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THE EFFECTS OF A TOKEN REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURE ON BUS RIDERSHIP 1
Author(s) -
Everett Peter B.,
Hayward Scott C.,
Meyers Andrew W.
Publication year - 1974
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 - 10.1901/jaba.1974.7-1
Subject(s) - token economy , reinforcement , security token , psychology , population , variety (cybernetics) , multiple baseline design , computer science , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer network , environmental health , medicine , psychiatry , intervention (counseling)
Tokens, exchangeable for a variety of back‐up reinforcers, were delivered for several days to all persons boarding a clearly marked campus bus. This procedure increased ridership to 150% of baseline. The experiment was carried out to demonstrate the applicability of operant techniques to urban transportation problems. In this study, a token reinforcement procedure was introduced in an attempt to increase bus ridership while holding the costs of reinforcers to a minimum and circumventing the problems of individual satiety and preferences and of delivering cumbersome reinforcers. A methodology for establishing a token‐exchange procedure in an “open‐field” behavior setting, where the subject population size, geographic location, preferences, age, sex, preferred hours of mobility, etc . are unspecified, is also presented.