Definition
Response cost is a procedure in which an individual loses a specified amount of a previously earned reinforcer contingent upon a behavior targeted for reduction. It is often described in terms of penalties, fines, or fees and can be found in a behavior reduction plan for persons with autism.
The term and procedure originated in a basic laboratory study by Weiner (1962) to describe a contingency in which a person’s response resulted in the removal of a point from an automated point counter. Since then, it has been examined in applied research and used to reduce or eliminate a large number of behavior problems across a large number of populations.
It is most frequently found as a component in token, point, and level systems, but has also been successfully used as a stand-alone procedure. Because it is a punishment procedure, it is vulnerable to the same unwanted side effects as most punishment (e.g., emotional reaction, behavior change that is situation-specific), but because...
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References and Readings
Falcomata, T. S., Roane, H. S., Hovanetz, A. N., Kettering, T. L., & Keeney, K. M. (2004). An evaluation of response cost in the treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 83–87.
Keeney, K. M., Fisher, W. W., Adelinis, J. D., & Wilder, D. A. (2000). The effects of response cost in the treatment of aberrant behavior maintained by negative reinforcement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33(2), 255–258.
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Weiner, H. (1962). Some effects of response cost upon human operant behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 5, 201–208.
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Pritchard, J. (2013). Response Cost. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1308
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1308
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