Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Open- And Closed-Economic Conditions In Operant Research, Craig R. Loftin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effect of economic condition on the relation between responding and overall rate of reinforcement has been an area of recent interest in operant research. The present research was conducted to determine whether the manipulation of the economic condition, by the systematic manipulation of the provision of substitute food, has an effect on this relation and whether open- and closed-economies represent two opposing alternatives or two parametric extremes along a continuum. The results of two experiments conducted with pigeons using variable-interval and fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement suggest that the manipulation of economic condition has a controlling effect on the relation …