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OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECTS IN TOKEN ECONOMIES
Author(s) -
Fisher E. B.
Publication year - 1979
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.1979.12-407
Subject(s) - token economy , security token , psychology , reinforcement , period (music) , social psychology , computer science , computer security , physics , acoustics
This study tested the relevance to clinical token economies of the overjustification hypothesis that tangible reward interferes with intrinsic interest in target behaviors and causes such behaviors to be less probable following a period of reinforcement than preceding such a period. The study was carried out in an ongoing token economy for chronic psychiatric patients. Alternated over an 8‐week period were weeks of token and no‐token reward for one of the program's target behaviors, toothbrushing. Two different amounts of token reward were employed in order to examine whether reward magnitude might influence the presence or extent of overjustification effects. Little evidence was found for the presence of overjustification effects in token economies. However, maintenance of toothbrushing was greater in no‐token weeks following weeks of low amounts of token reward than in no‐token weeks following weeks of higher amounts of reward. The importance of such complex functional relationships is discussed.