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ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SOCIAL AVOIDANCE
Author(s) -
Harper Jill M.,
Iwata Brian A.,
Camp Erin M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1002/jaba.18
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , social relation , differential reinforcement , psychological intervention , developmental psychology , social identity approach , social behavior , extinction (optical mineralogy) , stimulus (psychology) , conditioning , aversive stimulus , social psychology , cognitive psychology , social group , psychiatry , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , social identity theory , biology
Abstract Problem behavior maintained by social‐negative reinforcement often is evoked by a specific type of social interaction—the presentation of task demands. This study involved assessment and treatment of a more general form of social avoidance in which the establishing operation (EO) for problem behavior consisted of social interaction per se. Four subjects exhibited high rates of problem behavior during the play or demand conditions of a functional analysis (FA). A subsequent FA in which problem behavior produced escape from social interaction confirmed social avoidance for all subjects. A series of interventions aimed at attenuating aversive characteristics of social interaction then was implemented with 3 of the subjects. These interventions included vicarious reinforcement, conditioning of social interaction as a reinforcer, stimulus fading, and differential reinforcement (DRA) plus extinction (EXT). DRA plus EXT was the only condition in which decreases in problem behavior and increases in social interactions were observed reliably.