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BEHAVIORAL STEREOTYPY AND THE GENERALIZED MATCHING EQUATION
Author(s) -
Pear Joseph J.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1988.50-87
Subject(s) - stereotypy , reinforcement , differential reinforcement , matching (statistics) , matching law , psychology , social psychology , mathematics , statistics , neuroscience , amphetamine , dopamine
The development of behavioral stereotypy is a common result of exposure to both response‐dependent and response‐independent reinforcement procedures. The generalized matching equation and two dynamic versions of that equation, which take into account the time differential between reinforcements and their effect on behavior, predict this outcome of many procedures involving reinforcement. Following from the assumption that distinct response topographies, distinct response sequences, or orientations to distinct stimuli can be treated in the equations as distinct classes of behavior, the equations predict that—at least for matching and undermatching—the behavior class that is most biased relative to other behavior classes of the same type will tend to predominate to the exclusion or near exclusion of those behavior classes.