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BEHAVIORAL MOMENTUM IN THE TREATMENT OF ESCAPE‐MOTIVATED STEREOTYPY
Author(s) -
Mace F. Charles,
Belfiore Phillip
Publication year - 1990
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.1990.23-507
Subject(s) - stereotypy , psychology , task (project management) , compliance (psychology) , mechanism (biology) , prosocial behavior , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology , amphetamine , management , dopamine , economics
Descriptive and experimental analyses of stereotypy by a woman with severe mental retardation showed that the behavior was maintained by escape from demands. A sequence of high‐probability requests issued immediately prior to a task‐related request established a momentum of compliance that increased compliance with task‐related demands. Increases in compliance were accompanied by collateral reductions in stereotypic behavior. A mechanism of response covariation, called functional incompatibility, and an animal analogue study for testing the validity of this mechanism are proposed.