Abstract
Children were given instructions to perform different tasks. Compliance was studied as a function of several variables: the prevailing pattern of reinforcement for different instructions, the availability of a competing reinforced activity, and the similarity among tasks. Rate of compliance tended to decrease when the probability of reinforcement for compliance decreased, or when a competing reinforced activity was available. Differential reinforcement over the tasks did not always produce discriminative responding even under favorable conditions. Novel instructions obtained compliance at the same rate as that for frequently repeated instructions, independent of the novel instruction's past or present reinforcement history. Greater discrimination in responding was found when tasks were less similar. Results imply that sets of instructions may form a response class, with characteristics similar to those found in studies of generalized imitation.
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