Theoretical foundations and clinical applications of the premack principle: Review and critique

Abstract

An evaluative review of the Premack Principle (PRE) is presented. After a preliminary clarification of PRE's theoretical foundations, the general trends in its application to classroom management and self-management strategies are delineated and critically examined. PRE's precise empirical assessment of relative probability via response duration measurement is found to be a laborious task—with the difficulty apparently bearing a positive relationship with environmental complexity such that both increase when one moves from the animal laboratory to the semicontrolled classroom environment and finally to the management of complex human behavior in the natural environment. Proposed alternative approximations of empirical probability (i.e., self-reported preference, relative frequency, and imminent performance) are evaluated according to their maintenance of PRE's minimum conceptual parameters. A general caution concerning the legitimate citation of prior theory and/or technique for substantiation of current clinical or research pursuits is asserted.