need multi-lab tests to be sure.
How this fits with other research
Davison et al. (2005) extends the call. They warn that science rewards flashy new results. This slows the replication tests Williams (1996) wants.
Jacobs (2019) gives a tool for the job. Randomization tests fit single-case data. You can pool small studies to check generality without big groups.
Joslyn et al. (2024) shows a quick metric. Risk ratios turn everyday ABC data into numbers you can compare across clients. This answers the 1996 plea for simple, shared measures.
Why it matters
You can act on momentum today. Load reinforcement first in a tough task. Then present the hard demand. If the client stays engaged, you just saw momentum. Track it with risk ratios or randomization tests. Share the data so the field can build the general law Williams (1996) imagined.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Efforts to develop behavioral technologies from advances in basic research assume that results from studies with nonhuman subjects can, in some instances, be applied to human behavior. The behavioral principles likely to be most useful for application are those that represent robust general behavioral relations. Basic and applied research on behavioral momentum suggests that there is a general behavioral relation between the persistence of behavior and the rate of reinforcement obtained in a given situation. Understanding the factors that affect behavioral persistence may have important implications for applied behavior analysts that justify studies aimed at establishing the generality and limits of the functional relation between reinforcement rate and behavioral persistence. Strategies for establishing the generality of behavioral relations are reviewed, followed by a brief summary of the evidence for the generality of behavioral momentum.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1996 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1996.29-557