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Measuring Preference for and the Reinforcing Effectiveness of Praise in Spanish/English Bilinguals
Anguiano, Katia
Anguiano, Katia
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Abstract
Language may affect the quality of verbal reinforcement (Rispoli et al., 2011). For an English-Spanish bilingual speaker, English praise may have a lesser value than praise delivered in an individual’s heritage language. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of English and Spanish praise on the responding of adult bilingual speakers. A stimulus preference assessment was conducted to identify preference for various English and Spanish praise statements. Next, a single-operant reinforcer assessment utilizing a progressive ratio (PR) schedule in which responding for Spanish and English praise alternated across sessions (i.e., alternating-operants arrangement) was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of praise statements delivered in each language. Finally, a concurrent-operants reinforcer assessment was conducted to evaluate the relative effectiveness of praise in English versus Spanish. In Experiment 1, conducted with a geometric PR schedule, both languages had similar reinforcing values, except in one participant for whom English praise had a slightly higher reinforcing value during the single-schedule arrangement. Additionally, one participant emitted fewer responses when praise was available than when no praise was available. In Experiment 2, conducted with an arithmetic PR schedule, both languages had similar reinforcing values during the alternating-PR schedule, and Spanish praise had higher reinforcing value for two participants in the concurrent-PR schedule. Progression-dependent results suggest future researchers should consider using different step-size magnitudes in the progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement to investigate the effects of different progressions on responding. These results are relevant to cultural sensitivity and provide more data on the utility of utilizing bilingual praise.
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Date
2022-12-31
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Behavioral sciences, bilingual, praise, preference assessment, progressive ratio, reinforcer assessment