The Historical Context of Noncontingent Reinforcement as a Behavioral Treatment

Abstract

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR) emerged as a behavioral treatment in the early 1990s. In this paper we describe the historical context leading to the development and use of NCR as treatment. There are at least three general historical factors. The main reason the procedure emerged when it did is that functional analysis assessment methods were beginning to influence publication practices for behavioral treatment studies. Treatment studies based on functional analysis outcomes were just beginning to emerge by the late 1980s, so the time was ripe. A second factor is that some other treatment procedures that were logically derived from a functional analysis (e.g., DRO and extinction) had obvious negative side effects, both in terms of practicality (e.g., re-setting a timer every time a target response occurred in DRO) and in terms of dangerous behavioral outcomes (e.g., extinction bursts). A third factor was that there was an empirical basis for the application. Basic behavioral research on time-based schedules and applied research on NCR as a control procedure had already been published. Results of these prior experiments had shown that NCR reduced response rates relative to a response-dependent baseline. In our conclusion, we will propose that NCR research has persisted because the procedure provides a relatively straightforward preparation from which to conduct a range of parametric and component analyses.